A Little bit of Luxury from Northern Italy - Valtellina DOCG

Nebbiolo is one of my favourite grapes; hardly surprising when you think that it produces two of Italy’s most famous and prestigious wines - Barolo and Barbaresco. If you move further north in Piedmont you find the wines of Carema and Gattinara, however, if you move eastwards and into the Lombardy region, just along the border with Switzerland to the shores of Lake Como, you find the wine Valtellina.

Produced from Nebbiolo, or as it’s locally known Chiavennasca, the Wine Makers are also allowed to blend in another local variety, Rossola Nera, with up to 20% for the DOC or 10% for the DOCG wines. However, restrictions on harvest yields, minimum levels of alcohol, and as the wines must also be aged for two years prior to being released, unless they are Riserva which necessitates three years, means it is far from a quick process in getting the Wine to meet these specific requirements. Within the region there are several villages who are considered higher quality; Grumello, Sassella, Inferno, Valgella and Maroggia- these are, of course, indicated on the label. They also produce an Amarone style DOCG wine called Sforzato.

One of my favourite producers of these wines is Rivetti& Lauro. They produce several wines, including the really quite unique wine ‘Calis’, a white made from Pignola (another name for Nebbiolo) and Sauvignon. They also have wines from the villages of Sasella and Inferno, and produce the amazing Sforzato.

The 2012 Inferno DOCG Valtellina is produced in small quantities; only 3,300 bottles, and is 100% Nebbiolo. Grape selection is done by hand and they are destemmed before being crushed and subsequently fermented in Stainless Steel tanks. After the fermentation process, the wine is aged for two years in French oak barrels.

In the glass, the wine has a bright ruby red/purple colour to it, with pronounced aromas of Cherry, Vanilla and Clove. These come through on the palate beautifully and combines with the tannins and acidity perfectly. It drinks beautifully now and will continue to age and develop for the next ten years.

The 2011 Sforzato DOCG Valtellina goes through a very similar process as the other Valtellina DOCG wines, however there is one big difference; the grapes are dried on big wooden racks for three/ four months before crushing, in a similar way to Amarone.

The drying of the grapes first adds a real concentration to the wine, with aromas of red berry fruit, Tobacco and Truffle. On the palate, the fruit translates to significantly more wild berries with hints of Violets and Tobacco. Combine this with the fine but grippy tannins, and you have a remarkable wine that’s big, powerful and rich.

These wines really are incredible. Although certainly a little harder to find, if you manage it I can assure you, you will not be disappointed. 

A Legend from Chablis - Samuel Billaud

No sooner than we'd finished with the 2015 Burgundy En Primeur, than I got an invite to a 2016 vintage tasting for Samuel Billaud, who's wines I've been a fan of for a number of years.

For those who don't know, Samuel was originally the head winemaker at the family domain, Billaud-Simon. with Samuel at the helm, the domain quickly become one of the top producer in Chablis with an enviable reputation. A few years ago, Samuel decided to go out on his own purchasing fruit from friends in the region and under his own name. With the sale of Billaud-Simon in 2014 to Domaine Faveley, Samuel managed to gain back control of 1/6th of the domaine that was his and was able to use the fruit to expand his range and buy less from other farmers.

2016 has been another exceptionally trying vintage for Burgundy, rain, hail and frosts have decimated there crops with some farmers reportedly losing up to 70% of there crop, this has come on the back of several already small vintages. While yields have been small, the quality of the fruit has again been exception, helping to give the winemakers a good start. The wines are showing great poise and depth of flavour from the fruit that has then been balanced perfectly with the minerality and soft but bountiful acidity. These all helped to create an amazing glass of wine, that as you moved up through his range from the village Chablis to the 1er Cru then the Grand Cru showed a greater depth and complexity each time.

These wines I have to say were absolutely stunning, you just couldn't find a fault in any of them, and these were only the tank samples, bottling won't begin till August and will continue in waves till probably the end of the year. If your a fan of Chablis then these are ones you definitively do not want to miss out on, view our offer here!

A Tasting with Man 'O War from Wahieke Island New Zealand

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Sara Fogarty from Man 'O War wines, and taste through there current releases and a couple of library samples, so we could gauge how they will age. Now as the title suggests Man 'O War are based on Wahieke Island, New Zealand, in the Hauraki Gulf, east of Auckland on the North island.

