Terret, Les Terres Noirs, 2009

Outstanding value at £5.57 (WS). Plenty of interesting flavour. No hint of the excessive acidity than is often passed off as 'bone dry'. Will make a decent aperitif. Apparently 'thrives in the hot, arid conditions of France's Mediterranean coastline'. I don't recall coming across it last summer but it's likely that we drove past some vineyards of the stuff it hails from the Herault. Yet another grape variety I had never heard of until now. Would be a good one to have in bulk re book clubs ect.

Ranquet Lafleur, Carignan Vieilles Vignes, Vin de Pays de l'Hérault, 2009

Described by the WS as a 'soft, spicy and fruity red'. Agree with the last two adjectives but 'soft' is perhaps a slight stretch. Rather too heavy for me (although the current subzero temperatures make it more appealing). In no way offensive and at £5.50 it is good value. Reminiscent of the Armandieres and a similar price. would be a good one to buy in bulk for the 'give me something dark and plummy' brigade.

2008 Domaine Bel Air Bourgueil "Vingt Lieux Dits"

Oddbins fails yet again. At £11 this was very disappointing. Nothing like the Bourgueil I had from Majestic some time ago. No nose to speak of. Thin. very little fruit. Chilling didn't help.

Surely the jig will soon be up for Oddbins? They do well from the 'nip out to buy a couple of bottles' demographic but surely they are vulnerable to somebody who comes along and services this crowd without the overpriced sumugness?

Still, I seem to find myself in there from time to time so I guess I'm guilty of hypocrisy here...

Coteaux du Lyonnais, Domaine des Hauts de Chasselay, 2008

2nd wine form the inaugural Wine Society order.

100% Gamay from a region that looks to be just east of Beaujolais. The overwhelming sentiment is one of incredible lightness. Pale red in colour and very faint fruit. The label has red currents on it and that can't be a coincidence. Just the faintest of edges to it that suggest Gamay. Feels almost like a rose. It comes in at £6.75 which probably rules it out for all bar al fresco drinking on a hot summers day.

The Society's White Burgundy, Macon-Villages

Much trepidation as I opened this. To some extent the wisdom of my Wine Society membership fee will stand and fall on the quality of it's own range wines. This one came in at £7.50 thus, not everyday drinking, more mid range.

Massively impressed with this. Real buttery, slightly honeyed minerality to it. Reminded me a great deal of the fabled St Véran Domaine de la Croix Senaillet which now seems to have shot up to £16 a bottle or even higher (further evidence that St Veran is no longer a fertile hunting ground for sensibly priced white burgundy, if that isn't a contradiction in terms). This is arguably the best value wine I've had all year. Will be stocking up on this without a doubt.

Anjou-Villages Brissac, La Croix de Mission, Domaine des Rochelles, 2005

One from the first Wine Society batch. Given where this wine originates from, I assumed this was going to be 100% Cabernet Franc and ordered it on this basis. On first inspection I thought it tasted different from the other Loire reds I've had but managed to convince myself I could detect some traces of what I expected - classic example of the power of suggestion and a great argument for bind tasting - and went as far as chilling it! Now I realise it is 90% Cabernet Sauvingnon and 10% Cabernet Franc I have set about convincing myself that I recognise the strains of the former! Anyway I do think there is a noteworthy point here in as much as the two grapes do seem to share some similarities in terms of their tannins. Both seem to have that very abrupt, dry finish I associate with some the the Chilean Motes Alpha pure Cabernet Savignon's I've had over the years. How did it taste? Nice enough without being hugely memorable. It had some purity and was not unbalanced but worth £11? Not sure. I will stash one away and try it again in a few years time (apparent it will keep well for another 5).

Vina Arana - Rioja

Louis Latour - Pinot Noir

Chateau de Chamboureau - Savenniers

Wine Evening - Chateau Thivin

I thought this might be the perfect forum for discussing the wines we had over the weekend, and maybe also to discuss and arrange any further evenings.

