A modern Italian wine made from Montepulciano

I blogged about Kurni last week but only just got to taste the wine this last weekend. Kurni is a varietal Montepulciano, from vines around 35 years old. The fruit undergoes a long maceration and fermentation in stainless steel vats (typically 40 days) at the relatively high temperature of 28 to 30 degrees Centigrade. Eighteen to twenty months of aging in French barriques is then followed by a further few months of bottle aging.prior to release.

I tried the 2008 Kurni over the weekend, accompanied by beef steak. With a thin purple ruby rim surrounding a dark core, the wine had a sweet sour fruity berry/plummy nose, albeit initially with a touch of alcoholic heat (the wine was 15%). The sweet acid fruity plumminess extended onto the palate accompanied by tannins that somehow encouraged the mouth to water. This was all supported by an acid backbone with a touch of tannins, ending up with an acidic finish.  The only problem was that it tends to show characteristics associated with the wine falling apart around one hour after pulling the cork, although truth be said, the wine was not really falling apart within the two hours that we took to finish the bottle.

Wine for Paella

I cooked my own version of a mixed paella the other day, not just with seafood but also with chicken and chorizo.The seafood included prawns, clams and mussels, so with tomato and saffron also thrown into the pan, it was going to be that all mixed up type of food as far as wine matching is concerned. Seafood loving whites (including Chablis) can stretch to the chicken, but leaves tomato and chorizo not catered for. Some would advocate roses, particularly from Spain or South West France. I had an Italian one around, but the diners wanted a red. I wonder if the Kapcsandy rose that I had tasted a few months ago would have been a good match too. In the end we had a Fleurie, which did not clash, but did not cause any fireworks either.

Chateau Lafon-Rochet

I blogged about the second wine of this estate last month. One of the estates belonging to the Tesseron family who made their name producing Cognac (another estate of theirs is Ch Pontet-Canet), the estate traces its history back to the 17th century when the name of Lafon was added to the old Domaine de Rochet when Etienne Lafon married into the owners of the estate in 1650. The estate was classified as a 4th growth in 1855. The Tesseron family bought the estate in 1960 and embarked on a programme of rebuilding and other improvements. It makes around 12,000 cases of the grand vin and also 8000 cases of a second wine, the latter from younger vines and undergoing shorter oak aging, for earlier drinking.

Gambero Rosso and Tre Bicchieri

Although I had previously alluded to the Gambero Rosso guide as well as blogged about the Tre Bicchieri tasting which preceded the launch of the Chinese edition in November 2011, I had not really blogged about this useful resource for Italian wines. Gambero Rosso (literally red prawn, sported as a logo on its Website and on its guides) is an Italian food and wine magazine that started life in 1986 as a supplement to the Italian newspaper il manifesto. A year later the first Italian Wine Guide was produced. Wines considered above average by the editors are rated from 1 to 3 glasses, which are respectively, 1 glass = good, 2 glasses = very good and 3 glasses = extraordinary. Since 2002, another category 2 red glasses meant that a candidate to be considered for the 3 glasses award did not qualify for the higher award. In the 2011 Chines edition, there is also a 3 glasses plus, signifying those wines which the Editors' Choice amongst the Tre Bicchieri (3 glasses) wines. The magazine also has a restaurant guide as well as a TV channel. Apart from the Chinese guide, I also have an English edition from 2001.

Sevastopol 1994

I tasted this wine at last year's Wine and Dine Festival at the booth where I discovered the Massandra wines last year. They were introducing another winery from Crimea, Inkerman. Apart from some sparkling wines, of which I had a taste of the rose, I also tasted this port style fortified wine, Sevastopol 1994. They did not tell me too much about the wine at the show and I could not find much on the Internet, except that it is a blend of Rkatsitelli, Sauvignon (presumably Blanc), Riesling and. Kokur. As for the wine, it was a golden orange colour with a sweet acid nutty sherry nose. It was sweet grapey and nutty on the palate, with an acid sherry backbone for support.

Sparklers from Szegti

I was given a couple of bottles of Austrian sparkling wines to taste by a friend, who actually bought it at the winery. Now the name of Szigeti was only familiar to me as the family name of the famous Hungarian violinist Josef Szegeti, but then Austria and Hungary enjoyed close very ties as part of the same Austro-Hungarian Empire which was only dissolved with the separation of the two sovereignties in 1918.

