More Albillo Confusion



I mentioned in the last blog on Albillo that I had tasted a Crimean Albillo in one of the Massandra wines and now I found the bottle and took this picture to illustrate the entry. Readers of this blog will probably know that I have made a hobby of trying out different exotic grapes and recording this for the next level of membership in the Wine Century Club. It was during a checking session that I found I had recorded Albillo before, and that was with the Crimea Madeira I tasted at the end of last year. I Googled to see if the two grapes are related and it seems that the Massandra wines included something called Crimean Albillo. The German VIVC database did not have a grape exactly called that but it did have Albillo de Crimee, which I take to be the grape used by Massandra. The Prime Name is actually Albillo Krimskii, though that database listed its origin as also in Spain. Seems that I may have two different Albillos in the two bottles in the picture above.

Canaiolo

Although Canaiolo is one of the grapes used to make Chianti (as well as being a minor grape in Vino Nobile de Montepulciano, it is not often sported on labels, so it was a bit of a surprise to see the following wine on sale in (of all places) a newly opened branch of a Japanese convenience chain store. Probably native to Central Italy, but of greater importance in Tuscany, Canaiolo owes part of its success there from its ability to dry without rotting, lending itself to the governo technique that has been developed and used in Tuscany since the 14th century to help complete fermentation and stabilize the local wine. The ascendance of Sangiovese as well as the problems of grafting onto American rootstock post phylloxera contributed to Canaiolo's decline, until a recent resurgence in interest.

Dorsheimer Pittermanchen

This is a half bottle of 1971 Dorsheimer Pittermanchen Riesling Auslese by Schlossgut Diel. Dorsheim is a wine village in the Nahe with three top vineyard sites: Goldloch, Burgberg and Pittermanchen, each with its own soil and character, even though they are quite close to each other. Of the three, Schlossgut Diel has the least holding in Pittermanchen, only 1 ha. It is thought that the name refers to a silver coin with St Peter on one side, issued by the Archbishop of Tier in the 16th century, and hints at the value of the wines here. The soil of this south-facing site consists of slate with lots of quarzite and gravel. This  combined with a local climate that is one of the warmest and driest in Germany yields great wines in the hands of top growers like Diel.

BTW, 1971 was a great vintage in Germany, so you can imagine how much I am looking forward to drinking this wine!

Grand Vin d'Alsace Louis Sipp

The Louis Sipp wine estate started with the acquisition of vineyards on the slopes of Kirchberg hill (now a Grand Cru) towards the end of the First World War and it soon received awards for its wines in the 1920s. A family firm with the fourth generation having entered the business, the estate is now run on organic principles, with 70% of vines being the 4 noble white varieties and Pinot Noir, and the rest Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner and even Chasselas. Their vineyards are mainly situated on the best hillsides of Ribeauville (as well as at nearby Bergheim and Hunawihr), and 12% are situated in the Grand Crus of Kirchberg, Geisberg and Osterberg.

Hugh Johnson

Many wine lovers are undoubtedly familiar with Hugh Johnson, whose The World Atlas of Wine (first published 1971) and Pocket Wine Book (first published 1977, and published annually since) have both delighted and informed drinkers world wide. As one of if not the best-selling wine writers in the world, this blog entry on him serves to introduce a mini-series on famous wine personalities.

Yet Johnson's writings on wine was not the only sphere in which his words excel and are recognized. He wrote The International Book of Trees in 1973 and is also well known for his writings on gardening as well as trees. But back to his wine literature, Johnson is vocal in opposing the American Scoring system popularized by Parker and those who have followed my blog previously will recognize the above extract from the 2008 Pocket Wine Book, which served as a focal point for an earlier mini-series on wine scores and ratings.

Champagne Laurent Perrier

Laurent-Perrier was founded in 1812 when Alphonse Pierlot bought two pieces of land, which he later left to his cellar master Eugene Laurent and his wife Mathilde Emile Perrier, the latter appending her family name to the winery when her husband died. Although the widowed Perrier had some success in building up the company, WWI brought disruption and reversal of fortunes with the company being sold to the de Nonancourt family in 1939, in whose family the company still remains. The house had acquired other champagne marques, including Salon and its sister winery Delamotte and became a large conglomerate. It became the third best selling champagne after Moet and Veuve Clicquot.

