Month: April 2020

Make Mine A Double

A Cheeky Pair of Pinots From Romania [Make Mine a Double #52]

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Since the turn of the millennium the most notable Romanian exports have been the Cheeky Girls, a pair of identical twin sisters who – somehow – had 4 top 10 hits in the UK. While their music was aimed at pre-teens, Romania has much better products for adults: wine!

When I got into wine in the early/mid ’90s, Deulu Mare Pinot Noir from the south of Romania was a staple in the supermarkets, which had a much better range back then.  Romania is reportedly the sixth largest producer of wine in Europe, making wines from:

  • International varieties such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
  • Mid / Eastern European varieties such as Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch
  • Romanian varieties such as Tămâioasă Românească and Busuioacă de Bohotin

Little Romanian wine seems to hit our shores these days, but the Wildflower range are welcome recent arrivals.

Wildflower Pinot Grigio 2018

wildflower pinot grigio

As a confirmed Grigio skeptic I approached this wine with caution, but rather than being dilute this wine was light; the difference might seem subtle but it’s important.  The nose is attractive, floral and fruity.  On the palate the fun continues with fresh citrus and pip fruit, and a clean crisp finish.  This isn’t a complex wine, and doesn’t pretend to be, but it’s perfect for a mid-week glass or three.

  • ABV: 12.0%
  • RRP: €13.95 (until 1st June: €9.00, 6 for €50)
  • Stockists: O’Briens stores and obrienswines.ie

Wildflower Pinot Noir 2018

wildflower pinot noir

As Pinot Noir is notoriously difficult to grow well, i.e. make reasonable wine out of, an inexpensive one might raise an eyebrow or two.  However, this is recognisably Pinot Noir with its medium intensity colour, fragrant nose and supple palate.  It’s light enough that twenty minutes in the fridge before pouring at a barbecue would be perfect.  It has soft red fruit – raspberry, cherry and strawberry – and gentle tannins, with fresh acidity for added structure.  Just remember to use a wine glass and not a pint glass!

  • ABV: 12.5%
  • RRP: €13.95 (until 1st June: €9.00, 6 for €50)
  • Stockists: O’Briens stores and obrienswines.ie

Conclusion

These wines – and their counterpart Wildflower Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz – are described as “party wines” by O’Briens.  For me this has two slightly different connotations;

  1. It could be the cheap-as-chips / industrially produced swill that a host will lay on at a big party or function while they drink something else (we all know one of those kind of people).  The kind of wine that you wince slightly while drinking, but you drink anyway because there’s no alternative
  2. Or, it could be an easy drinking wine that a party host is happy to drink with his guests because wine isn’t the focus of the party, but the crowd are likely to consume quite a lot of it!

The Wildflower Pinots Grigio and Noir definitely fall into the second category.  They are acceptably priced at €13.95 (especially the Pinot Noir) but a complete steal when on offer for €9.  Given the current lock down the potential for partying is rather limited…but for those who work from home (and thus don’t have to drive) or are furloughed and want a great VFM tipple, fill your boots!

 

**Click here to see more posts in the Make Mine a Double Series**

Single Bottle Review

Wine Review: Joseph Cattin Alsace Riesling

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Even as a passionate fan of Alsace and a reasonable French speaker, I’m not confident of my ability to pronounce Voegtlinshoffen, the home village of Maison Joseph Cattin.  The firm’s origins lie at the end of the 17th century with Francois Cattin, a Swiss builder who subsequently turned winemaker in 1720.  “Depuis 1720” thus surrounds the family’s crest on their bottles.

130 years later his descendant Antoine Cattin became a full time vigneron; it was common then for grape growers to also have other crops or animals, so this was a significant step.  Antoine’s son Joseph followed in his father’s footsteps and became a major figure in Alsace wine.  The firm’s success was helped by being featured in Parisian Alsace-themed restaurant La Cigogne, run by Joseph’s brother Théodore.

Major expansion took place in the last quarter of the 20th century; holdings of 7 hectares were expanded to over 60 by Joseph’s grandsons Jacques and Jean-Marie.  Cattin is now run by Jacques Cattin junior and his wife Anaïs – the eleventh generation of the Cattin family.

Cattin AOC Alsace wines consist of:

  • 2 Rieslings (the regular Riesling below plus Lieu-dit Elsbourg
  • 2 Pinot Noirs (red and rosé)
  • Gewurztraminer
  • Muscat
  • Pinot Blanc
  • Pinot Gris
  • Sylvaner

They also make several VTs and SGNS, Crémants and other special bottlings.  Their Grand Cru holdings are all in the Hatschbourg, where they make wines from all four noble varieties.