This winery is located at a corner of the Neusiedlersee, a lake which is famous for producing Austria's noble rot sweet wines. That area is also very near the Hungarian border. The winery specializes in producing classical method sparkling wine, using only locally grown grapes for their base wine. This qualifies the wines as Osterreicher Sekt, which must by made by the classical method from grapes grown in Austria (see also Deutscher Sekt, but I have not yet found out if there is the equivalent of Deutscher Sekt bA, where the vineyard or Grosslage is specified).

PS     Szigeti is a synonym of Furmint, one of the grapes used to make the famous Hungarian dessert wine Tokaji.

Kurni

This is a prestigious wine made from the Montepulciano grape by the Oasi degli Angeli estate. The estate dates back three generations when the great grandfather of one of the owners,  Eleonora Rossi, created a small farm high up in Cupra Marittima in the Marche region of Italy, dedicated to growing grapes, olives and vegetables. In 1990, Eleonora decided to dedicate the estate to grape growing and she created the wine Kurni together with her life partner and winemaker Marco Casolanetti. This is Kurni, so named from the nickname of family of Eleonora. A varietal Montepulciano but made in the international style with oak-aging and the like, it has garnered critical acclaim with the Gambero Rosso guide giving the 2005 and 2006 vintages 2 glasses and all of the rest (except 1999 which was not rated) the top 3 glasses rating.

A surprising source of viticultural insights

I was talking to some wine lovers the other day when it suddenly transpired on me how some viticultural concepts seemed so accessible to me - I had seen similar things in the gardening programmes broadcast on BBC TV many moons ago when I was studying in England. After all, gardening and growing grapes are just different aspects of growing plants for enjoyment and surely some concepts must be common to both.

For example, pruning for canopy management could be compared with either topiary (or cutting hedges into shapes) or even Bonsai (though I cannot remember seeing either on the usual BBC gardening programmes). However, I do remember one episode when the presenter, having trained a peach tree up the side of a wall of the house, was detailing how he would examine all the little fruits growing in each of the branches, and then selecting the best say 3 and then pulling off the rest in order to ensure that he had three nice big peaches per branch. For the vigneron, the parallel is green harvesting!

The 1997 Mouton label

I tasted the 1997 Chateau Mouton Rothschild together with the other four first growths of that vintage in a special dinner back in 2004. The artwork for the label was created by Niki de St Phalle. Born in France but goring up in New York, Niki studies music and worked as a model before starting painting after moving back to Paris with her husband. Later she discovered Gaudi's work in a visit to Barcelona and this was to influence her deeply in her subsequent output. She became known for her "surprise paintings" and later joined the New Realist movement. She first exhibited her "Nanas" Opulent polychrome female shapes which with curves which challenged the fashion for Twiggy style beanpole women, and these later served as emblems for her sculpture.

AS for her Mouton 1997 artwork, the sun, plate, luscious lips and the woman's head all compete for attention, but the serpentine "Niki-object" on top of which is a bottle (presumably of wine) and a hand, seems to be a clear invitation to drink!

The grapes allowed in GG wines

I had previously blogged about Grosses Gewachs and noted that it was restricted to only wines made from Riesling and Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir). Having tasted a Pinot Blanc GG wine at last year's Wine and Dine Festival, it is time to see what is now allowed. Looking up German Wikipedia seems as good a start as anything (Googling in English being not at all useful), and it seems that Riesling is the only grape allowed in all regions except that in Ahr Riesling GG  wines are not dry but exclusively noble sweet one!

Pinot Noir in both the late and early ripening versions are allowed in many areas, and its different coloured variants Pinot Blanc and Gris can be used in a number of regions too. If Lemberger is surprising fro its inclusion in GG regulations (Wurttemburg) then the greatest surprise of them all must be the inclusion of this distinctly un-German grape Chardonnay in Baden!!

Aromes de Pavie 2008

I tasted this bottle the other day, as I was given it for comment. To give the wine a fair tasting, I grilled some lamb chops for dinner and got out the red wine tasting glasses rather than the general tasters (those are not ISO standard ones).

