A Beautiful Sauvignon Blanc from A Great Napa Vineyard

Earlier in the year I was given a bottle Hagafen Sauvignon Blanc 2010, by a friend who had just returned from a trip to San Francisco. The vineyard and tasting room is situated on the Silverado Trail, one mile south of the renowned Stags Leap District; they also have two vineyards on the eastern benchland of Napa. Founded by Irit and Ernie Weir in 1979, with the aim of this is to produce high quality fine wines and according to Jewish dietary laws, producing wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah (Shiraz), Riesling and Zinfandel in small lots, which results in a total production of only 8,000 cases.

On pouring the wine you got a bright but very pale Apple green colour, with quite pronounced aromas of citrus, grapefruit and lime, I then got a tiny hint of stone fruit in the background. On the palate, the favours came across as the aromas, grapefruit, lime and again that tiny hint of stone fruit. Which were just fantastic, along with this it had just the right amount of acidity to go with the fruit favours and make your mouth water.

I have to admit, if I hadn't know it was a Sauvignon Blanc, embarrassingly I have to say I could have mistaken it for a Riesling. It was an excellently balanced wine that was very refreshing and thoroughly enjoyable to drink. If you can get hold of a bottle then I'd definately recommend it, with the added bonus that it's Kosher, just in case you needed it to be!

Having realised that I had got very out of touch with whites, I felt I needed to re-associate my self with some of the great white grapes. I was fortunate enough to spending a week’s holiday in San Francisco, and took the opportunity to hire a car and drive up to Napa with the plan to taste as many whites as I could. Having tasted this Sauvignon Blanc we headed first of all to Hagafen’s tasting room, and really started to understand the difference between this and their Rieslings, and they were fantastic, so much so, I bought a bottle of their White Riesling, Rancho Wieruszowski Vineyard 2010, looking forward to reviewing it soon!

Sunday Lunch with Australia's First Families of Wine

The other weekend saw the latest instalment in Andrew’s (Spittoon) series of secret tastings known as ARSE (Andrew’s Really Secret Event, just in case thought I was being rude)as usual we were thrown a few clues, and a couple of red herrings, as to the location and theme for this one. Our only piece of real fact had been that we were to meet outside Farringdon station in central London for just after 12, with note pads and tweeting devices!

On route to the venue we were all trying to figure out where we were going, St Johns was fully booked we’d been told, and Vinoteca was closed on Sundays, we were all rather confused, which I have to say for me isn’t difficult. We arrived at our destination, now even more confused than ever, it in fact was Vinoteca, who had very kindly agreed to open and cook Sunday lunch for us and Australia’s First Families of Wine.

Australia’s First Families of Wine are 12 of the most prestigious and oldest family owned vineyards in Australia, they are McWilliam’s; Tyrrell’s; Howard Park; Tahbilk; Brown Brothers; De Bortoli; d’Arenberg; Jim Barry; Henschke; Yalumba; Wakefield and Campbells, I have to admit it was a real honour and pleasure to be in the same room with so many of Australia’s great wine makers.

After the initial meet and greet, it was time to get on the with task in hand and start tasting the wines they had brought with them;

McWilliams Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon 2005 – Loaded full of aromas and flavours of citrus, with a hint of toasty/nutty characteristics starting to develop. There was a touch of minerality coming through from the background and a great level of acidity; producing a wonderfully complex wine.

Tyrrell’s Winemaker Selection Vat 1 Hunter Semillon 2003 – As with the Semillon above full of citrus flavours, with toasty characteristics starting to develop and just the right balance of acidity, which again produced a stunningly beautiful wine.

Howards Park Riesling 2009 – With pronounced aromas of citrus with a touch of minerality coming through afterwards, great levels of acidity, with the fruit giving you what you think is a touch of sweetness the wine is completely bone dry. I have to say a stunning example of Riesling.

Tahbilk Viognier 2009 – This had floral and stone fruit aromas, with a touch of citrus thrown into the mix, again it was completely bone dry and perfectly balanced acidity, a fantastically refreshing drink.

Brown Brothers Banksdale Chardonnay 2008 – This had great flavours of stone fruit with a hint of vanilla, from the 5 months of maturation in oak it receives, beautifully balanced with the acidity. Exactly what you’d expect from a limited release Brown Brothers wine.