The estate was originally 4 farms that were all purchased in the early 80's and combined to create a massive 4,500 acre estate in the north eastern corner of the island. Only 150 acres across 76 sites are under vine, and this is still a working farm with sheep, olives, fruit and your even able to get married at the chapel on the estate. Each of the vineyard sites has been selected due to it's facing, soil and microclimate for specific varieties, the one grape they don't grow though is Pinot Noir as they are too far north for it, they concentrate on the varieties from Bordeaux and the Northern Rhone for their reds. They also have a very interesting take on naming vineyard sites, with names such as Lunatics, Madmans, Asylum and Bitch just to give you an idea, and their wines as you'll see below.

Cliff's Vineyard

Ponui Island

Madmans Vineyard

                                                   

The vineyards started to be planted in 1992 by Matt Allen who is still Vineyard Manager today, the first vintage was produced 1996 and they didn't release any wine till 2006! Then in 2008 Duncan McTavish came on board as Winemaker having previously worked for Waipara Springs and before that Pegasus Bay (one of my favourite vineyards). The one thing that struck me the most during the introduction to the vineyard was the ethos of 'for the future', they are all about taking there time getting it right and making sure everything is in place for the future generations to continue and develop.

On to the tasting, we started with;

2013 Gravestone
This is a blend of 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Semillon, a classic Bordeaux blend, not usually one of my favourites but this one I really enjoyed. 20% of the Sauvignon and all of the Semillon go into pucheons to give the wine a touch more richness and some gentle spice while retaining the fruit and refreshing minerality perfectly balanced with the acidity.

2014 Valhalla
100% oaked Chardonnay, with 25% new oak, 5% Acacia and 70% old oak. This is a wonderfully big rich wine, with a lovely buttery texture that's cut through beautifully by the acidity as this wine does not go through maololactic fermentation. On the nose and palate you lovely hints of sweet spices, green apples and grapefruit folowed up with the touch of minerality.


2014 Bellerophon
This is Duncan's hommage to Cote Rotie, and is a cofermented Syrah (97%) and Viognier (3%), they ferment 30% in whole clusters and age it for 18 mths, 25% in new oak and the remaining 75% in ols seasoned oak. This is a pretty yet powerful wine, with lovely dark fruit, and hints of raspberry, violets and white pepper which all combined beautifully with the acidity and the tannins.

2009 Dreadnought (no longer available)
100% Syrah which 100% see's oak, 12% new for 11 months, giving you big rich dark fruit and lashings of white pepper,a lovely acidity and silky fine tannins. As all these combine it gives the wine a real savoury character which is lovely and lingers around on your palate for what seems like forever.

2013 Dreadnought (current vintage)
For this year 50% went into new oak and the other 50% went into old seasoned oak. This wine shows all the same characteristics as the 2009, it does have slightly more youthful character to the fruit and spice, the tannins while still fine are far more present and acidity has softened out as much as the 2009 but it's drinking fantastically now and will continue to develop over the coming years.

2014 Dreadnought (not released yet)
The only way to really describe this is that it's a slightly more youthful version of the 2013, needs time to integrate and soften out, but when it does, it will be pretty magnificent.

2010 Ironclad (current vintage)
This is their red Bordeaux blend, 39% Cab Franc, 30% Merlot, 18% Cab Sauv, 7% Malbec and 6% Petit Verdot, Yes this is a big old blend, but a pretty stunning one at that. With lovely fruit, spice and hints of minerality to it. Combined with soft and silky tannins contributing an almost cocoa texture to the wine, this is definitely a favourite of mine.

2012 Ironclad
45% Cab Franc, 20% Merlot, 14% Petit Verdot, 13% Malbec and 8% Cab Sauv, you can really tell the reduction of Cab Sauv and increase in Petit Verdot on the nose of this wine. It has much more brighter fruit to it and the spice is very subtle in the background, but these will develop over the next couple of years, it has plenty of tannins so needs that little bit of time to help it soften out a touch.

I have to say these wines are delicious, not being a big fruit bomb style or full of dark sweet fruit, they have much more depth and complexity to them, which just helps to make them even more enjoyable and even better as they age, even just a little.

A Great Vintage - Burgundy 2015

So this week has seen pretty much the whole of Burgundy descend on London for there 2015 En Primeur tastings, and what tastings they have been.

2015 was yet another trying vintage in Burgundy, the harvest was down on the 20 year average, which after the last few small vintages has been on a downward trend. July and August proved to be challenging, with the hot dry weather they had accelerating the ripening process and thickening the skins. This brought forward the harvest for the white grapes two weeks earlier than they had originally planned for, Chablis also had it's issues with hailstorms devastating large swathes of vineyards, but with the early harvesting this has made Chablis some of the best from this vintage.

