Vino della Pace 2010

I had previously blogged about this winemade of 600+ varietals, which I tasted at last year's wine fair. They had two bottles only on show and they promised to let me have the bottles for the labels when I returned to them at the end of the show. I turned up within half an hour of the end and the stand was deserted, but these two bottles were still left amongst the "debris" of the show. The left hand on was already empty when I tasted the wine earlier in the morning, but to my surprise, there was still nearly half a bottle left of the bottle I had tried. Obviously a wine made from so many grapes from all the corners of the earth, grown in the Vineyard of the World is not of general interest to many. I took the bottles and later enjoyed the contents with my family. Although there are many grapes of many skin colours in the vineyard, they were obviously pressed and fermented as a white wine. There must be a teinturier grape or two in the mix I suppose (which means the juices of some grapes are actually pink or even red) but this will be diluted out in the final mix. The wine was a pale gold, with a sweet fruity nose. It was semi-sweet on the palate with fruity notes and an acid backbone following through to the finish.

Rotling from a mix of red and white grapes

This is a bottle of Rotling wine from Juliusspital of Wurzburg in Franconia. Now with the exception of Champagne, pink wine cannot be made from mixing red and white wines. Normally pink wine is made from red grapes (which normally have white juice) in which skin contact is limited. The lightly coloured juice is then run off and fermented away from the skins. Rotling, a specialty of southern Germany on the other hand is made with a mix of red and white grapes fermented together to make a pink wine. This wine was tasted at this year's Wine Fair. Deep rose pink in colour, the nose was sweet and fruity but with distinctive note of swede (the vegetable). On the palate it was sweet and slightly fruity, with good acidity following through to the finish.

Erbaluce di Caluso

This is a bottle of Erbaluce di Caluso, a DOCG Piedmont white wine made from the local Erbaluce grape. An ancient variety first mentioned in writing in 1606, it is thought to originate from the alpine foothills of northern Piedmont. The grape is named after the coppery pink tint of the fruit nearing harvest, which was likened to the light at dawn (erba/alba=dawn, luce=light). Naturally high in acidity, erbaluce can be made into dry and sweet wines, with the top designations being  Erbaluce di Caluso and Caluso Passito respectively. I tasted this wine at this year's wine fair.

PS. one of the synonyms of the grape is Uva Rustia, which is seen as La Rustia on the label.

A Sparkling Cabernet from Russia

Now Russia is not the place to think of when talking about sparkling red wines. One might think of Australia with its sparkling Shirazes and the like, or even Lambrusco, with sparklers of all types of dryness and sweetness, but not Russia. This however is a sparkling Cabernet Sauvignon from Russia. Abrau-Durso was founded by Imperial decree in 1870 and Prince Golitsyn brought in soem French experts in 1896 to advise. Abrau-Durso produces only sparkling wine up till now and 15% are made by the traditional method, as the wine above is made. The rest is made using the Charmat method. Apparently plans are afoot to produce still wines too. As for this wine, it was a deep ruby with good streams of medium bubbles. The nose was full of leafy and currant notes whilst the palate was sweet and fruity with an acid prickle. An acid tannic backbpones provided strusture and support

A Bali sparkler

We tasted this wine this past weekend, not really knowing what to expect. The first obstacle was opening it: instead of cork and wire cage, there was a plastic cap with a strip that one pulls off. After fiddling around for a while, someone pushed the red button at the top and it open! Apparently the cap can be resealable, but that's another tidbit. The grapes are also different. Hatten makes a number of wines from the table grape Alphonse Lavalee and this grape also features in this wine. There is also something called Chasselas Loulou, which I cannot find in VIVC, except that there is a pink skinned grape called Chasselas Rose Loulou; I wonder if that is the same grape.

The wine itself is a golden yellow, with few streams of medium sized bubbles. The nose was rather reticent, with slight fruit flavours and the palate was very dry with mild fruit flavours, with an initial acid prickle.