Now I usually do not breathe the wine a long time before tasting. This is because I want to try out the wine at different stages of opening up. The wine showed a deep purple rim with a dark core. Swirling the wine caused a sweet fruity aroma to emanate from the glass, which on proper nosing, carried notes of acid and wood as well. The palate was soft woody and fruity, being well supported by a backbone which was acid and tannic at first, with tannins fading before the finish. There was some disappointment that the wine seemed to fade around 50 minutes after opening (just after it showed its peak). Further breathing (just in case its opening went though a funny phase) confirmed that this bottle had a short life and needed to be drunk (and finished) quickly.

Fake wine and Lynch Bages

This morning someone shared on the Facebook group Hong Kong Wine Lovers an article on Wine Times HK about fake wines, and it was about a returned bottle of Ch Lynch Bages 2008 and why it should not be a fake bottle, merely one that did not like up to expectations at the time. Now I have my problems with Lynch Bages too, which  I had already blogged about.(The blog about Ch Lynch Bages itself is here.)

Back to the article, even though it touches on the problem of fake wines, there were no direct hints in the article how the average end user might try and assess whether the bottle at hand is fake. Frankly I agree with the hint that the average wine drinker in Hong Kong or elsewhere is unlikely to be able to detect it, unless it is really a very bad attempt at deception.After all, for the professionally faked bottle, very sophisticated equipment is needed to ascertain something is indeed fake.

As for disappointment with a certain bottle of wine, sometimes it is the unreasonable expectation that is the culprit, as in the case of the 1984 Yquem. I don't know why there is so much hype about Lynch Bages, but this may contribute to the disappointment felt. Then again, one factor which was not mentioned in the article was bottle variation, which is not supposed to be significant these days, but then my experience with Mouton 1994 certainly makes for cautionary reading.

Ch Grand Puy Lacoste 2006

Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste is a 5th growth estate in Pauillac, whose wine I have tasted on many an occasion. Originally there was the Grand Puy hill which used to a single estate, but part of it was sold in 1750 to Pierre Ducasse, forming the Grand-Puy-Ducasse estate. The remaining estate changed names a number of times because this estate passed along the female line and usually the name of the husband's family was attached as a suffix. It passed to the Lacoste family in the early 19th century and so acquired the present name, some years before the 1855 classification.

I had this wine at the 20th anniversary dinner of the Hong Kong Society of Sleep Medicine, It was specially reserved for the head table, at which I was seated having been the founding Treasurer. The wine was a deep ruby with a sweet berry nose, albeit marred by a hint of leafy greenness. The palate was sweet fruit and acid, carrying through to a nice acidic backbone giving good support.

The taste of a wine or its score?

I was sent a bottle of Aromes de Pavie to have a taste, the sender having been unimpressed by some one's remark about the wine garnering low points, or the like. As it turned out, that vintage was not scored by Parker or the major critics anyway, but why get upset about scores, especially if as I suspect with a second wine like this, one is not aiming to resell for profit, but to have a drink and enjoy oneself?

Anyway my feeling about wine scores formed the basis of a mini-series in March (here and here) and February of 2012 (1, 2, and 3 in reverse chronological order). I have not changed my thoughts about scores, merely to add that the scores are often different between one system and another (eg Parker and Wine Spectator) and sometimes it is instructive to taste wine with the same score. Occasionally the score is the same across systems and that makes for even more instructive analysis. But only if you are in for those sorts of things. For me, it's much more important to find out what I like (and just as importantly what I dislike) about the bottle at hand, for future reference!!

Ch Latour a Pomerol

Despite the Latour of its name, this estate has no connection with the Latour estate in Pauillac, being instead more connected to Chateau Petrus. Perhaps Latour refers to the small tower embellishing the charming chateau close to the village church in Pomerol. Madame Loubat who assembled the estate from various properties in 1917 was the owner of Ch Petrus at the time. It then passed to her niece in 1961, but was then farmed since 1962 by Ets JP Moueix (see also entry on Christian Moueix)whose now portfolio of properties include Ch Petrus. The estate has now been donated to Fondation de Foyers de Charité de Châteauneuf de Galaure in 2002.

Chateau Beau Sejour Becot

I remember looking at the long name of this estate and also that on the neighbouring entry in Johnson's little wine book and wondering about their connection. I don't think I have met the other one, but having now tasted the 2005 vintage of this chateau and also having a bottle of their 1975 in my collection, it is decidedly time to find out more about this estate and its history.