Overall the 2015 vintage has been quite spectacular, the reds are showing all the best characteristics of the 2005 and 2009 vintages having both freshness and opulence. The whites have been a bit of a mixed bag, with some being overblown and lacking acidity, from harvesting too late. While the people who harvested early really got the benefit from this with beautifully poised and balanced wines that will age well.

I have to say it has been difficult to find a bad wine this week, the quality has been at the highest level, with wines showing great ageing potential. The whites will need a little more time to hit there sweet spot, the reds however will need a little longer, the tannins are fine, but bountiful so will need a little time to soften and become silky.

The only downside has been the price, while these wines are amazing they are not cheap, 2016 has been an even smaller harvest so prices for the 2015 have had to shoulder some of that burden, then the falling euro exchange rate has put even more pressure on the prices.

A couple of producers to keep an eye out for;

Samuel Billaud - with the sale of the family domaine, Billaud-Simon to Domaine Faiveley, Samuel has managed to gain control of all his vineyard sites and now has several new Grand Cru wines in his range. His wines showed great depth and complexity, the unoaked whites had lovely fruit, a steely minerality and a beautifully zippy acidity, while the wines that have seen some oak have a rich toasty character that will age beautifully. Samuel is definitely one of the stars of Chablis and the price reflects that, they are not the cheapest of wines, but they certainly won't disappoint and should be everyone's cellar.

Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur - These guys produce some stunning Meursault, from single vineyard sites and a couple of 1er Cru. They all have lovely fruit, almost baked apple with hints of spice and a rich toasty oak finish. These wines will need a little time to integrate all those flavours and deliver a stunning wine.

Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils - These have been a favourite of mine for a couple of years now, and again the have not failed to deliver. The wines have such a depth of fruit with hints of spice and oak, a touch of acidity and loaded with soft, fine tannins. Give these wines a couple of years and they will be absolutely glorious.

Domaine Heresztyn-Mazzini - This was a new domaine for me, Florence Heresztyn has taken over her share of the family domaine and with her husband Simon Mazzini have transformed the quality of these wines. They produce some wonderful Gevrey-Chambertin and an amazing Clos-Saint-Denis, but the star for me was their Bourgogne Pinot Noir, which had loads of bright juicy fruit, little hints of spice and soft tannins and is almost ready to drink now, also shows a rarity in this vintage, good value.

Domaine Edmond Cornu & Fils - Again another new domaine to me, who produce some lovely whites from Chorey-les-Beaune and Ladoix, but the reds were even better. They produce a stunning Ladoix Vieilles Vignes and Aloxe-Corton Vieilles Vignes both loaded with dark fruit, spice and soft tannins, give this a little time to integrate and again they will be fantastic and show great value.

Battle of the Italians - Friday 28th October

Italy for me has to be one of the most fascinating wine producing countries, with so many indigenous grape varieties, and such differences in the wines that are produced from the north to right down in the heel, and then you get the islands surrounding its coast.

Vistorta, is a 500 acre estate in the western Friuli-Venezia Giulia region and has been owned since the 1980 by Count Brandino Brandolini d’Adda, on discovering the similarities between the estate and Bordeaux took the decision to almost exclusively plant Merlot, with the aim to produce the greatest Merlot’s from Italy.

The 2011 Merlot Vistorta is the estates top wine and shows such great depth and complexity, giving you lovely forest fruit aromas and flavours, hints of spices and rich coffee beans, combined with beautifully silky tannin creates a wine to rival most of the wines produced on Bordeaux’s right bank.

Moving into central Italy and on its east coast you come to the Marche region and you find Umani Ronchi, who since 1959 have focused solely on the regions indigenous varieties of Verdicchio and Montepulciano.

The 2014 Verdicchio Classico Superior Casal di Serra shows all the classic traits of wild flowers, Peaches and Apricots, combined with a lovely refreshingly soft acidity, showing how great and delicious these wines can be.

Then down to Puglia in the heel of Italy you find Botromagno who produce many of the classic wines from this region, Primitivo, Salice Salentino and many more, they are also the only producer of the historic wine Gravina Bianco.

The 2015 Gravina Bianca is produced using 100% organic grapes and is a blend of Greco and Malvasia. You get lovely aromatics of Apples, Peaches, Apricots and hints of Pineapple, combine this with a crisp and bountiful acidity and you get a stunning and beautifully refreshing wines that you don’t find from anywhere else.

This Friday the 28^th, we will have the pleasure of hosting Beniamino and Alberto D’Agostino from Botromagno, Alessandra Fadda from Vistorta and Giorgio Pasanisi from Umani Ronchi for a fantastic tasting, where you will be able to taste the wines above and many more.