PWC-10: 10th anniversary celebrations for PWC

This is the line-up for the PWC-10 dinner last Friday, when we celebrated the 10th anniversary of my wine dinner group, Peter's Wine Circle. The original concept was 10 successive vintages of Chateau Pontet-Canet, which would have been 1996 to 2005, if I had been able to obtain a couple of bottles of 1997. I had located some bottles of 1997 with a wine merchant in England, but despite a couple of phone calls and a number of emails, I was not given a quote for courier charges and the order proceeded no further. As the anniversary approached, I decided to drop the "10 consecutive vintages" and just go for 10 years. Bottles of 1995 were sourced and this became the line-up. On the day, a friend bought his last bottle of 1994, which was given to him by Alfred Tesseron (the owner); it was his first vintage. So PWC-10 ended up celebrating 11 vintages of Pontet-Canet after all.

A thoroughly mixed up wine

This is Vino della Pace - or Wine of Peace, which is a project of Luigi Soini of the Cantina Prouttori Cormons. A vineyard was started in 1983 along the River Isonzo, in which was planted some 600+ varieties of vines donated from all over the world; the Vineyard of the World. The first harvest was in 1985, producing 3120 bottles (0.75L) of this Wine of Peace. This was repeated every year since then, with the growing season dictating the production which varies between some 6500 to a bumper 16000 bottles. The web site contains the list of different varieties of grapes growing in the vineyard, which runs to nearly 3 pages of 3 columns per page. Three labels were commissioned each year from artists - two of the three were on show at the wine fair this year. The promotion says that the above vintage is a blend of 838 varietals. My wife and I went and had a taste of course, but I don't suppose JC will let us count them in our Wine Century proformas!

Erste Lage for Austrian Wines

Austria is in the process of developing its own Erste Lage classification. Like the German system, it is at present only a system of the  Association of Austrian Traditional Wine Estates (Traditionsweinguter Osterreich) and it is very new. The first classification was in 2010, when 52 vineyards were designated Erste Lage. The classification was revised this year, with the number of sites increasing to 62. Like the German Grosses Gewachs designation, only wines made from two grape varieties can qualify - Riesling and Gruner Veltliner. Like GG, it is for dry wines. The logo is the figure 1 with O umlaut WT and I saw the above bottle at this year's Wine Fair. Scheiben is an Erste Lage vineyard in the commune of Fels am Wagram.

Fortified Cabernet for the Tsar

This is Livadia Red Port, a fortified Cabernet Sauvignon made for the Imperial Russian Court since 1891. First made in the Imperial Estate at Livadia, the wine is made from Cabernet Sauvignon grown at Livadia (one of the Tsar's Crimean palaces as well as wineries), Massandra and Ai-Danil. The grapes are harvested at no less than 22% sugar. After fermentation is stopped by fortification, the wine is then matured in casks for 3 years. The wine tasted at this year's Wine Fair was the 2008 vintage. Ruby red with a sweet spirity fruity nose, the wine was sweet and fruity on the palate with acid slightly tannic but still sweet backbone to support it to the finish.

Pino de Bali

This is a mistelle from Bali; made in the mould of Pineau de Charentes (hence the name), but with local spirits (origin not specified) muting Alphonse Lavalle grape juice. The mixture then undergoes maturation in a Solera of French, American and Hungarian oak barrels, a departure from the usual way of making Pineau de Charentes. They have two versions, a white and a red version; this is the red one. I suppose some form of skin maceration is done for colour extraction. As for the wine, it was tea coloured with pink tints, with a porty vine fruit nose. The raisiny profile carried through the sweet palate to a sweet acid finish, with some nutty notes in the tail. Actually not bad at all.

Humagne Rouge

This is a bottle of Humagne Rouge from Valais. As we have noted before, the Prime Name of the grape is Cornalin d'Aosta, which has the potential to cause confusion with the Cornalin which is Rouge de Pays. I had a wine made from this grape some years ago, at a Swiss wine tasting jointly organized by the KCC Wine Society and the Hong Kong Wine Society. I had the above example at the doctors' association dinner that I organized a couple of months ago, which featured Rhone wines (including Swiss Rhone ones). Purple ruby and with a sweet jammy fruity nose, the palate was similarly sweet but a little less jammy and fruity, giving an unfortunate impression of dilution. An acid backbone provided support and structure.