I've not got time to comment tonight on all six but I'll post pictures of them all and pass some initial comments on the wine I supplied.

Cote de Brouilly - Chateau Thivin - Cuvee Zaccharie

This wine wasn't actually the bottle I intended, and although it is slightly more expensive I find that it lacks the peppery finish (which can also be found in a few Cabernet Francs) of the Cuvee Chapelle from the same chateau. However this wine does have a very light touch with a short but not sharp finish. I could drink this by the pint.

Montus 2006

This evening I cracked open one of the 2006 Chateau Montus that I bought en primeur around 18 months ago.

Interesting flavour. My fears were that is would be have the same rough tannic edge that it had one year ago. Those fears were misplaced.

The overriding feeling is that this wine has much in common with the (small) number of Cahors I've had: dark colour, inky, dry, earthy, plenty of fruit, weird kind of fruit though. Will it improve with age? Still pretty interesting but I expected something different.

Moulin-à-Vent 2008 Château de la Terrière

As if to prove the point (see last post) I present this shockingly good value Beaujolais:

Majestic yet again prove they can bring home the bacon when it comes to fairly priced, perfectly acceptable Beaujolais. Not sure it merits it's RRP of £9.99 (takes it dangerously close to Thivin country - a different flavour league) but at the multibuy price of £5.99 is absurdly good value. Some black cherry on the nose followed by a very well rounded attack and a hint of pepper on the finish.

If this kind of product really does fly with the British public (and why else would Majestic devote so much effort to them) surely somebody could market Loire reds in a similar fashion? Perhaps there just isn't the supply of such wines at the right price?

2008 Coteaux du Tricastin, Cuvée Traditionnelle, Cellier des Dauphins, France

I gave this a try whilst struggling to find anything interesting at the Tesco's in St Andrwews. I think I paid about £6 for it but I see that Waitrose had it on offer at £4.50 earlier in the year.

It starts well with nose that seems to be common to the (small number) of red Rhones I've experimented with - velvety with hints of damson. On the pallette it proceeds to a brutal attack of totally uncoordinated fruit before moving onto a finish that can only be described as bordering on harsh.

Sadly this provides more ammunition to by suspicions surrounding reds form the part of the world: far too much baked fruit about them which, if I wanted (which I don't), I would eat a Jam roly-poly.

Granted it's cheap, and perhaps this also proves the point about just how hard it is getting to find palatable reds under £6, regardless of region. Still, the Armandieres managed it with a comparable blend of the same varieties.

I note this brainless review from Jane McQuitty:

[those] after a keenly priced, ripe, racy, grenachebased, unoaked rhône, dominated by a seductive, spicy, peppery dollop of syrah, will smack their lips over this

Is she high? Whatever The Times is paying her it is far too much.

St Nicolas de Bourgueil AC 2008 Les Graviers

Brief report from a very successful evening at the Hotel du Vin in Harrogate. Of particular note was the wine they served with the main: St Nicolas de Bourgueil AC 2008 Les Graviers. A very pleasant 100% cabernet franc which had loads of fruit, backbone and nose but still seemed to stay very light and supple. Went very well with the roast pork. Vine Trail have it for a tenner (ex VAT) which seems good value. However, given our domestic situation, I must strive to keep the purchases at a lower price than that for the time being.....

Seems the region is a very small one located between Anger and Tours. I wonder if the weather is clement enough at that latitude to make it a contender for 2012?

Chateau Dubrand & Domaine du Point du Jour's Cuvée Vieilles Vignes

A pulsating North London derby last night: Spurs fist win for 11 years! What would it have looked like in 3D I wonder - Neil must be jumping...

Two reds were also sampled.

1st up was a 2006 Chateau Dubrand. I bought three of these in the final, fateful order from wineandco. One which was handled with such spectacular ineptness that I vowed to avoid them evermore.