Personally, I take different wines from different marques. I have only tasted their NV range (except Cuvee Grand Siecle) and their basic vintage and of that the ones that have impressed me the most are their rose and their ultra brut. I have heard that their ultra brut has fallen in quality recently and have not retasted - that is something that I must rectify soon. 

Burgundy with foie gras

The pan fried foie gras was matched with village level Gevry-Chambertin at a resent wine tasting dinner. I am used to matching foie gras with sweet wines, but this match proved successful enough, especially with the liver on its own. The seared outside, which had formed a crisp crust from the flour dusting, yielded to an unctuous meltingly tender interior, tasting of meat rather than offal. That matched well with the Burgundy. The accompaniments of course proved more nightmarish than most, with an intensely sweet red onion marmalade and a rosemary glazed apple, in which the rosemary completely overpowered everything and did not lift the foie gras. Seared foie gras with Burgundy is now added to my list of pairings, but sweet wines with cold foie gras still remains a classic for me.

Albillo Confusion



When I last blogged about Albillo, I took the grape responsible for the above wine as Albillo Real, but mentioned that another grape Albillo Mayor may also be simply referred to as Albillo. It turns out the latter is also a very interesting grape, being amongst other things a parent of Tempranillo. The problem is further compounded when it seems that official statistics do not differentiate tbetween different grapes with Albillo as part of their name.

The Albillo grown in Ribero del Duero has also added complications. The grape that I read somewhere Vega Sicilia can add to its Unico is noted to be called Pardina there, but according to VIVC that is another grape called Cayetana Blanco (actually this is the Prime Name). There also seems to be a Crimean Albillo which I tasted in one of the Massandra wines. That will need another entry to unravel.

Champagne Gosset

Founded in Ay in 1584, Gosset is the oldest wine house in Champagne, though at the time, they were producing still reds (cf Bouzy Rouge) and competing with the Cotes the Beaune to supply the tables of the Kings of France. Slowly the production changed to sparkling white wines (as did the rest of Champagne) and the reputation of Gosset began to rest upon its powerful, full-bodied champagnes of richness and staying power. Using mostly grapes from Premier and Grand Cru villages, Gosset avoids malolactic fermentation and employs hand-riddling for prestige cuvees. Although it was sold in 1994, it was to the Cointreau family who has expanded operations with the acquisition of a new property in Epernay.

Clos St Landelin

Clos St Landelin is a monopole of th Mure family estates, having been acquired by them in 1935. This vineyard can be traced back to the 7th century when it belonged to the Bishop of Strasbourg. In the 8th century a bishop donated it to the St Landelin Abbey. Situated at the southern end of Grand Cru Vorbourg, the vineyard is south facing and terraced, planted with the four noble varieties as well as Pinot Noir and Sylvaner. Grapes ripen well in this vineyard, which also can support noble rot in the right conditions, hence it also regularly produces both Vendange Tardive and Selections de Grains Nobles just like the wine above.

Albillo

 



This is a bottle of Albillo I met at one of those promotion booths at a department store the other day. Made from a grape that I had never tasted before, I  bought a bottle of course. I remember reading somewhere that Vega Sicilia sometimes blends a small amount of Albillo into their Unico, but that was all I knew about this obscure grape. A number of grapes have Albillo as part of their name, including Albillo Negra, which is a synonym for Tempranillo. Only two are called just Albillo and the one above is most likely Albillo Real. Albillo Real produces lightly perfumed wines of neutral flavour, but it contains quite a bit of glycerol contibuting to body and smoothness. Mentione of the grape goes back to the 15th century, and other writings indicate its presence in Rioja and Biscay. However it seems that even when people mention Albillo, they could mean another grape Albillo Mayor, and when referring to synonyms, things get even more confused. This will need another blog to explore.

Lacryma Christi

I forgot when I first heard about Lacryma Christi, but it was only recently that I found a bottle to try here in Hong Kong. The name literally means tears of Christ and a number of legends were attached to this. The most famous one is that when Lucifer fell from heaven, he came down to Vesuvius and started destroying things around that area. Christ cried over this and his tears fell on the lava and a vine grew up. Another legend was that Lucifer grabbed a piece of Heaven with him when he fell and dropped it around Vesuvius. This was the reason for Christ's tears.

Back to the wine, Lacryma Christi comes in many forms - red, white, pink, sparkling or liquoroso. The white is made from Colde di Volpe and Verdeca, whilst the red is from Piedirosso, with some other grapes. Being a old wine, it has been referred to by many poets and writers, such as Dumas in the Count of Monte Cristo. 