A selection of the wines on tasting this Friday

A Weekend of Antipodean Wines on Tasting

This weekend we're going to have quite the selection of wines on tasting from Australia and a great new Pinot Noir from New Zealand.

The Pinot Noir we're going to have on tasting is the 2014 Ward Valley Estate from Marlborough, this wine is produced by the same guys who produce the Snapper Rock wines that we stock, James Leary and winemaker David Coulston and is produced in tiny quantities, only 250 cases!

 I first came across this at last years London International Wine Fair, and I've managed to grab a couple of cases of this stunning vintage before they move on to the 2015.

This has that lovely pale bright cherry red colour to it, with amazing aromas of red berry and red currant fruit. On the palate these come through wonderfully with a real savoury character it that combine perfectly with a touch of acidity and very soft elegant tannin's, that just produce a stunning glass of wine and even more so when you find out how much it costs. For this weekend there will also be a special introductory offer, so don't miss out!

We'll also have a selection of Australian wines imported by the guys at Aussie Rules on tasting, with the Reverend V wines, Richard Hamilton, Riposte and the one I'm really excited about, the Mornington Peninsular Chardonnay from Dexter. These wines unfortunately won't be in stock for this weekend but we will be taking pre-orders and again there will be a special offer on them as well.

A Look At Whats On Tasting This Weekend

For this weekend I've decided to put on tasting a wonderful big, rich and spicy red from northern Italy, and lovely crisp and fruity white from Burgundy.

For the red we've got the 2011 Travaglini Gattinara from Piedmont open this weekend, apart from having a really cool and interesting bottle this is an amazing wine. Produced from 100% Nebbiolo, the same grape that produces the wonderful wines from Barbaresco and Barolo, The commune of Gattinara was granted it's DOC status in 1967 and DOCG 1990, it's situated in the northern part Piedmont about 50 miles north east of Turin, with the Alps as it's back drop to the north.

The design of the bottle, apart from standing out on the shelf and looking really different from anything else, has been designed to help catch the sediment that this wine sheds as it ages. The wine is fermented in Stainless Steel tanks and then transferred to various size of oak barrels for 36 months, and then a further 2 years in bottle, which gives the wine time to take on extra dimensions from the oak and for it then to have a chance to integrate together beautifully.

The wine itself is wonderfully complex, with aromas and flavours of red berries, blackberries and plums, combined with the sweet spice spices of liquorice and vanilla followed by hints of leather. These all combine beautifully in the glass creating a wonderfully complex, rich full bodied wine for you to enjoy, but just take my word for it, pop in the shop this weekend for a taste.

On the white front we have a very classy 2015 Petit Chablis from Chateau de Chemilly. The main Kimmeridgean clay, where as in the Petit Chablis vineyards the soil is more Portlandian soil types.
difference between Chablis and the extended area Petit Chablis is the soil type, the soil in Chablis is predominantly

The estate is now managed by brothers Loic and Yannick Vilain who are breathing new life into this 50 year old domaine in the south eastern corner of Chablis. They take considerable care with the vines to help the fruit to generate that mineral character you'd expect from this region.

Thi wine has all the classic characteristics that you'd expect, lovely fruit ranging from green apples to hints of white peaches, a crisp minerality and beautifully balanced acidity just combine to create a beautiful glass of wine. Definitely worth popping in this weekend for a taste.

Launch Weekend

A Home To Call My Own - We Are OPEN!

So, as you can see from my last couple of posts, I've been a little busy over the last couple of weeks with the refurb, but we've finally made it and we're OPEN! There is no way, that I would have been able to get this project turned around so quickly if it wasn't for the huge amount of help and support I've had from family and friends over the last couple of weeks, so to them I say a massive thank you!

The wine, beer and spirits have steadily been arriving with more to come in over the next couple weeks, so keep popping in to see what we've got new in. I'm, also busy planning our opening weekend which is going to be pretty fun day, with plenty of interesting things on tasting

A Home To Call My Own Pt 2

So, we've been in the shop for nearly two weeks now, and we've been working round the clock to get us open as quickly as possible. The inside and outside of the shop has all been painted, the shelving has been built, although one of the units still needs to fixed into place. The Sofa and other furniture has been collected and is in the shop, The joys of painting our own sign has been done, it looks great but don't want to do that again, when it needs re-doing, I think I'll get a professional in to that one.

