Lascar Carmenere 2013

My first taste of this grape variety. I read that '"Carménère" originates from the French word for crimson (carmin)' and was once grown as a blending grape in Bordeaux, as per modern day Petit Verdot.

I took a gamble on this primarily on its price (£5.75) and the positive comments from Wine Society members on their site.

What it does have in common with some Bordeaux is the nose: distinct pencil lead and earthy fruit. In fact, it smells a lot better than it tastes, although the pallet itself is decent enough: bramble, earth, medium body. Very respectable given the absurdly low price. 

Why it is mainly grown in Chile rather than France? Apparently it never recovered from Phylloxera in France. Chilean growers thought they were growing a variant of Merlot until 1994! It would be interesting to taste this alongside a 100% merlot to see if similarities are obvious.  

Cerro Syrah, Chapa Valley, 2012

We are promised 'mint-tinged cherry fruit with notes of toasty oak'.

There is a strange, vaguely herby edge but it's totally dominated by its acidity. Way lighter than any other syrah/shiraz I've tried. The fruit is pretty sour, frankly: highly acidic and very dry.

Thus M&S 100% recent record comes to an end: a poor use of £8.50. I've never heard of the Chapa Valley and perhaps this is the reason why.

Domaine La Granette 'L' Enfant Terrible' Picopoul de Pinet

Sensationally good white. Initially the deep straw yellow colour leads you towards white burgundy. This illusion is further fuelled by the nose (honeysuckle, apricots?) and the initial fruit burst on the pallet. What follows is what sets it apart: really refreshing salinity.

At £8.50 (34wines.com) this is a strong contender for the best value white I've ever had.

Grand Vin de Glenelly 2008

£14 (Wine Society). Heady, powerful mixture of what looks like classic bordeaux blend but is in fact 40% shiraz, 39% cabernet sauvignon, 14% petit verdot and 7% merlot.

Classy structured fruit. Hard to imagine getting anything else as fruity, savoury, cedary and satisfying at this price outside Stellenboch. I shall return for more of this. It would be good on Christmas day.

Domaine de Florianne Fleurie 2009

All is forgiven! It may be the several glasses of pinot noir I had prior to tasting it but this gamay seems to have improved massively since last time (approx a year ago?). Clean, dry back cherry fruity, underpinned by a dry, faint peppery finish. Light, supple and refreshing. Everything I'd want from a Cru Beaujolais in this price bracket.

What does this tell us? Beaujolais from this vintage benefits from extended aging? Or is it just the context I drank it in. Luckily there are 2 bottles left for further experimentation.

2013 Bordeaux - why bother?

Interesting comment from OW Loeb:

As you have probably gathered from the resounding silence from OWL, we did not – again – go out to Bordeaux for the annual primeur junket, which took place last week.  In fact I was in South Africa with a fine body of men - the wine committee of a London Club; much more productive and much more fun!

 

The Bordeaux wine market has completely lost its way in recent years, and needs to be 're-set', to get back to basics, and re-connect with its traditional clientèle.  My first primeur vintage was 1978.  In those days only good vintages were sold, or, more importantly bought, 'en primeur'.  The prices were low because the château owners were getting quick cash (how sensible) and us merchants were able to make a decent margin (even more sensible) for all the work involved (there is much more work than with a straight forward sale from stock).

 

Now they try to sell totally indifferent vintages (such as 2013) for absurd prices, in the full knowledge that – in all probability – their wines will still be available at the same price (or cheaper….) in five, six, eight years' time; and us poor merchants make a pathetically small turn to boot.

 

Why do we bother, I hear you cry!  Well, we don't.  We will return to the Bordeaux primeur market when the next vintage demands that we taste it, and we will hope against hope that, despite the wines being worth tasting, the prices will be sensible (eternal optimist, me).

 

There you have it, rant of the day.  We will leave you in peace now, and wish you a very happy Easter,

Chris

Chris Davey O W Loeb & Co. Ltd

Ionos, Peloponnese white

£6.50 (WS), 11.5%

From the Peloponnese area (I read that this has sub-regions called Martinis, Nemea and Patras but I don't know how Achaia fits into this, could well be this operation near Patras: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaia_Clauss).

Light, little discernable fruit initially (is this typical for a 'predominantly muscat' blend?) but some refreshing salinity later on. Very easy drinking and pleasingly low alcohol.

Domaine La Condamine L'Eveque Cotes de Thongue 2012

£6.50 (Wine Society).

The label suggests syrah and perhaps cabernet savignon? Yet the WS spiel claims mostly syrah with some mourvedre. In any case, the nose is highly savoury - dried black olives is the closest I can get.

Palette is velvety, slightly herby. This seems to be a common feature of the syrah/shiraz I've been exploring recently and it has much to recommend it. Not a million miles from the more moderate malbecs?

Interesting that the spiel says that it's made with 'a nod to the southern Rhone'. I can't detect any Rhone like flavour (no bad thing) but you feel that they need to write that to get people interested. In 20 years time perhaps they won't need any cross dressing and 'Languedoc style' will have a cachet of its own?

This is produced in Nezignan-L'Eveque which we must have driven passed many times on our way to Agde, Valras-Plage etc: it seems to be equidistant from Tourbes and Pezenas.

Cotes du Rhone - Villages 2010

£7 from Sainsburys so expectations were low given their recent form. Bought as part of a recent foray into Syrah/Shiraz country (more on that to follow). It is in fact a syrah/granache blend (fairly typical for Rhone, I'm told).

Bizarre smell of smoked mackerel initially. Not unpleasant but odd. This gives way to a slatey bramble smell that's backed up by the pallet. Medium bodied. Doesn't have the cool minerality of some Faugères (but then why would it - granache is the only real link here) and no sign of the 'spicy' quality promised by the back label. Still, for a £7 stab from a Sainsburys Local you could do much worse.