The wine is still young and I think it may be possible to attribute it's somewhat disappointing taste to this feature. I say that because, whilst there was some initial fruit (I'm not able to say what exactly), the experience was dominated by rather strong rough tannins. I read that these should soften with age and that softening process will change the overall flavour into something more harmonious. However, given that I couldn't detect much identifiable fruit (pleasant or otherwise) at this stage, I'm not convinced it will improve a great deal. It may end up like some the the aged Chateau Beaumont's I've drank with my Old Man - smooth but characterless with little discernible fruit. At £9 p/bottle it doesn't disgrace itself. It will be interesting to come back to it in a couple of years (I now have two remaining).

2nd up was an Fleurie of notable distinction: Domaine du Point du Jour's Cuvée Vieilles Vignes (2006) which came in at £12.61 per bottle. Massive depth of flavour here. Could this be the Vieilles Vignes effect at last? Violets and raspberries up front with a oaky, complex finish. Very high quality in every sense and must be considered a real contender to the straight Thivin - certianly as good in terms of value. This a a world away from the Deuboeuf Fleuuries I've had this year, far far more harmonious and interesting. I think the Duboeuf was about £9 a bottle (or maybe £8 on a multibuy from Majestic?) so it it worth the extra £3-4? I would say so.

Beaujolais Nouveau

I gather that this is rather late to enjoy 2009 Nouveau. According to Wikipedia, it's at it's best within 2-3 months of bottling.

The Duboeuf website tell us that 'Beaujolais Nouveau is a purple-pink wine that is particularly lightweight, even by the standards of Beaujolais.' Well, not this one by a long stretch. It's tastes very different from expected. Much darker (inky colour I associate with heavy stuff like Costieres de Nimes) and heavier (quite a robust, dry fruity flavour). Bizarre.

Interesting article in Slate about the perils of Noveau:

http://www.slate.com/id/2074387/

...although things may have improved since it was written in 2002.

Apparently Germany and the USA are the major recipients of exported Nouveau which may explain it's rarity on UK shelves.

Cuve La Capelle

To another of Dobsons Chatueau Thivin's: Cuve Lc Chapelle.

Much lighter than the straight Thivin with less earthy curranty fuit. Has more of a peppery finish. Seems much more like a typical Cru Beaujolais. Very plesant but I can't see why it costs 15-odd quid.

M&C's birthday wine - 2004 Clos L'Abbay

I think I've had this one in the cellar for at least a couple of years. I had planned to drink it with M&C but their lack of meat eating and the intervention of kids means opportunities are thin on the ground. A better plan was to drink it with Mr G whilst cooking an epic meal.

Mr G raved about it and I would agree it had much to reccomend it. One thing I did feel was noteworthy was the fact that it was noticably dominated by round soft plumy flavours that may indicate that Merlot is calling the shots here. I say 'may' because I've read that right bank wines such as St Emillion and Pommerol tend to have much higher Merlot content than say, Medoc wines so I hesitate to say that this is what we were picking up but it's certainly a possibility. It didn't seem to have much in the way of complexity but was a treat nontheless. Having said that, I believe it comes in at over £25 (a 2005 is £35 with National Wine) so it falls down on the value side.

Certainly, it had a good deal more character than a 2005 Chateau Greysac that we also drained whilst cooking: dry faintly ceadery finish but very little fruit on the attack.

Incidentally, we had a massive dissaopointment with the main course. Namley, a £20 chunk of 'fillet' steak. It was tough, stringy, flavourless and generally a dreadful peice of meat that did it's best to ruin a great afternoon/evening.

Saint Amour

Two St Amour offerings from Nick Dobson that both come in at around £12.

First up is Domaine des Champs Grilles:



A visually stunning bottle that I'm happy to report had the substance to match the style. Plently of pleasing sappy gammay fruit burst and a elegant finish. Overall, a very harmonious wine. Well worth the 12 quid. Can it be differentiated in style from The Brouillys such as Chatuea Thivin? It seems to have less weight, less dry finish and more subtle fruit. I reminds me of the first St. Amour we ever tried - a Debouf offering which famously ended up costing 70p a bottle thanks to a balls-up at the till in Sainsburys - vegetal and violet-ish and very elegant.

