Single Bottle Review

Belondrade Quinta Apolonia [Wine Review]

When I started going to regular tastings in Dublin in 2008, one of the areas where I climbed a steep learning curve was Spanish white wines. As I had been focused on French and “new world” whites up to that point, Verdejo, Albariño, Godello and others were totally new to me. I learnt quickly! But it’s only in the last five years that I’ve come to realise that there are no real limits on how good these wines can be. Along with Rafael Palacios, Belondrade’s wines keep on pushing the boundaries for Spanish whites.

Verdejo and Rueda

Although Verdejo and Rueda are inextricably linked, Verdejo is actually thought to have originated in North Africa, and was brought to northern Spain by Christians under Muslim rule around a millennium ago. The wines were made for centuries in an oxidative style, not unlike Sherry, until the variety almost died out. Ángel Rodríguez Vidal of Bodega Martinsancho saved Verdejo from extinction and used it to make a fresher style of table wine, helping to establish the Rueda DO. His success was amplified by Rioja’s Marqués de Riscal who, seeking a source of fruity whites to sell alongside their own reds, poured significant investment into the area.

The fortified wines are still made in Rueda, as is a sparkling wine, but the still fresh style is by some margin the most popular. Verdejo is also grown in Castilla-La Mancha and Estremadura.

Sauvignon Blanc is also grown in Rueda, either as a blending component with Verdejo or as a principal variety. My person experience with these wines has been less favourable than Vedejo dominant wines.

Monsieur / Señor Didier Belondrade: A Frenchman in Spain

Didier Belondrade
Credit: Sobremesa

The third act of the Rueda story belongs to Didier Belondrade. he has recognised the potential in Rueda’s Verdejo and moved there to begin his own project in 1994. The first wine he produced was under the label Belondrade y Lurton, and showed a distinctly Bugundian approach, with oak and less used for both fermentation and maturation. The estate covers 40 hectares divided into 23 plots, each picked and vinified separately. Viticulture us certified organic but this isn’t mentioned on the label.

Quality has been improved year on year, with a big step coming after the construction of a new winery at La Seca in 2000. The range was extended with two wines named after his two daughters: a 100% rosé Tempranillo named Quinta Clarisa and a 100% Verdejo named Quinta Apolonia (the wine detailed below).  Producing the latter as a second wine means that only the very best grapes go into the first wine, enhancing its quality.

Balancing delicately at the very top of the Belondrade quality pyramid is Les Parcelles, a super-premium wine made from grapes harvested from two plots over two days in 2018. After 18 months in the barrel, 1994 bottles were filled and laid down for a further three years before release. The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that the number of bottles corresponds to the year the winery was founded. As wellas the quality being super-premium, the price is super-premium at €410 on their website.

Belondrade Quinta Apolonia Vino de la Tierra Castilla Y León 2020

Belondrade Quinta Apolonia

As mentioned above, one of the reasons for the creation of this wine was to find a home for fruit that weren’t the very best, and thus excluded from the flagship wine. However, this doesn’t mean substandard fruit are used, just those berries which might not be the most complex or concentrated. Quinta Apolonia is designed to showcase the Verdejo variety rather than the wine-making, so it’s a fresher and more accessible style than Belondrade Y Lurton. Alcoholic fermentation is with natural yeast, but temperature controlled to preserve freshness. After ten months ageing on the lees, a blend is made from different plots and different fermenation vessels, then bottled for five months before release.  Quinta Apolonia is designed to be drunk within six to eight years of vintage. 

I tried this bottle at three and a half to four years after vintage, smack bang in the middle of the suggested drinking range. And it’s singing! the nose is elegantly perfumed with fresh pip and stone fruit. The palate is deliciously creamy and textured, with more fruit than a smoothie, and great acidity. It manages to be simultaeously a wine to pair with white fish and a wine to pair with roast chicken – very few can do both well.

In the low to mid twenties retail price point in Ireland, there’s very little to touch this wine.

Conclusion

I’ve been lucky enough to taste both this wine and the big sister Belondrade Y Lurton several times over the past five years. On each occasion, I prefered the junior wine. I found the Y Lurton too closed and not expressive enough, even with price taken out of the equation. So what gives? In essence, I think the senior wine needs time, time which I’ve been unable to give it.