From This

To this

Speaking of stock, suppliers have been contacted and accounts setup, orders are being placed, with stock hopefully arriving this Friday, so I'm going to be having a busy weekend filling the shelves and labelling them all up, ready to open from next week!

Inside is nearly finished

We may have had a little too much fun ocasionally

Just wanted to say a massive thank you to everybody over the last two weeks days who helped me clean, sand, clean, paint, clean, build furniture and clean some more, without your help I would not be anywhere ready to open!

A Home To Call My Own!

After much procrastination I've finally done it, and by 'it', I mean open my own shop (well nearly) and finally put my money where my mouth is.

I've spent the last five years working for a great independent merchant based down Surrey, where I've learnt a huge amount and been introduced to so many great wines and now I'm hoping to bring to the residents of SW12.

At the moment in between decorating, contacting suppliers, choosing wines and hundreds of other jobs that will crop up over the coming weeks, I'll attempt to update the blog with my progress over the coming weeks.

Don't forget, if your passing 85 Nightingale Lane, stick your head in and say hello!

A Blast from the Past - 2003 Hardy's Crest Cabernet Sauvignon

The other night we had some friends round for dinner to celebrate their recent engagement, and I'd been conducting a little experiment and this presented me with the perfect opportunity to see how it had turned out, as I knew everyone around the table would appreciate it, if it had worked that is.

When I first got into wine I was working for Sainsbury's as an off licence manager, they paid for me to complete WSET qualifications which was very much appreciated.  The one thing that really got me was how wine would age, and what to look for in young wines that will allow them to age and develop.

 

You'll have to excuse all the dust on the bottle.

I continued to think about this for some time and enjoying drinking lots of new world wine, when I came across the 2003 Hardy's Crest Cabernet Sauvignon from south eastern Australia, nothing special or fancy about it, half price at £4.99. When I tried it, it had loads of really bright, dark jammy fruit, so much tannin you almost had to chew your way through it. It also had still maintained a good level of acidity to it, and it made me think that these had all the signs of a wine that could and should age well.

So I decided to buy a 6 pack and see what happened, I have to admit I never really looked after them,  they were kept in the wine rack which was usually in the living room, not in a temperature controlled fridge, they moved around all the time, stood up then laid down then stood up again, so not the best of care taken. I preceded to try one every two years, and they just got better and better, so much so that after 6 years when I should have had 3 left left I only had 1, which I was determined to keep till it was at least 10 years old. I actually managed to save it till it was 13 years old, I was a little worried that I may have left it too long, but there was nothing I could do about it now.

On opening the cork was in very good condition, and you could smell any fault with the wine at all. Once poured into the glass it had an orange/brick colour to it, it really had lost it's bright, deep inky purple colour. On the nose it was baked dark fruit, leather, spice and a very slight hint of oxidation, these all came through on the palate integrating together beautifully and combining with the soft an velvety tannins. It was a pretty amazing glass of wine, if I was honest I think I opened it possibly a year or two too late, but it was still stunning and just goes to show that you can find wines that will age without having to spend a fortune!

A True English Gem - Stopham Estate Pinot Gris

I think I'm pretty certain on this, when I say that this is the first English wine to make it on here, which has to say something about it! Based down in Pulborough, East Sussex on the south downs, Stopham Estate is the brainchild Simon Woodhead, who swapped is previous career designing parts for McLaren F1 cars to studying winemaking at Plumpton and then planting his own vineyard in 2007.

They grow several different varieties, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc with a little Bacchus and Auxerrois, to blend with in producing their still whites. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for their sparkling and some Dornfelder which they use to produce their rose. They have also invested heavily in the vineyard using laser tracking to ensure all the vines are spaced equally, to installing all the latest fermentation equipment into the winery and bottling all under inert gases to help preserve the freshness of their wines.

In the glass it had this lovely bright lemon colour to it, with pronounced aromas of sweet stone fruit, peaches and nectarines, with hints of elderflower coming through from the background. On the palate, there is a tiny hint of sweetness, with the delicious flavours of stone fruit, elderflower and citrus, it has a lovely soft acidity that developed a little tartness on the finish, which kind of awakens your palate and makes your mouth water. Combine this with the fruit and floral characters and you end up with an extremely enjoyable glass of wine, even better when it comes from one of our own vineyards!

A Hoppy Brew - Andwell Brewery

I've been drinking a lot of beer recently, not sure how good a thing that is, I'm not very good on beer for some reason, but I came across these guys, Andwells Brewery through work. We'd got their full range in, which include several different style of ales and seasonal ones, but one that really caught mine and a few of the other guys eye's, apart from the very inspired packaging, was the Dry Hopped Pilsner.