Still, given the next example, I'm not sure how typical either are of the cru.


The Dominae Matray couldn't be more different. Much heavier attack with notes of plum/damson. To me it felt much more like a straight pinot noir. I would not have guessed it was a Gammy. Much minerality but it seemed less interesting than the Champs Grilles. It does tell me that pure Gammay can taste very different in different hands.

Interesting to note that Saint Amour is a stones throw from St. Veran where we have had such success with well priced white burgundy. I read that the granite gives way to limestone accross this boundary. I wonder if there is any cross over between Chardonnay and Gammy producers?

cooking wine

Just added a bottle and a half of 'Yellow Creek' to a vat of Spag. Bol. God knows where it came from (free gift, perhaps?) but it's lable contained no information about the grape, or country/year of origin. It looked thin and harsh and the bottle seemed to be made of a very weird type of glass, which could have perhaps been plastic?

Anyway, the point is that the Spag. Bol tasted as good as is always does which confirms my suspicions about the all bar the vaguest 'wine-like' flavour being destroyed by stew-type cooking. Many a recipe I've seen that asks for a bottle of burgundy to go in a beef stew. That would appear to be £15 down the drain.

Morgon

An interesting Beuajolais in Oddbins is a rare thing. A keenly priced one is rarer still. Sadly Domanie Laurent Gauthier's Morgon Grand Cras Villes-Vignes only qulifies for the former. Plenty of pepper on the finish and some pleasant fruit (strawberry?) prior to that but at £12 is must be compared to the Chateau Thivin and it would do well not to stand too close - Thivin wins hands down.

What is it with 'old vines'? I've yet to be impressed by this addition to the label. It smacks of attempts to add mystique to a wine but I'm sure there are many out there that would disagree vehemently. It would be interesting to try a old and new vine bottling where the grape, production process, terroir was identical.

Bourgueil (no idea how to pronounce that)

A cranky Eva was pacified by a ride around in a Majestic wine trolley. It was like flicking a switch! Sadly, that tactic necessitated buying some wines. Specifically, some Loire reds. The first to be tried is Pierre-Jaques Druet's 'les cent boisselees'. At 7 years, it's the oldest pure Cabernet Franc I've tasted (see previous post on this topic). Still has the dryness of the Joguet wine but is much more smooth in it's finish. I think it was about £8 if at lest two purchased but I can't find it on their site. If so I would go back for more of this. At least as interesting as many Cru Beaujolais of a similar price. I see Yapp have the 2007 at £12 which yet again makes me wonder about their mark-ups. They offer an excellent service and by far the most interesting, bullshit-free selection of wines but you do pay a premium.

The Wine Dr tells us that Bourgueil can provide good value in that it's wines are hard to distinguish from those of neighbouring Chinon but because of its anonymity it commands lower prices.

Cuvée des Amandiers Rouge 2008 Vin de Pays d'Oc

A quick note on a wine that, at £4.69 (Majestic) has to be considered outstanding value. I can't remember the last time I had a wine that was as good as this at such a keen price.

Not to give the impression that it was memorable or even very harmonious, but it certainly qualified as superplonk which is ideal for the 'caning multiple bottles' stage of the evening.

It has warmth and jammy (damson?) fruit but doesn't have the intense highly alcoholic overpowering quality that I often seem to find with low-end Languedoc-Roussillon. It's a bit like some of the Lirac/Ardèche wines I had from Yapp bros but with less intensity. Apparently the blend is Grenache & Syrah which I beleive is also widely found in Rhone wines?

Although Majestic do piss me off at times (lazy staff who are prone to bullshitting about wines which they clearly know even less that I do), you have to hand it to them when it comes to cheap french country wines. They have much to offer below £6 and, if you know what you want (i.e. not needing any advice) they are worth a go.