1996

To finish this little miniseries, we will look at 1996, which was a very good year for Champagne, clarets, red and white Burgundies, Loire (especially botrytised sweet wines) and Alsace. It was an outsatnding vintage for Sauternes, giving the richest and most complex wines since 1990. Rhone had a good vintage, but the wines were variable, especially in the Southern Rhone. Outside of France, there was a very good vintage in Italy and Spain as well as Australia and New Zealand. The growing season was a touch too dry for Germany, although some elegant ageworthy wine still managed to be produced, including some superb Eiswein. It was good for California too, but 1996 tended to be overlooked being sandwiched between the superb 1995 and 1997 vintages. The wines for Chile, Argentina and South Africa are also quite good for 1996.

A supermarket surprise

This is a bottle of Rose d'Anjou from one of the big 2 supermarkets. I have seen it before and not given it a thought. It was when I found out that Rose d'Anjou is the main appellation in which you find the Grolleau grape that I began to take notice. I know I had had Cabernet d'Anjou before and as its name implied, that Loire rose was made from Cabernet (Sauvignon or Franc). I wasn't sure which rose (Cabernet or Grolleau) they had in the supermarket, but was delighted to find this on the shelves. Who says the big supermarkets (and I don't count Marks & Spencer amongst them) are unadventurous? The Amorghiano red from Rhodes was from another one. In the supermarket above, I also found a Gros Manseng Sauvignon Blanc blend too!

Chateau Lynch-Bages

Chateau Lynch Bages is a chateau whose grand vin was as fifth growth in the 1855 Classification. That ranking belies its popularity and its recent performance which would have many consider it a super second were the clarets reclassified again. The estate was founded in 1749 when Thomas Lynch (an Irish immigrant) inherit an estate in the village of Bages through his wife. The estate then passed through the Jurine family and then the Cayrou family before being purchase by the Cazes family just before the Second World War. Apart from the grand vin and the second wine (now renamed Echo de Lynch Bages) the estate has been making a white wine since 1990. What is unusual is that the vineyards growing white varietals contain 20% Muscadelle, and the asssemblage for the last 3 years contain 12%, 18% and a whopping 22% Muscadelle respectively.

Xynisteri

This is a bottle of Cypriot white wine made from Xynisteri grapes. Xynisteri is indigenous to Cyprus, where some 13% of the vineyards, especially some 500 hectares on the south slope of the Trodos mountain range, are planted with it. Various delicate and fruity whites are made from this native aromatic variety but its fame lies with the famous dessert wine Commandaria, which is made from sun-dried Xynisteri and Mavro (indigenous red grape).

What of this wine? Golden straw with green hints, the wine was initially sweet and fruity on the nose, subsequently becoming crisp lemony and acid. The palate was neutral dry and lemony, turning a minerally acid towards the finish, all the while retaining a citrussy lemony note.

The Wine List

I have referred to the contents of the book a few times in previous blogs and only realized that the book itself has not been covered. A Xmas present from years back, you might think a book on the top 250 wines available in the UK for a certain year would not be useful for an amateur du vin in Hong Kong. Viewed that way, you would be absolutely right. But although it is useless as a buying guide, the wines recommended might also be available in Hong Kong too. Half of the book is devoted to Matthew Jukes' food matching adventures and conclusions. This is always useful for someone who regularly organizes wine dinners, and who is interested in finding out different approaches to enjoying wine with food.

Chateau Bouscaut

Chateau Bouscaut is Grave estate classified as Premier Cru for both red and white wines. With a history dating back to the 16th century (though as Haut Truschon rather than Bouscaut), it enjoyed some success prior to the last century though the history was somewhat difficult to untangle for this period. In the period surrounding the First World War, the property had firmly established a reputation for itself, It went through some ownership changes (including a decade under American hands) finally being bought by Lucien Lurton in 1979. 40 ha of vineyard are planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (with a little Malbec), whilst the remaining 7 ha are planted with a 50:50 mix of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.