Now dry hopping is when the brewer, after the fermentation process and the beer is maturing throws in a handful of dry hops, at Andwells they use the Japanese hop, Sorachi Ace, in doing this they get none of the bitterness from the hops just extra pungent aromas of citrus to the Pilsner;

Andwell Dry Hopped Pilsner

It has an amber/golden colour to it, as well as being slightly cloudy, it has extremely pungent aromas of citrus from the dry hopping process. You then get the lovely bitterness of the Pilsner come through and combine to create an extremely drinkable and delicious beer.

Picture courtesy of Andwell Brewery
 

Again through work, they sent me a sample of the normal Pilsner;

Andwell Pilsner

This is a cracking little Pilsner style lager, brewed using English barley with the noble Czech Saaz hop for that classic Pilsner style, with some German Tettnang added to give it a slightly spicy aroma. It was lovely and crisp, with a touch of richness to it, combined with a perfect bitter character to boot, very drinkable cracking little beer.

I have to say I pretty much enjoyed all the beers in there range, but the star for me was definitely the dry hopped Pilsner.

A Little Star from North Western Italy - Livon Friulano

Livon are a family run winery situated in the North Eastern part of the Friuli Venezia Guilia region in Northern Italy on the borders with Slovenia and Austria. Dorino Livon purchased his first vineyards in the region in 1964, and has continued to grow the estate over the years, while he has also built a state of the art winery. In 1980 Dorino's two sons Valneo and Tonino joined the company and started to create different ranges from the vineyards that they owned, with some being very small production from a selection of there best sites. They have continued to grow and the family now own another four wineries, two of which Tenuta Roncaldo and Villa Chiopris are also in Friuli, Borgo Salcetino is in Tuscany and Fattoria Col Santo are from Umbria. They grow a wide selection of both Indigenous and International grape varieties, producing an equally as wide range of wines across their entire portfolio.

The wine I want to talk about though is the 2013 Livon Friulano, the Friulano grape is also known as Sauvignon Vert, which many people actually get confused with, and refer to it as Sauvignon Blanc, which despite the similarities in their names, are of no relation.

The grapes are all harvested by hand and then fermented in stainless steel tanks, where they spend a further 5 months before being bottled, spending a little bit more time before being released.

In the glass, the wine had a lovely bright straw colour to it with some delicate greens hints. On the nose it was very aromatic, with some lovely fruit, hints of spice and Almonds. These all came through on the palate, the wine itself had quite a rich mouth feel to it which was perfectly balanced to the acidity, that cut straight through it and stopping it from being too rich and over the top. All the components came together perfectly with this wine, producing something that had a great depth and complexity while maintaining a freshness to it that made it extremely enjoyable.

A Ranch of Many Rabbits - 2011 Rabbit Ranch Pinot Noir

New Zealand Pinot's, if you hadn't already guessed produce some of my favourites wines, and these guys are no exception. The Rabbit Ranch are based in Central Otago, where they grow some of the best Pinot Noir grapes in the world (in my opinion) due to it's cool climate and similar terroir to the mighty Burgundy, the home of the Pinot Noir grape.

The vineyards which had been planted at the turn of the 1900's was the last attempt to get rid of all the Rabbits that had taken over the estate. After the second world war, the vineyard had fallen into disrepair, until Warren and Betty McGreagor  decided to replant the vineyard and breath a new life into the estate. Today apparently the Rabbits still run wild throughout the vineyard, in the fields of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc vines that they grow.

The 2011 Pinot Noir has a very pale ruby red colour, with some tiny hints of brick around it's rim, on the nose there is that lovely red berry fruit you expect to get from a NZ Pinot Noir, but then you start getting little hints of spice and smoke, and you start to see a much more complex wine. All of these came through on the palate with the spice and a savoury character dominating the almost sour cherry fruit, which when combined with a lovely refreshing acidity and a tiny amount of very soft tannins, it created a really enjoyable glass of wine. The other really nice thing about this wine, is that it is a red you chill. Put it in the fridge for half an hour or so and as it warms it in your glass it becomes very perfumed and aromatic, and dare I say it, even more enjoyable!

A Visitor from Italy - Jeffrey Chilcott from Marchesi di Gresy

At the beginning of last month I had the pleasure of meeting Jeffrey Chilcott, the cellarmaster for Marchesi di Gresy, who are based in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy. The winery is based in Martinenga, Barbaresco which for me is an area that produce some of Italy's greatest and aromatic wines, predominantly from the red grape Nebbiolo, but have added Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay in to there repertoire.