The original estate was descended from a monastic vineyard in the Middle Ages, which was renamed Beausejour in the late 18th century. In 1869 the estate was divided with one half becoming Beausejour-Duffau-Lagarrosse and the other half eventually being sold  in the 1920s to a Dr Fagouet, with that name being appended to that estate. The Becot family acquired the estate in 1969 and changed it to the current name, and they instituted an extensive programme of modernization. As for the 2005 vintage, it was dark and opaque at the centre with a thin rim of deep ruby, and a nose which was closed at first with slight sweetness and fruit. The palate was sweet and fruity with a touch of mint, well supported by a tannic acid fruity backbone.

Chateau Climens 2006

I started blogging about this wine and ended up writing about the 2001 vintage which was awarded RP100. As we have noted before, Climens is one of two first growths in Barsac, the other being Coutet. Tracing its name back to the 16th century, viticulture was started in the next century with the estate producing both white and red wines. The estate was bought by the Gounouilhou in 1855 when it was classified Premier Cru, and it remained in the same family until it was bought by Lucien Lurton in 1971.

Made entirely from botrytised Semillon, the wine is noted to be better in youth, though in the great years, it has been favourably compared with Yquem. As for this wine, golden orange in colour with a sweet luscious dried apricot nose, the palate was sweet luscious and rich with notes of exotic fruit, well supported by a nice backbone of dried apricot acidity. Delicious!

Gallo's better offering

The Gallo name is often associated with cheap supermarket wines, which is understandable given that many a times we do see that name on entry level supermarket wines. However, some of their better efforts are worth a second, more considered inspection. As Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher wrote in "Tastings" (the weekly wine column of The Wall Street Journal), Gallo is a big conglomerate with clout and they had been suspicious about the talk of better wines, putting it down to clever marketing. That was until they were surprised when they ended up marking out for recommendation a top range Gallo wine through blind tasting.

Having read that, I jumped at the opportunity when I saw a bottle of their single vineyard offering, ironically enough at Wellcome Supermarket of all places. Well, I didn't mistake for a claret as Gaiter and Brecher did, but then I wasn't tasting blind. It was however a reasonably well made wine and certainly worth a try. There is still a more expensive flagship Cabernet, but whether you are interested in spending nearly $1000 on a Gallo offering is another matter.

France vertical tasting 2005

This was the theme of last month's PWC tasting in which we had nine wines from that vintage (+ a non-vintage champagne for welcome drink). Apart from a relatively unfamiliar 2nd growth Sauternes (Ch Romer du Hayot), they rest fell neatly into four groups of two: two Burgundies, two Rhones and two each from left and right bank.

The Burgundies a Chablis and a Beane 1er Cru Greves, whilst there was a Chateauneuf and a Cote-Rotie from the Rhone. The left bank was represented by Reserve de Leoville Barton from St Julien and Ch Calon-Segur from St Estephe, whilst the right bank fielded Ch Beau Sejour Becot and Latour a Pomerol.

A right royal Mouton label

The artwork for the 2004 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild label is taken from one of the watercolours painted by HRH the Prince of Wales. The reason for the royal artwork was that 2004 was the centenary of the Entente Cordiale between France and Great Britain and there had been a number of celebrations culminating in official visits by both Heads of State.. That agreement was signed by Edward VII, the great great grandfather of Prince Charles who painted the watercolour used for the label.

Prince Charles needs no introduction to those of us who hail from Hong Kong's colonial past, but not everyone knows that he is a talented artist, working mainly in watercolours. To the painting of Mediterranean Pines on Cap d'Antibes, the Prince had added in his own handwriting "To celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Entente Cordiale – Charles, 2004"

Ch Calon-Segur 2005

I tasted this wine at the PWC France 2005 dinner the other day, having blogged about someone choosing it for Valentine's Day just this February. I am pretty sure I had tasted this classified 3rd Growth a few times before, but this is not an estate with which I am overly familiar. Together with the Ch Beau-Sejour Becot, they were the stars of the evening, one each from right and left banks, though both better for quiet sipping than to match with a cheese souffle suffering from a heavy hand with the nutmeg.

As for this wine, it had a deep ruby rim with a dark core and a sweet fruity nose, which extended well throughout the palate. It was amply supported by an acid tannic backbone.