Cabernet Franc - ageing potantial

Just come across this article that seems to indicate that Chinon's such as the one I recently wrote about will happily age for relatively long periods:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/wine/detail?entry_id=37741

I note the following line: 'even a simple Chinon can have a long life. I recall stumbling onto a transcendent bottle of 1989 Chinon in a London pizzeria (of all places) earlier this decade, softened to mellow plum notes after about 12 years, with all the smoke and curiosity but less youthful punch. Though the Loire versions of Franc can be consumed young in all their exuberance, they take on more serious tones after a few years. By default, I now hold back most of mine for a bit, just to enjoy them more. The 2005s are just now beginning to get my attention; and it'll be several more years, I suspect, before I tackle that magnum of 2003 Joguet.'

Hmmm, my Chinon was also from the Joguet stable but was a 2007. Might be worth putting one in the cellar for a few years. www.wineandco.com have several that are around 10 year old that seem to be a similar price to those of a much younger age...which seems odd.

Beaujolais, Haut-Medoc and Sicilly

Three more to report on. First up is a staple in the form of George Deboeuf's Fleurie. It was considered good value at around £8 (majestic) but it's often closer to a tenner which take it perilously close to Chatuea Thivin country (see earlier post). For me it is not in the same league for depth of flavour. Still, it's a moderately good Beaujolais which could be worse. I just don't feel the value is there anymore. Funny how a better wine changes the scale bu which we view others.

Second up is one from a case of 12 I bought not long after moving into this house:


The motivation being the Heron connection with the Chateau's first wine and curiosity over whether second wines would bear any resemblance to fist. It has to be said they were stored upright for at least a couple of years and even when flat the conditions were pretty poor, so it's likely this wine hasn't had a fair chance. When I opened it it had plenty of forest fruit on the nose and seemed promising. On the palette there was 'nothing wrong' with the taste - no rough edges ect - but it didn't have any complexity to speak of and you couldn't say it was in any way memorable. Smooth but slightly thin? I think I paid £10 a bottle for these in 2002 so it may well be more pricey now. I see from The Wine Dr's pages that there is another second (third?) wine called L'Oratoire de Chasse Spleen.

Finally comes a wine I bought out of fondness for Sicilly. I honestly thought it was a red but it was only when I got it home and looked at it through the light that I realised it was white! I can't say I've ever done that before.....yet to try it but I read that the grape (grillo) is usually used in Marsala production!

Festive wines

Three wines to report on that I enjoyed over the festive season.














1st up was a Chinon: Charles Jouget's Les Varennes du Grand Clos. It was 100% Cabernet Franc. Had a pleasant stawbery-ish nose with meaty, dry finish. The label advised serving lightly chilled and the combination of the taste and the temperature reminded me a of some of the more weighty of the cru Beaujolais. It was a really interesting wine. New flavours and a new area to think about. However, it £15 a go (Majestic) is it worth it? Not sure.

Keeping with the cru Beaujolais theme, the send wine of note was Chatuea Thivin from Cote de Brouilly. This has an outstandingly fruity nose and initial flavour: violets, raspberries galore. The finish shows a real weightiness that I have not experienced from a Beaujolais before. I could drink this wine all day. A real find. At £11 a go this is a contended for the best wine I've had all year.

Last and certainly the most memorable was a 2000 Chateau Haut-Bages Averous from Pulliac. Apparently it is the second wine of Lynch-Bages which commands absurdly high prices. After reading about wines from this part of the Medoc, it seems that St Jullien (and to a lesser extent neighbouring Pulliac) produces wines in a style favoured by the UK market's desire for a certain type of claret that tastes 'as claret should'. This style is further described as having 'pencil shaving, cedary nose with deep complex fruit'. If so then I guess I'm in line with this particular UK preference. It was an outstanding wine and one I shall not forget in a hurry. I won't be able to do it justice here but it cretainly had the aforementioned characteristics in abundance. I think Beccy bought me this and I suspect it cost the best part of £40. It can be bought in bond at £15/bottle (wineandco.com) which would probably work out at more like £20 after VAT, duty and delivery. Still worth it for me? I think it probably is. Still, January is no the time for major outlays. Perhaps Cleon could be persuaded to go halves on a case......