Australian Botrytised Viognier

Viognier is a grape associated with Northern Rhone, where it produces Condrieu and where it can also be mixed with Syrah in Cote-Rotie. Although Viognier has the colour and the aroma to suggest sweetness, most of the production is dry. However, the fruity aromas can give an illusion of sweet when the measured residual sugar is low. Sweet Viognier wines can be made, traditionally using the "a l'assiette" method, where a plate is held under the vine which is shaken to make overripe grapes fall onto it. The grape is not often affected by noble rot in the Rhone, but we have here an example of botrytised Viognier from Australia, made by Yalumba which is the largest producer of wine from this variety.

Blauburger

Blauburger can easily be confused with Blauburgunder (Synonym of Pinot Noir) but is in fact an altogether unrelated grape. Bred by Dr Zweigelt in Klosterneuburg in 1923 by crossing Blaufrankish with Blauer Portugieser, Blauburger shared a parent (Blaufrankisch) with the grape now named after its creator, Zweigelt, which was bred the year before (and initially called Rotburger - the other parent was St Laurent). The grape is grown in both Austria and Hungary and is allowed to be blended into Egri Bikaver. Wines made from Blauburger are deep in colour with berry fruit on the palate. However they suffer from little bouquet and low tannins.

1989

1989 is one of those years where most of France seemed to do well, sometimes very well. In fact, most of Europe seemed to have good weather and harvests too, though the New World did not seem to fare as well. Looking at France, 1989 is the middle of three good consecutive vintages for many places. In some cases 1989 produced great wines. However, its coming just before 1990 (which was an even better vintage all around) meant that 1989 would always be in its shadow. For Sauternes, although the trio of 1988, 1989 and 1990 will always be remembered as a run of 3 good vintages, the fact that comparatively speaking, 1989 was the weakest of the lot will always mean that it will suffer in the comparison. Outside France, Germany had a good vintage4, but results were more mixed in Italy with Piedmont being good and Tuscany more mixed. A very dry Spain caused problems for Viura, with Tempranillo and Cabernet suffering less.

Samos Grand Cru

This is Samos Grand Cru, a fortified wine in the Vin Doux Naturel mould made with Muscat grapes from the Greek island of Samos. The wines of Samos have been famous since antiquity - it was Hippocrates' favourite wine. Made from Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains grown on hillside terraces up to900m in altitude, there is a whole range of sweet Samos wines at AOC level. Despite its name, Samos Grand Cru is not the top wine in this range (cf St Emilion Grand Cru), nor is there any separate designation of quality or sites like in Champagne or Burgundy. Other wines in this range include a mistelle - Anthemis (5 yr oak aged) and Nectar (from sun dried grapes).

White Dao

I had heard of Dao for a long time - I think there was an advertising campaign in England many years ago (well, I've been back in Hong Kong for 20 years now), but I only really know of and had tasted red Dao. White Dao was something new to me. Then I saw this bottle in one of those wine promotion campaigns in one of the large supermarket chains. The grapes were unfami8liar, and certainly I had not tasted them. I don't know if I had become aware of the Wine Century Club by that time, but my penchance for adventure and willingness to try out new grapes goes back rather a long way before that. Needless to say this wine was bought and eventually tasted. Unfortunately the notes are not at hand, but as far as my general impression goes, it was not a bad drink.

Sparkling Irsai Oliver

This is a sweet sparkling wine from Hungary made from the Irsai Oliver grape. Irsai Oliver was bred by Pal Kocsis in 1930 by crossing Pozsonyi with Perle von Csaba, giving an early ripening grape with a distinctive Muscat character. Initially grown for the table, Irsai Oliver has been successfully vinified, especially under modern temperature controlled conditions, thus preserving freshness, fragrance and fruit. Although relatively disease resistant, Yields fall off dramatically after 12-15 years, to which the preferred remedy is replanting. This sparkler is fermented in Magnums, then aged on lees after which it uses a pressurized tank method for removal of less as well as bottling. I am waiting to taste it, so my impressions will need another tidbit.