De Bortoli Estate Chardonnay 2008 – Quite pronounced flavours of citrus with a touch of stone fruit in the background, you got a very rich creamy mouth feel to the wine from the Malolactic fermentation that has occurred. There’s a great level of acidity that cuts through this to give you a stunningly beautiful wine that’s starting to show great complexity.

d’Arenderg Money Spider Roussanne 2009 – Great stone fruit flavours with a touch of minerality coming through from the background, it had quite a rich, oily mouth feel which the high level of acidity cut through perfectly.

Jim Barry The Lodge Hill Riesling 2008 – As you’d expect from Riesling it had loads of stone fruit and citrus flavours with a great minerality coming through, again perfect level of acidity which just made your water.

Henschke Mount Edlestone Shiraz 2005 – This delivered full on jammy dark fruit with some almost medicinal characteristics coming through, a good level of acidity with beautifully fine tannins combine to make a great wine.

Yalumba The Scribbler Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 -  This had blackcurrant fruit with a touch of spice and smokey characteristics from the oak ageing, again just the right amount of acidity and fine tannins combine to create a great structured and complex wine.

Wakefield Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 – Really pronounced cherry flavours with some medicinal characteristics coming through to combine with fine tannins and just enough acidity, you got a stunning wine.

Campbells Bobbie Burns Durif 2006 -  This gave you loads of dark berry fruit and spice with a hint of oak/cedar coming through, really fine tannins and just enough acidity gave this wine great structure and made it very interesting.

After we’d gone through all the wines and had a chat with each of the wine makers, we were served a stunning lunch of salt baked celeriac, roast lamb and a pear and almond tart which was served with a glass of Campbells Muscat Topaque which just went so perfectly together.

I have to say it was a fantastic day, and a big thanks to Andrew for organising the event, Vinoteca for allowing us to use their venue and cooking us a great lunch, and of course to Australia’s First Families of Wine for taking the time to come over and show us their great wines.

An Argentinian Malbec from Patagonia

I was in my local supermarket a few weeks ago taking advantage of their 25% off when you bought 6 or more bottles when I came across their new wine section, so, as you do, I took a look at what they had to offer. I came across a bottle of Argentinean Reserve Malbec from the Vinalba winery, I reviewed a bottle of Torrontes from them a while, which I actually found to be an excellent wine, although The Wine Sleuth did recommend that I try one from the Salta region, which I still have to do!

 Vinalba have two main vineyard sites, Mendoza and Patagonia, with the later being the site used to grow the grapes for this wine, actually, to be more precise, the Rio Negro valley. Patagonia is the southern most geographical region in South America and covers an area across both Argentina and Chile, with the southern end of the Andes Mountains running through it, and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans on either side.

On pouring, it had a deep ruby colour that was almost opaque; it had wonderfully pronounced aromas of dark fruit and chocolate. On the palate you got amazingly ripe fruit flavours of blackcurrant and cherries, followed by vanilla and finally a touch of smoke thrown into the mix for good measure, these all came at you wave after wave, which just excited the senses.

This was a wonderfully complex wine, with great fruit and spice characteristics that I would definitely recommend, it would go great with a roast or lamb cooked pretty much however you’d want, especially for around the £9 price mark. 

A Russian River Pinot Noir

I reviewed a bottle of Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay for the blog last year, which I have to admit I wasn’t a big fan of, not that their was anything wrong with the wine. So I was delighted when I received a bottle of their Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2007, as its one of my favourite grapes. I’m always a bit dubious about Pinot Noir from regions that predominately have hot climates, such as California, it’s such a difficult grape to grow even in the most perfect climate, but I thought I’d give it a go.

Situated about 1 hour north of San Francisco and just inland from the Pacific coast, it benefits from having a cooling fog that descends across the valley, helping to drop the daytime temperatures by as much as 40 degrees. This also helps to extend the growing season giving the grapes time to reach their full flavour maturity, making it the perfect place to grow most type of grapes.