Marchesi di Gresy is made up of four estates, the estate in Martinenga became the property of the Marchesi di Gresy family in 1797, adding to their property in Monte Aribaldo that they had acquired in 1635. They also have properties in Monferrato, La Serra south of Asti and close to it Monte Colombo. Alberto di Gresy in 1973 decided to stop selling his grapes to other merchants which were used to set the benchmark price in the markets of Alba and start to produce his own wines. Included in the property in Martinenga, is the only Barbaresco Cru Monopole which only Marchesi de Gresy can mention on their labels.

Jeffrey had bought a selection of his wines for us to taste covering the Langhe, Monferrato his Barbaresco Cru and single vineyard, there were two wines that really stood out for me, but here are the others. The 2013 Langhe Sauvignon Blanc had some lovely green fruit flavours with a slightly richer texture from the lees stirring, and the perfect touch of acidity. 2012 Villa Martis Langhe Rosso, this is a blend of 60% Nebbiolo and 40% Barbera with french oak and large neutral oak barrels used. It was delicate and aromatic on the nose with some lovely fruit and a well balanced structure from the tannins and acidity.

The last two I tasted were two wines from the Martinenga Monopole, the 2008 Barbaresco Martinenga, this wine was everything you'd expect it to be and possibly even more. With a very pale red colour and a garnet rim showing signs of it's age, it had some lovely dark fruit, smoke, leather and spice aromas, with them all coming through on the palate giving it a meaty character. It still had plenty of soft and silky tannins with just enough acidity to clean them from your palate, making it a very stunning glass of wine. We then tasted the 2005 Barbaresco Camp Gros Martinenga, this single vineyard site is the pride of the estate and has been produced since 1978, only in exceptional vintages though. Considering this was three years older than the previous wine, in the glass it looked and smelt richer and with more depth, it had all the characters of the first Barbaresco but you could be mistaken for it to be a lot younger. This again was a stunning glass of wine and you could see what an exceptional wine this vineyard site can produce, this will last for another 10 years without any problem. Both of these wines were exactly as they should be, but they aren't cheap, ranging from £47 - £54 for the 2008 and £69 - £77 for the 2005.

The first of the two that really caught my eye was the;

2012 Langhe Chardonnay,
I'm not usually the biggest fan of oaked Chardonnay, but this one was stunning, produced from fruit grown on the Martinenga, Monte Aribaldo and La Serra estates it had this lovely bright golden colour to it. The wine starts it's fermentation in Stainless Steel tanks for the first couple of days before then being transferred into oak for further fermentation and maturation. This gave the wine a wonderfully rich and creamy texture with hints of baked green apples, nuts and lanolin, the nutty characters really started to shine over the fruit on the palate with a balanced acidity that stopped it from being over the top and making it a very enjoyable glass of wine.

The second was the;

2007 Monferrato Rosso,
This wine is produced from 100% Merlot which is grown on the La Serra and Monte Colombo estates and was not starting to show any signs of it's age yet. It spends around 30 months in French barriques before spending a further 22 months in bottle the wine is also allowed to go through malolactic fermentation. With all this you get a deep red colour with aromas of macerated dark berry fruits with some hints of spice and smoking coming through, lovely fine and silky tannins and just enough acidity to make them all combine perfectly and produce another stunning glass of wine.

It is hard to find a bad wine in what we tasted, the Barbaresco's were, as I had expected them to be, stunning, but when you compared them by price to the other wines, the Langhe Chardonnay (£25 - £29) and the Monferrato Rosso (£16 - £18) were the real stars that shone out for me. I'd like to say a massive thank you to Jeffrey for taking the time to come and show me his wines.

A Red From the South of France - Saint Chinian

I was sent bottle a bottle of the 2013 Cours la Reine Saint Chinian the other week, this is not an appellation that I know much about at all, other than it's from the south of France. It is apparently considered to be the oldest winemaking region within the Languedoc, and is split into two distinct sides, the northern part consists of mainly schist soil while to the south they are much more clay/chalky soil types. Around 70% of the vines grown are Syrah, Mouvedre and Grenache, they also grow Carignan, Cinsault and Lledoner Pelut.

This bottle is a blend of Syrah and Grenache and has lovely ruby/purple colour in the glass, on the nose it loads of red fruit with some hints of peppery spice coming through gently from the background. On the palate, the fruit came through as juicy dark berries with the spice coming through as pepper and clove. The tannins were soft, juicy and elegant, combined with just a touch of acidity that produced a really well balanced and extremely enjoyable wine.