Cullen Wines Diana Madeline Cabernet Blend

Cullen Wines Diana Madeline Cabernet Blend is a top Cabernet based wine from Margaret River in Western Australia. Since 2005 (version IV) it has been included in the top "Exceptional" category in Langtons Classification of Australian wines. First planted on a trial basis in 1966, Kevin and Diana Cullen planted 18 acres of vines in 1971, founding the estate that was later to become Cullen Wines. The winery went organic in 1998 and then biodynamic in 2003.

The Cabernet Sauvignon for the wine is sourced from the original 1971 plantings, and the blend typically includes Malbec and Petit Verdot as you would expect from a Bordeaux blend. A portion of the grapes are barrel fermented and the wine is aged in French oak barrels of which up tom50% are new. According to the Langtons Website, 2008 is also a very good year.

2003

2003 has been hailed as a very good year for Bordeaux, but that itself is not without controversy. I also chose 2003 because it was a bad year for many parts of France and Europe, so whilst the combination of sun, rain etc might have worked for Bordeaux, it was disastrous for other places. For us in Hong Kong, 2003 will chiefly be remembered as the SARS year, but the Europeans will remember the long heat wave which caused many deaths. Taking Bordeaux first, the controversy lies in the fact that the climatic conditions gave rise to grapes which were unusually ripe even for bumper years in Bordeaux. This together with the popularity (and marketability) of the Parker style meant that some properties actually made Parkerised clarets; popular with the international market but not so warmly welcomed by the British critics.

Away from Bordeaux, which tended to be ordinarily less blessed with sunshine, places which have abundant sun had their grapes scorched. There was a drought in certain other parts causing the vines to wither. I remember being shown a picture of Rhinegau vineyards by Fritz Hasselbach of Gunderloch. They had lobbied for the law to be amended to allow irrigation in such unusual weather and it was done. They opted for irrigation which their neighbours did not, resulting in their vineyards remaining green in a sea of yellow at the height of summer. So 2003 was a good but controversial year for Bordeaux but rather disastrous for the rest of Europe.

A Hungarian white made from 2 Feteascas

This is a bottle of Hungarian wine made from Feteasca Regala and Feteasca Alba, except that the label gave their Hungarian names, Kiralyleanyka and Leanyka respectively. The two grapes are related; Feteasca Alba is a parent of Feteasca Regala. Feteasca Alba originated from Moldova and mainly cultivated in Moldova, the Romanian wine regions of Moldova and Transylvania a as well as in Eger in Hungary. Most sources say that Feteasca Regala results from crossing Grasa with Feteasca Alba in the 1930s but VIVC lists the other parent as Mustoasa de Maderat, which is not connected with Grasa. Both grapes make crisp dry whites and the parent is also used for sparkling wine production. As for this wine, it was a golden straw colour with a crisp fruity acid nose. Dry and fruity on the palate, there was a nice backbone of mineral acidity supporting it right to the finish.

Wine Vintages by Michael Broadbent

This is the 1998 edition of Michael Broadbent's Wine Vintages. I looked it up to comment on the 1984 vintage, which was so poor that generally people don't talk about it. First published in 1992, there was a second edition in 1995, but this is the only copy I have. In this edition, there were 6 chapters of French Classics; 6 for European wines; another 6 for New World (but 3 of these are American regions) but no South America and finally Champagne, Port and Madeira. The extent of historical coverage is variable, but red and white Bordeaux and Burgundy extended to 1900 with a few comments about pre-1900 wines. Rhone, Loire and Alsace went back to 1970 as did Germany and California etc. One would have expected Madeira to extend quite far historically, but it seems that although many older vintages are still a pleasure to drink, the year by year analysis only sent back to 1980, with an extended list of star ratings of vintages going back to 1792!!

Maurus Mori Ezerjo

This is a bottle of Mori Ezerjo grape from Maurus. Ezerjo (name literally means a thousand good things) is an ancient Hungarian grape, originating in Nograd county but now mainly grown around Mor. Maurus is one of the top producers of wine from this grape. Although capable of making botrytised dessert wines, it is also made into crisp refreshing wines designed for early consumption. This is partly due to the grape being prone to rot, so harvesting is dome early to avoid problems. I had this wine recently at home, to go with some seafood. It was a fair match with fish and shellfish, but nothing gave an inspiring match. Lemon yellow with gold tints, the nose was fruity with lemon notes which continued through the palate accompanied by a mineral acidity right through to the finish.