In the glass it had a deep ruby colour, with wonderfully pronounced aromas of black cherries, blackberries and damsons, once you got through all the fruit you then got the sweet spice of cinnamon and clove, intertwined with a hint of smoke. On the palate all of the aromas came through wave after wave and combining beautifully, but instead of the smoke, the oak came through in a meatier characteristic. It had quite a low level of acidity, but it was just enough and soft silky tannins that just glided of your tongue.

This is an absolutely stunning full bodied red, with great flavours and complexity that I would highly recommend; it’s great to drink on its own and will also go amazingly well with a roast. It’s currently available from Waitrose, Ocado and Everywine for £21.99; yes I know it’s a bit pricey but definitely worth every penny.

A Secret Tasting with Linton Park Wines

Finborough Wine Cafe

The other weekend was the 3^rd instalment of Andrew Barrow’s (Spittoon) secret tastings known as ARSE (Andrew’s Really Secret Event), just in case you thought I was being crude. All we knew to was that we were to meet outside a district line tube station, to be named later, on the 3^rd at 12pm, how could I resist the intrigue!

Although we were given several cryptic clues as to our meeting point, it was kept secret right up to the last possible moment; it turned out to be West Brompton tube station. On arrival our names were checked off the register, which made me feel like I was on a school trip, and we moved on to our first venue, the Finborough Wine Cafe. We started the day with a glass of Morton New Zealand sparkling, which was a blend of all three of the Champagne grapes, giving you great flavours and a good level of acidity, producing a beautifully refreshing drink, and a great way to start the day.

Hennie - The winemaker

After we’d had the opportunity to get to know the others on the tasting we were duly informed that we were moving on to the next venue, which, after putting my jacket back on and everything back in my bag, turned out to be the tasting room downstairs! When we got downstairs we were greeted by Hennie (winemaker) and Neil from Linton Park Wines, who were here to showcase their wines and give us some insight into them.

Based in the Paarl region of South Africa and nestling in the foothills of the Groenberg Mountain in Wellington Valley, they have 290 Hectares growing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Situated 500m above sea level, this helps to provide a cooler climate with the various oak leaf soils, all helping to produce some fantastic growing conditions and some great wines. Fortunately for us, Hennie had brought wines from all the grapes above and across two ranges, their standard and reserve.

Linton Park Sauvignon Blanc 2008 – With wonderfully herbaceous aromas and flavours, a low level of acidity, and a good length of flavour all combined to produce a fabulous wine, definitely my favourite of the whites.

Linton Park Chardonnay 2009 – With pronounced fruit aromas with a buttery edge and a touch of spice, good level of acidity cuts through its richness. Not over powered by the oak, this was a beautifully rich wine that was very enjoyable, and I’m not a fan of oaked Chardonnay.

Linton Park Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 – A deep ruby colour, with red berries and chocolate aromas, on the palate you got these with a touch of jammy plums, combined with a good level of fine tannins.

Linton Park Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 – This had dark fruit and oak aromas and palate, very fine, soft tannins, creating a very refined and beautiful wine.

Linton Park Merlot 2007 – Great jammy dark fruit and oak aromas and palate, again with fine tannins and a good level of acidity producing a well balanced and enjoyable wine.

Linton Park Reserve Merlot 2005 – As with the merlot above, but much more intense oak/kernel aromas and flavours than fruit, as would have expected a more refined version of the previous wine.

Linton Park Shiraz 2008 – Wonderfully pronounced aromas and palate of peppery spice with a touch of red berries in the background, with a hint of sweetness from the oak. Fine velvety tannins and a good acidity produce an amazingly well balanced and beautiful wine.

Linton Park Reserve Shiraz 2007 – With pronounced dark jammy fruit, spice, chocolate and smokey aromas, you got all of these on the palate with velvety tannins, all produced an amazingly complex and absolutely stunning wine. Which I can safely say got the majority vote as our favourite wine of the day.

After we’d gone through all of these, Hennie had one last challenge for us, he produced an unlabeled bottle for us to taste and guess the grape, year and dominate aroma. Which I have to reluctantly admit all of us wine geeks got massively wrong which was a little embarrassing, personally I thought it was a Pinotage, but it turned out to be a 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon.

It was a fantastic day, with great wine and fantastic company, I’d just like to thank Hennie and Neil for taking the time out to go through their wines with us, and of course, Andrew for organising a great day, roll on ARSE4.