Joseph Cattin Alsace Riesling Réserve 2016

Joseph Cattin Alsace Riesling

Although a few years on from release, this Riesling is still pale in colour, very light gold with flecks of green.  The nose combines citrus with mineral and floral notes.  The palate is crisp and fresh, full of racy lime and lemon, a hint of peach and a long mineral finish.  If this 2016 doesn’t exhibit the rapier-sharp freshness that it would have had on release, then perhaps sabre-sharp freshness, if such a term exists, is the best descriptor.  Maison Cattin suggest an ageing potential of five years, but I think this will be lovely well after that.  A delicious Alsace Riesling!

  • ABV: 12.0%
  • RS: 3.9 g/L
  • RRP: ~ €20
  • Stockists: contact Boutique Wines for availability
Single Bottle Review

Dopff & Irion Cuvée René Dopff Alsace Gewurztraminer 2015

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In common with tight-knit communities the world over, there are several common surnames in Alsace – including those which are common affixed to the door of wineries – so often first names are added to surnames, or another family name such as a mother or wife’s maiden name, to distinguish one Sipp or Meyer from another.

Dopff & Irion are based in Riquewihr, a contender for prettiest village in Alsace (and that’s saying something!) and certainly one of the most visited.  As alluded to above, they have a (semi) namesake in their home village with the respected producer Dopff au Moulin, a specialist in crémant.

Riquewihr_-_2016
Riquewihr in 2016 (Credit: Elekes Andor)

Dopff & Irion have 27 hectares of vines at Riquewihr – including those bottled as Château de Riquewihr – plus the Clos Château d’Isenbourg near Rouffach.  Their holdings break down as three key varieties: Riesling 35.8%, Gewurztraminer 29.4%, Pinot Gris 23.5%, plus smaller amounts of Pinot Noir 5.5% and Muscat 4.3%.

Cuvée René Dopff is the “everyday plus” label of Dopff & Irion; it’s not the best range they make but is of a high standard.  There are seven single varietals in the range: the five mentioned just above plus Sylvaner and Pinot Blanc, these two I presume from bought in grapes.

Dopff & Irion Cuvée René Dopff Alsace Gewurztraminer 2015

Dopff-Irion-Gewurztraminer1-500x500

Gewurztraminer is one of the most expressively aromatic grapes around, so needs to be handled with kid gloves during the wine making process.  For this wine the press was deliberately set at low pressure to minimise extraction from the skins and fermentation was at a controlled temperature.

The depth of colour in the glass gives a strong indication that this is something with a bit of oomph.  The nose is textbook Gewurz – Turkish delight (the rose flavoured one, not lemon) and lychees, with a little exotic spice.  These notes follow through on the palate which is generous, rich and round.  There’s some residual sugar but it’s certainly not “sugary”, still fresh with a crisp finish.  The overall sensation is one of balance – often difficult to achieve with this grape – and excellence.  The company’s website gives an ageing potential of five years for this wine, but it is nowhere near tired and has several years left in it.

  • ABV: 13.5%
  • RRP: €21.99
  • Stockists: Vanilla Grape, Kenmare; JJ O’Driscoll, County Cork
Single Bottle Review

White Gold From Savoie

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The spotlight has been shining on Savoie* wine since Wink Lorch published her authoritative book Wines Of The French Alps (available to buy directly from Wink here and check out David Crossley’s review here) in July 2019.  The area is on France’s eastern borders with Italy and Switzerland – and in fact only became a permanent part of France in 1860 when it was ceded by Italy under the Treaty of Turin.

Cartes_des_vins_de_france
Map of main French wine areas.  Savoie is on France’s eastern border. Credit: DalGobboM

Savoie is actually further north than you might think** – in the outline map above it is level with Cognac – and given its Alpine elevation it is distinctly cool.  The main grape varieties of the area are Altesse (aka Roussette), Gringet, Jacquère, Mondeuse and Roussanne (aka Bergeron), with all but Roussanne being indigenous.  In the more frost prone areas only local varieties are hardy enough, and the long growing season brings out their aromatic qualities.

Fabien Trosset comes from a well-established winemaking family with a speciality for Mondeuse, the key red variety of Savoie.  He and his partner Chloé took over some family vineyards in 2011 and added more from another branch in 2013, taking their total to 16 hectares.  The soils are either limestone or clay and the aspect is generally south-facing.  The vines are up to 90 years old for some of the Mondeuse plots, 30 for their Altesse and 15 for Roussanne.  The wine featured below is made from Jacquère which doesn’t even feature on their website or in Wink’s book, so I’m assuming it’s a very new addition!