The traditional face of Diel

When I blogged about non-Riesling German wines, I mentioned that their traditional wines are also pretty good, even though their new wave barrique aged wines (like Cuvee Victor - a barrique aged Pinot Gris of which I have already blogged) were making headlines. Some of their Pradikatswein are also multiple prize winners. This is a bottle in my "cellar", but I cannot remember whether I had bought say 2 or 3 and at least drunk one; so I cannot give you the tasting notes. I have however tasted their Eisweins on various occasions as well as an Auslese Goldkapsul which was actually a declassified Eiswein. Suffice it to say that my impressions of them are very good.

1984 and all that

To tell you the truth, 1984 is a bad year for wine. Yet apart from the local Hong Kong population who have special reasons to remember 1997*, 1984 has become an infamous year because of George Orwell's novel, which ranks with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World as two of the best known examples of dystopian novels of political satire. I use this picture of the cover of Nineteen Eighty-four to introduce the idea of certain special years, in this case, extra special vintages, which we will explore in this miniseries.

1984 is generally bad for most if not all of Europe. California, Oregon and Australia seems to have had good weather and grape harvests, which will be useful for those wanting to splash out on a bottle of their birthday vintage, but for the rest of us we can take the hint from those vintage chart in various websites (usually not included) and give it a miss.


* Actually 1984 is also significant for Hongkongers too, as the Sino-British Joint Declaration declaring the resumption of sovereignty of China over Hong Kong on 1st July 1997, was signed in December 1984.

Black Noble

Black Noble is another remarkable dessert wine from the makers of Noble One. Inspired by a wine made in the 1930s, thought to be a fortified PX, Black Noble comes from selected parcels of botrytised Semillon set aside from the Noble One harvest, fortified after very little fermentation and then aged in old Noble One barrels. The aging is done in a solera like system to yield a wine of around 8 years of age. Deep mahoghany in colour reminiscent of the Liqueur Muscats and Tokays, there was ample sweetness with vine fruit, citrus peel notes on the nose, which carries through to the palate, with enough acidity for structure (and to prevent cloying). Another fortified beauty form Australia!

Argentinian Bonarda

I mentioned in the blog on Bonarda, that the Argentineans grow Charbonno, which they call Bonarda. Originating from Savoie in France, where it is known as Corbeau or Douce Noire - a source of confusion linking it to the Italian grape Dolcetto. The second most commonly grown grape in Argentina, a little is also grown in California. Wines made from the grape are generally deeply coloured with medium body and good levels of both acid and tannins. As for this wine which I tasted at last year's wine fair, it was a dark purple with a sweet berry slightly jammy fruity nose, with notes of meat and tuna. The sweet fruitiness carried on in the palate, joined by a good dose of tannins serving as a good backbone (together with a touch of acidity persisting right to the finish.

Mimosa and Buck's Fizz

To conclude this mini-series on mixed drinks with wine, we will look at champagne mixed with orange juice. Buck's Fizz uses one part champagne to two parts orange juice, is named after London's Buck's Club. It was invented as an excuse to start drinking early and was first served in 1921. Mimosa was invented in Paris 4 years later, but contains equal parts of champagne and orange. Mimosa is sometimes mixed using other citrus juice, such as grapefruit, when it will then be a grapefruit mimosa. Popular as wedding reception drinks, both are also offered as morning after hangover remedies.

There is a little more to Buck's Fizz though. The Fizz family of cocktails is based on a sour element and carbonation. Gin Fizz is the best known of the family, consisting of gin, lemon juice, soda and sugar. The variant Diamond Fizz uses sparkling wine instead of soda water. Buck's Fizz moves further away by having the champagne provide both alcohol and bubbles whilst the orange provides both the sweet and sour elements.