However, I did just stumble across this article on Belondrade Y Lurton from my esteemed colleague John Wilson. Please do read it for yourself, but – writing in 2023 – he calls the 2018 an “Outstanding wine”. So perhaps I need to lay a few down myself.

 

 

 

 

Make Mine A Double

Wine Review: Mazzei Codice V Vermentino and Gérard Bertrand Orange Gold

Whether you call them “orange wines”, “amber wines” or “skin-contact white wines”, these postmodern wines are here to stay. However, are they going to remain a niche curiosity drunk only by the adventurous or will they break out from the independent wine specialist sector into multiples and even supermarkets? Here are two skin-contact whites which are leading the way.

Mazzei Tenuta Belguardo Codice V Maremma Vermentino 2019

Mazzei Belguardo Codice V Vermentino

I previously reviewed the “regular” Mazzei Belguardo Vermentino and found it excellent, so I was keen to taste this pull-out-all-the-stops flagship version. To make the best Vermentino they could, Mazzei started with clones from Corsica, the spiritual home and likely origin of the Vermentino grape. Of course they were planted in Maremma on the Tyrrhenian coast as the cooling effect of sea breezes is important for retaining freshness. The vineyard site is 30 to 50 metres above sea level and is orientated south / south-west on predominantly sandy soils.

Harvesting is all by hand but it’s vinification where things start to get really interesting:

  • 20% is fermented and aged on the skins in amphorae for nine months
  • 30% is fermented and aged on the skins in stainless steel tanks for nine months
  • 50% is fermented and aged on fine lees in stainless steel tanks (I presume for nine months)

The construction material and any lining of the amphorae is not specified.  After blending back together the wine is bottled and stored for a further six months before release.

If someone had already tasted the regular Vermentino then the Codice V would be quite familiar, though they might feel they had been missing half of the story. The nose shows complex aromas of citrus and stone fruit, with hints of smoke. These elements continue onto the palate where they intertwine with mellow savoury notes and layers of mixed peel and ginger. The finish is fresh and mouth-watering.

  • ABV: 13.0%*
  • RRP: €33
  • Source: Sample
  • Stockists: SC Grocer; Martins Off-licence; Clontarf Wines; Sweeneys D3; The Corkscrew; Blackrock Cellar

Gérard Bertrand Orange Gold 2020

gérard bertrand orange gold

I have reviewed Gérard Bertrand‘s wines widely over the years; his impressive range includes whites, rosés and reds from the Languedoc at several different price points, many of which are organic and / or biodynamic.  To those colours he has added an orange wine, a homage to Georgian wines of 4,500 years ago. It is a real blend, being made with seven different varieties: Chardonnay, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Marsanne, Mauzac, Muscat and Clairette.

When perfectly ripe, the grapes are hand-picked in whole bunches and transferred to vat without any destemming or crushing, as with many red wines. The grapes then ferment, partially in the normal way and partially carbonicly (where the weight of the grapes causes some to ferment within their skins. After 10 to 15 days the grapes are separated and pressed to extract colour and tannin; this press wine is then added to the existing must in stainless steel tanks to finish fermenting. Finally, the wine is put into used barrels to mature.

In the glass (and in the bottle) this is a vibrant gold colour, and could be easily mistaken for a Sauternes or Tokaji. The nose is complex, with apple blossom, marmalade, apricot jam and pear drops – very enticing.  The palate is dry but with fruit sweetness on the mid palate. There’s a real savoury complexity to this wine, and a light saline tang with some tannins on the finish. From one point of view it could be said that the nose and the palate offer entirely different aspects, but that is a truism for orange wines in general. Once expectations are reasonably set I think this is a tasty wine that many would enjoy.

  • ABV: 13.0%
  • RRP: €21.95
  • Source: Sample
  • Stockists: O’Briens stores and obrienswine.ie

Conclusion

These wines are quite different, taking different approaches to producing a balanced wine, and a single varietal compared to a blend. Although the number of orange wines available in Ireland is fairly low at the moment it doesn’t mean that any particular wine can represent a whole colour. What they do have in common is that they are both delicious and approachable, while maintaining a savoury character that expands their interest and versatility.