Bouzeron to match Jambon Persille

I bought this bottle of Bouzeron to try and match Jambon Persille, a traditional Burgundian jellied ham and parsley terrine. That was on the menu of a wine tasting dinner featuring reds from Gevrey-Chambertin and its surroundings. It was paired with a Bourgogne Rouge, which would not be my first choice. White Burgundy is used in the making of this terrine, and classically Bourgogne Aligote was used. Here we have a wine from an Aligote-only appellation, created in response to lobbying in no small part by the makers of the wine above, so this is as good a reason for me to buy a bottle to try out with the dish.

As it turned out, the dish was far from classical, with it more resembling a rough pork and ham terrine, being notceably short on both jelly and parsley. Its texture of something akin to Cotechino/Zampone (if you want to be nice about it) or pork luncheon meat (if you are feeling rude) and the finding of pieces of tongue within illustrates the breadth of deviation from the typical recipe. I did not have the bottle opened. The Bourgogne Rouge was OK with it, if one limits the size of the slice of accompanying cornichon (which are typical in its rather high acidity) taken with it. Maybe I need to find a cheaper bottle of Bourgogne Aligote to try and make my own version of this classic jellied ham and parsley terrine to enjoy with this wine!!

Penfolds Bin 389

I drank this wine at a family celebration the other day. I have had a few bottles of this wine before, but could not remember if I've had the 2000 vintage. Bin 389 is a classic from amongst the vast Penfold range, a good example of that peculiarly Australian blend Cabernet Shiraz. Created by Max Schubert, the man who created Grange, Bin 389 shares a little bit more that just its creator with its more famous brother (though it has quite often been referred to as Baby Grange) - some of the components which make up the blend are matured using the barrels which were used by Grange in the previous year. As for this wine, it was a deep ruby with a sweet acid berry nose. Sweet fruit accompanied acid on the palate, which was supported by a nice acid backbone going onto a pruney acid finish. 

Rene Mure

Rene Mure, currently at the helm of the family estate, is the 11th generation of winemakers in the family, which has been growing vines in the area since 1650. The 23 ha estate holdings include Grand Cru Zinnkoepfle and Vorbourg with the monopole Clos St Landelin (comprising 15 ha of the estate's holding) within it, the latter being acquired by Rene's grandfather in 1935. The estate has been farmed organically for some time and its flagship Clos St Landelin is tended under biodynamic principles. Precise winemaking turn the quality fruit into wines of repute and longevity, and with Rene's children already involved in the operation of the domaine, this family business looks set to go from strength to strength.

Chateau Leoville-Barton

As was mentioned in the blog on the least known of the three Leovilles (-Poyferre). the three Leovilles started off as one big estate and the Barton portion was partitioned off during the French Revolution, eventually ending up belonging to the Barton family (originally from Ireland) in 1836. The family also owns the estate of Langoa Barton, which is the chateau on the labels of Chateau Leoville-Barton, the latter having actually no chateau building itself. The two chateaux also share a cellar, but the styles of of the two wines remain easy to distinguish, with Leoville-Barton being the lighter of the two wines.

Chartron & Trebuchet

Chartron and Trebuchet is a "new style" negociant set up in 1984 by Louis Trebuchet, the manager of a Burgundy wine firm, and Jean-Rene Chartron, a Puligny wine grower whose family has been growing wines there since 1859. Noted for the quality of its white wines (especially from Puligny-Montrachet), the company is now owned by Vincent Sauvestre, a 4th generation winegrower based in Meursault with holdings all over Burgundy including 3 Grand Crus and 12 Premier Crus. Jancis Robinson viewed this firm (together with Olivier Leflaive) as the first members of a new breed of merchants who are interested in conscientiously producing wines which show their terroir.

Narince

I was in a major supermarket during a Mediteranean food and wine promotion when I spotted some wines from unusual places, including wines from Turkey and Lebanon. Amongst the Turkish wines are ones made from Kalicek Karasis and Bogazkere, but here is a bottle I had not seen before, a Narince Cappadocia 2011. I had to look up Narince on my Android phone to find out that this was indeed a grape I had never met. Narince is an indigenous grape from Turkey mainly grown in Tokat and also in Cappadocia. Used both as a table grape and to make wines, it can yield both dry and off-dry wines of a straw yellow colour, with floral and citrus aromas, of medium to full body, balanced with high acidity.