Chateau Leoville-Poyferre

There are 3 cru classe properties starting with Leoville, and if you guessed that they were originally one big estate, you would be correct. The original Leoville estate was planted with vines going back to the time around the later years of the 17th century. The wines were well regarded even then and they were considered only second to the four estates that later became the First Growths. In the turmoil surrounding the French Revolution, the estate was sequestered and a quarter sold off to become Leoville Barton. Some years later, the estate was divided again with another quarter of the original estate being separated off, which eventually became the Leoville Poyferre estate. Although the other two Leovilles are more well-known, it should be noted that when it came to the 1855 classification, the three were all separate and considered on their own merits. All three achieved the rank of Second Growth.

Cremant de Loire

This is a bottle of Cremant de Loire by Langlois-Chateau. As with other Cremant wines from France, this is a traditonal method sparkler with second fermentation in bottle. As in other regions, white and pink versions exist. As one would expect for a Loire wine, Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc would form an important part of the cepage. However, although one is hard pushed to name a blanc de noir from Cabernet Franc, the white Cremants from Langlois-Chateau contains 20% Cabernet Franc!! Another aspect to note is that different sparkling appellations exist in the Loire, including Saumur, but although this winery can make Saumur sparkling wines, it chose to make the more demanding Cremant instead.

Kyoho Wine

 I finally got a bottle of the Kyoho wine and tasted it. But before I write about its taste etc, let me tell you a little bit about the winemaker first. No he's not Japanese but hails from Israel, so we end up with an interesting combination of Israeli winemaker makes wine from a peculiarly Japanese grape in Australia. Could be great, or disastrous. But well, it was neither. The merchants who sold the wine suggested that this wine might be paired with Peking Duck, various desserts, some sushi handrolls and Foie Gras. The wine has some residual sugar but the medium sweet palate and body is insufficiently supported by enough acid to stand up to foie gras. The same would probably go for Peking Duck. Never got round to trying it with dessert but fruit based ones might work. As for the "foxiness' or characteristic Kyoho aroma, it was muted enough by the wine-making process not to get in the way. So here are my impressions of the wine: golden orange with pink tints, the wine was sweet and fruity on the nose. Sweet Kyoho fruit was evident on the palate with slight spritz with enough acid following through to the finish. I would just drink it by itself, but more to find out what a Kyoho wine is like.

The 4 grapes called Bonarda

There are four red wine grapes commonly referred to as Bonarda. Th Argentinians grow one of these, which turn out to be be of French origin, Courbeau Noir, otherwise known as Charbonneau from the Savoie region. I have tasted some examples of these Argentinian wines, which will be dealt with in another tidbit later. The other one I have tasted is Croatina, named for its Croatian origin - the grape used in the wine above. I have not been able to taste the other two yet - Uva Rara (which despite its name is not actually rare) and Bonarda Piemontese which makes a light fruity wine from the area around Turin. 

Table and wine grapes

Usually table and wine grapes are quite distinct, with most table varieties unsuitable for wine-making and most wine grapes having too tough a skin for serving as is. Of course there are exceptions with the Muscat family of grapes being the most familiar ones. Yet those who have followed this blog will sometimes see a grape being mentioned as also sold for the table, or words to that effect. Examples include Chasselas and recently Trollinger. I am however "inspired" to write this entry because I have found someone making wine with the above grape - Kyoho. No, it's not by an eccentric Japanese (at least not in Japan), as the wine comes from Australia!

Wine grapes are higher in sugar (nearly 25% by weight) when ripe, and have thicker and tougher skins which contain the flavourings and colour essential for red wine production. Table grapes are less sugary (15% by weight) and have thinner skins and smaller seeds. Some may even be bred seedless. The lower sugar means the resultant wine will have lower alcohol whilst the thinner skins and smaller or non-existent seeds will deprive the wine of many interesting flavour and colour compounds. That has not stopped some winemakers from using say Thompson Seedless/Sultana in making wine (either alone or in a blend). Kyoho has an additional disadvantage - being a vinifera-labrusca hybrid it has the distinctive "foxy" aroma, which whilst much appreciated by Japanese consumers of table grapes, is shunned by wine drinkers. Now all I need is to get a bottle and taste it!