For me the Codice V is the better wine, but of course has a higher price. Due to its fairly widespread availability and lower price I think the Orange Gold is more likely to tempt more casual wine drinkers into trying an orange wine for the first time – but hopefully not the last time!


*Any wine geeks among you may have noticed that the alcohol for this wine is a little higher than the regular Vermentino I reviewed a year ago (13.39% v 12.5% on the respective tech sheets). This is due to vintage variation (2019 v 2018) rather than differences in winemaking; the 2018 vintage of the Codice V also had 12.5% alcohol.


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Make Mine A Double

Wine Review: Maison Ambroise Bourgogne Aligoté and Domaine Michel Lafarge Bourgogne Aligoté

Aligoté is on the comeback trail, a grape which used to looked down upon for its acidity and rusticity is now producing treasured wines, especially in its homeland of greater Burgundy.  I recently praised one inexpensive specimen of Bourgogne Aligoté from Lidl, but now we have two more accomplished examples from well reputed producers:

Maison Ambroise Bourgogne Aligoté 2017

Maison Ambroise Bourgogne Aligoté

Maison Ambroise have been a favoured Burgundy producer of mine for several years.  The family grow and source grapes from 20 hectares split over 20 different appellations.  Of those available in Ireland, the Hautes Côtes de Nuits white and Côtes de Nuits Villages red are excellent mid range wines.  The entry level here is the red and white pair of Lettre d’Eloïse, while there are other treats available such as the stunning Nuits-St-Georges “Haut Pruliers”.

Ambroise’s Aligoté tucks in just behind the Lettre d’Eloïse Chardonnay in the range.  It has an intriguing nose of pear, citrus and herbs.  Textbook strong acidity make this a fresh wine, but fleshy texture and ripe citrus notes also give it some body.  There’s also a strong mineral streak which is almost metallic in character.  This is a tangy, mouth-watering and delicious example of the grape.  Ambroise themselves suggest pairing it with fish, and especially Sushi.

  • ABV: 12.5%
  • RRP: €20
  • Stockists: The Wine Pair; Avoca; Le Caveau Kilkenny; MacGuiness wines; Redmonds of Ranelagh; Martins Off License; Station to Station wines; Listons
  • Source: purchased from The Wine Pair

Domaine Michel Lafarge Raisins Dorés Bourgogne Aligoté 2018

If Ambroise is small with 20 hectares, then Domaine Michel Lafarge is even smaller at about half the size.  Based in Volnay, the Domaine is now run by Frédéric and his daughter Clothilde, the second and third generation respectively.  The estate is certified organic and biodynamic, with a low-intervention approach to winemaking.  

Whereas Ambroise’s vines are 40 years old, Lafarge’s Aligoté vines are more than twice that.  After whole-cluster pressing, fermentation takes place spontaneously with wild yeast in stainless steel tanks.  The wine is then matured between three and six months in older oak barrels, depending on the vintage.  Before bottling the wine may be fined and / or filtered, again vintage-dependent.

I don’t think I’m doing this bottle of Raisins Dorés (Golden Grapes) a disservice by saying that it’s fairly similar to the Ambroise, but more so: aromas and flavours are much more concentrated, there’s more smoke and fleshy texture, and such a long finish.  It’s almost as though this is the wine that Riesling and Albariño want to be when they grow up.

  • ABV: 12.5%
  • RRP: €32
  • Stockists: the current allocation of 32 bottles for Ireland has already sold out.
  • Source: media sample

Conclusion

There’s no doubt that the Lafarge is the better of these two wines in my eyes (or should that be “in my mouth”?), but the real question is their comparative quality to price ratio.  Which is the better value for money?  The extremely low availability of the Lafarge take it out of the buying equation right now, but I’d say that the two wines are equal in the VFM stakes.  If you just want to spend €20 then buy the Ambroise, but if you can spend just over €30 and can find the Lafarge wine then snap it up!


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