Domaine Trosset Savoie “Or Blanc” 2018

Domaine Trosset Or Blanc

“Or Blanc” translates as “white gold”, and this seems to be a fitting moniker as the wine is made from 100% Jacquère, the most important white grape in Savoie.  The vineyards are at an altitude of 600 metres above sea-level – higher than any Alsace Grand Cru sites, as a comparison.  This is a wine which could be pictured in the dictionary for the definition of “freshness”: a chalky minerality dominates, with crisp acidity and gentle garden herbs.  There is fruit too in the form of a racy lime streak

A dry wine at just 11.0% is very rare these days, but it doesn’t feel diminished in any way.  This is a delicious, interesting wine that deserves to be better known.  I’m looking forward to trying some more of Fabien and Chloé’s wines in the future.

 

*The area is usually anglicised as Savoy, but I just prefer the French version.

**Well, it’s further north than I thought!

Single Bottle Review

Super Premium Portuguese

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Port has had a global reputation for centuries, but the rest of Portuguese wine has lived in its shadow – outside the country at least.  These days it is seen as a place where lots of quality, interesting wines come from – and usually at a decent price.  But why stop there?  Some producers want to make the best that they possibly can, whatever it costs to make.

One such producer is Quinta dos Carvalhais in the Dão region.  Dão is about a third of the way down Portugal, surrounded by (clockwise, from the north west): Vinho Verde, Douro Valley, Távora & Varosa, Beira Interior and Bairrada.  The Dão is somewhat insulated from both the cool coast and the warmer interior by a ring of mountains.  Altitude results in warm – but not blazing hot – days and cool nights, keeping flavours intense but fresh.

Owned by the Guedes family since 1988, Quinta dos Carvalhais covers 105 hectares in total of which 50 are planted with vines on poor granite soils.  The grapes planted are local Dão varieties (Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro, Jaen and Tinta Pinheira for reds and Encruzado, Assario, Gouveio, Bical and Cercial for whites).

The Quinta dos Carvalhais Dão Encruzado (white) is a seriously good wine with a premium price tag; it has an RRP of €32.99 in Ireland which is among the most expensive Portuguese table wines I’ve seen.  At the Liberty Wines portfolio tasting in February I had the chance to taste the Quinta dos Carvalhais flagship wine Único with an RRP over three times that of the Encruzado at €107.  Is that a crazy price or is it justified?  Are Vega Sicilia going to complain about the name?  I had to try it…

Quinta dos Carvalhais Único 2015

Quinta dos Carvalhais Unico

Único in Portuguese means “single” or “unique” – perhaps this is the number one table wine in Portugal?  It is only made in exceptional years, and I believe that this 2015 is the third bottling after 2005 then 2009.  Like many Portuguese wines it’s a blend, and consists of all the varieties planted on the Quinta: 88% Touriga Nacional, 6% Alfrocheiro, 2% Jaen Tinto, 2% Tinta Pinheira, 2% Tinta Roriz.

To improve on the already-high quality of their other wines, winemaker Beatriz Cabral de Almeida picks special plots which are then harvested and vinified separately, with great care.  Alcoholic fermentation is temperature controlled at 28ºC (not that hot for reds) over eight days followed by 20 days maceration.  The must is then transferred into new French oak barrels for 12 months’ maturation.  Each batch is tasted several times over the whole process to see if the barrel will be included in the final blend.

Although now over four years since harvest, the 2015 Único pours a deep purple, hinting at relative youth.  The nose is like finding big bramble bushes in a pine forest, red and black berries with pine needles on the floor.  The smoky French oak is also notably present (those barrels given a decent toast I reckon).  The palate is rich and concentrated, with firm tannins and striking acidity giving plenty of structure.

This is a wine made to last the course; it’s very nice to drink now but I can see it opening up considerably over the next five to ten years, and then lasting for another ten after that.  So it is worth the price tag?  Perhaps, is my cop-out answer.  Without many previous vintages to assess its longevity is still not 100% proven, but I think it will make a name for itself in the future.  It’s more than I spend on a bottle of wine, but if I could justify it as an investment for my twins who were born in 2015 then that might just work…

  • ABV: 14.0%
  • RRP: €107
  • Stockists: wineonline.ie