The big question though is, would I recommend this wine? Yes I would absolutely, it's was lovely to drink on it's own and will go with food perfectly, and when it's priced at £9.95 a bottle, how can you go wrong!

A Carema from Produttori del Carema

Over the last few months I've been learning about and tasting a lot wines from Italy, who have to produce the broadest range of wines than anywhere else, which is hardly surprising when you think about the fact that they have over a 1,000 indigenous grape varieties.

I've always found Italian wines a little difficult, the reds always tend to have a slightly sour edge to them, which without food can make them difficult to really appreciate, but there was one that really stuck in my mind. That was the 2011 Carema Classico from Produttori del Carema, this is a cooperative that was formed in the 1960's by a handful of producers, to today where they now have 81 producers working together to produce this fantastic from 100% Nebbiolo. 

Carema, the region in Northern Italy which gives it's name to this wine, is located 60 miles north of Turin in the Piemonte region, which is probably better for producing Barolo and Barbaresco also from the Nebbiolo grape.

They ferment the wine in 100% stainless steel vats, leaving the skins in contact with the wine for around 12 days, once complete they then age the wine for 2 years in Oak and then for a further year in bottle.When you pour this wine into your glass the first thing that strikes you is it's very pale ruby red colour, which is starting to develop hints of brick around it's edge. On the nose you get hit by a barrage of spice, nutmeg and cinnamon, then red berries that have been preserved in alcohol, These all come through in your mouth, with the red berries being very obviously sour cherry, with just a little more elegance and subtlety than i'd seen so far, but you also had some Raspberry coming through as well. Combine this with the spice and the plentiful silky tannins and all  the components come together and produce an absolutely stunning wine that rivals anything for twice it's price from Barolo and Barbaresco for me.

A Trip To The Not So Distant Past - Burgundy 2013 Part 2

In part one I looked at the whites, so I guess we should have a look at the red's. These were much more of a mixed bag, the entry wines had loads of red berry fruit with plenty of fine tannins, these will settle down in a few months and leave you with a very enjoyable glass of wine but not particularly complex.

The mid range again had red berry fruit but much more tannins with hints of spice and smoke coming through, the winemakers of obviously over compensated with lots of oak for the lack of depth from the fruit, again these will take some time to integrate. Some winemakers had done a better job than others so I'd definitely recommend you take care when making your purchases to avoid d

isappointment.

Moving on to the Premier (1er) and Grand cru wines, these showed great depth of flavour, with good use of oak to help add complexity you got some really interesting wines. These however, were not cheap or had been produced in any great quantity, they will also require a couple of years for everything to integrate and the tannins to soften out, which should leave you with some stunning wines, if you can get your hands on any of them.

There were two producers who really stood out for me, they were Domaine Henri Gouge and Domaine Hudelot-Noellat;

Domaine Henri Gouge

Now under stewardship of Gregory Gouge, who took over in 2007 coinciding with the completion of the new state of the art cuverie, this domaine has gone from strength to strength in recent years. There has been a concerted effort to produce more elegant tannins which results in more aromatics in the wines.

His Nuits-St-Georges had some lovely red red fruit combined with some spice and a touch of smoke, it had a touch of acidity with plenty of soft and silky tannins. This over the next couple of years is going to age beautifully. I then moved onto the 1er Cru Clos des Porrets St Georges and the 1er Cru Les Pruliers, these each moved up a notch respectively as you would expect, they showed great depth of flavour and complexity with this lovely perfumed character them, they are not cheap but they were stunning and will only get better with age.

They also produce a white Nuits-St-Georges, the 1er Cru La Perriere which is produced from a mutated Pinot Noir vine that was discovered by Henri before the war, this had some lovely fruit to it with hints of vanilla and a full, rich mouthfeel. I would definitely recommend you try this if you ever get the opportunity it was stunning and will develop over the coming years into an amazing wine.

Domaine Hudelot-Noellat

This was the first time I'd had the chance to taste the wines from this Domaine, Charles Van Canneyt has consistently produced great wines vintage after vintage resulting in them being one of the most sought after domaines, which unfortunately reflects very much in the price of his wines.

He produces a Vosne-Romanee, Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Beaumonts, Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Les Murgers and a Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru. When you pour these wines the first thing you notice is how pale they are, however lacking in colour they may be they certainly are not lacking in flavour, depth and complexity. These wines all have lovely red berry fruit with smoke and spice intertwined in there, a touch of acidity and plenty of beautifully silky tannins, they also have a savoury/meaty character to them which works magnificently. They truly are magnificent wines, which over the coming decade are going to age beautifully