As for this wine, it was a nice golden yellow, with a sweet acid slightly fruity nose (this is obviously an off-dry wine). The wine was sweet acid and a bit fruity on the palate with a nice acid backbone in support.

Piedirosso

Piedirosso is a red grape indigenous to Campania and is a major component of such wines as Lacryma Christi (above) and other wines from around Naples, It is also allowed as a minor component of Taurasi DOCG. The name Piedirosso - literally red feet in Italian, refers to the way the the stems form three branches and are reddish brown in colour, so they look like the red feet of pigeons under the white plumage, this also being reflected in the local synonym of Per'e Palummo (dove's foot). Piedirosso produces ruby coloured, full bodied wines with red fruit notes and soft tannins. Earthy and mushroom notes can also be found in top examples, with the volcanic ash soil contributing a minerally slightly salty savour to wines grown on such soils.  As a blending grape, it contributes fruitiness, softness and complexity to wines like Taurasi where the intensity of Aglianico might be too much. Mastroberardino named their Aglianico Piedirosso blend after Pliny's Naturalis Historiae, recalling the Falernum wines of those times some two millennia ago. 

Weingut Markus Molitor

Markus Molitor took over the family wine estate in the Mosel in 1984, where his family has been making wine for 8 generations. He restored the vineyards and expanded them, so that the total holding now total 38 ha (of which 4.5 ha are in the Saar region), becoming the largest winery in the Mittelmosel. The vineyards are in situated mainly in the famous wine villages of Erden, Urzig, Zeltingen-Rachtig, Wehlen, Graach Bernkastel, with many old vines, some of which are ungrafted. Planted mostly with Riesling, Molitor's meticulous work in both vineyard and cellar has ensured that his wines are coming away with award after award. There is one surprise if one only associates his name with wonderful Rieslings; his Pinot Noirs are also considered amongst the top German examples made from that grape. Both his Rieslings and Pinot Noirs have consistently been rated in the Top 10 in the Gault Millau Wine Guide.

Wine with the Famous

I had already blogged about two historical persons featured in this book: Thomas Jefferson and Lord Shaftesbury. If one talks about drinks, it was also in this Jane Grigson book that I first learnt about Proust famous episode with lime tea and madeleines. Well Claude Monet liked the light wines of the Loire and there is a Monet family recipe for Haricots au Vin de Chanturges - a light Gamay red from around Auvergne.  The chapter on Emile Zola partly revolves around Nana's orgiastic dinner party, which lists Meursault, Chambertin and Leoville as the wines (I wonder which Leoville, Las Cases, I presume). There was not much mention about wines in the other chapters, except for the entry about Parson Woodforde softening the pain on Tithe Audit Day by plying the people who came to pay their dues with plenty of drink - 6 bottles of rum, 4 bottles of port and a lot of strong beer was consumed by 22 people one particular year. 

Domaine Leflaive

I was first introduced to Domaine Leflaive during the 1997 Halloween wine glass tasting that I had previously blogged about. I had tried Chablis 1er Cru before but the Puligny-Montrachet village wine from Domaine Leflaive was a real revelation. Together with my love for Chablis 1er Cru, this really confirmed my love for white Burgundy.

Back to Domaine Leflaive, the estate can trace its roots back to a certain Claude Leflaive in Puligny in the early 18th century, but the present estate was actually founded by Joseph Leflaive after his engineering business went bankrupt in the early 1900s. He bought 25 hectares of land in Puligny and founded the modern estate. Four of his five children became involved in the estate but when the next generation came to take over the reins, it was down to Anne-Claude and her cousin Olivier, the latter also running a negociant business for white Burgundy. Anne-Claude was chosen to run the company and in 1997 converted the domaine to biodynamic principles. This took the estate to an even higher level, justifying its reputation as on of the top white estates of Burgundy.

Some other wines from around Lourdes

It was the second ever entry in this blog when I used the above picture and wrote about Jurancon, Madiran and Pacherenc, but the other wines from this area are also quite interesting too. I have seen a bottle or two of Tursan, tasted Irouleguy (+/- Bearn) and also seen a Fronton wine (just going off the edge of the picture), A number of these appelations found in this map of South West France started off as VDQS and slowly upgraded to AOC, such as Bearn, Buzet and Cotes du Marmandais. Others such as Tursan, Cotes de St-Mont ( now just Saint-Mont) are aiming for AC status as the VDQS designation is eliminated. This is in contrast with Jurancon, Madiran and Pacherence which were designated AOC right from the start.