100 points for a pair of Ozzie fortifieds

If you think that I have a penchance to seek out different wines (especially those not costing an arm and a leg) which have been awarded 100 points by Parker and his team, you would certainly have reason to allege this. After all, I have blogged about Lafite 1982 and Tirecule la Graviere 1995 Cuvee Madame, both of which I have tasted and Strawman and Pajzos 1993 Ezsencia, the pleasure of which are still to come. You will also notice that three out of the four that I have blogged about are actually sweet wines, and I have at various points remarked how sweet wines (even those with RP100) are still so unfashionable not to be the target of speculation and hence unreasonable prices.

I shall now add a pair of non-vintage Australian fortified wines to this hallowed collection. Both are from the Buller winery and they must represent the pinnacle of achievement for Liqueur Muscat and Liqueur Tokay.

Wine cups and mixed drinks

This is actually not  a mixed drink made with wine because it was a glass of a non-alcoholic version of sangria, but the proper adult version certainly is a wine-based drink. This photo also contains another point of interest, the little pottery cup balanced over the glass, containing a slice of bread spread with herb butter as an amuse-guele; is this the modern interpretation of the origins of tapas?

For this mini-series, we will try and explore some drinks based on wines, from Kir to Sangria to various wine cups and even cocktails, such as Buck's Fizz and Bellini. As it is summery and hot, we will leave such hot wine-based drinks as mulled wine to a  wintry season, either as independent tidbits, or as a mini-series if I can dig up enough material for a few blogs.

Report abuse for this article

Taurasi

Taurasi is a DOCG for wines made in Avellino (Campania) mainly from the Aglianico grape. Avellino has a white DOCG as well - Fiano d'Avellino made from the eponymous grape, but that belongs to another tidbit. The vineyards are situated on volcanic soils which suits Aglianico and are between 400 to 500m above sea level. Taurasi is aged for a minimum of 3 years (of which 1 year must be in wood) whilst the riserva has a minimum aging requirement of 4 years. As for this wine, it was a purple ruby with a currant fruity woody nose with small amounts of tannins. The palate was smooth with fruit, tannins and acid, with the tannins and acid persisiting to the finish. The wine won the approval of the critics too, with scores of WS90 and RP88.

Aglianico is responsible for another DOCG wine too, Aglianico del Vulture in nearby Basilicata, and this wine is pure Aglianico whereas Taurasi can contain up to 15% Barbera, Piedirosso and Sangiovese. The exploration of Aglianico del Vulture needs another tidbit as well as me getting to taste it.

Alsatian Muscat SGN

Muscat is one of the four noble varieties in Alsace, and it is usually made into dry or off-dry wines (unlike elsewhere, where sweet Muscat wines tend to predominate). However there are two complications, sweeter styles do exist and Muscat is not a single grape. To take the latter first, varietally labeled Muscat can contain any proportion of Muscat Blanc a petit grain or its pink skinned variant as well as Muscat Ottonell. As for sweeter Muscat, they are not often seen. I had seen one Muscat Vendange Tardive from Grand Cru Goldert some years ago in a catalogue, but it had sold out by the time I inquired about it. I fared better with this Muscat Selection de Grains Nobles from Clos St Landelin (Grand Cru Vorbourg) made by Rene Mure.

Aged Bordeaux Blanc

When I wrote about drinking a 21 year old white Rioja, I had not counted on drinking something older very soon, at least not an aged dry white. I was thus pleasantly surprised to find that we were having this 1989 Chateau Bouscaut Blanc for dinner at the KCCWS meeting on Bordeaux 2001. OK, it is a year since the Tondonia and the wine is only from the year before the Rioja, but that still makes it a 23 year old. As is just visible beneath the label it was an old gold colour, in fact suggestive of Sauternes with a bit of age. There was lemony acidity on the nose, but also with notes of bamboo shoot. The palate was slightly sweet with ample acidity, which was lemony at first, turning rather hard and minerally going towards the finish.

The painted bottle

This is a bottle of wine whose "front label" is actually painted onto the bottle. For label hunters like me, a photo of the bottle is the only way to record a likeness of the bottle. (Some port and madeira bottles are also painted; some of these have also got paper labels stuck on the bottles as well. There is however a "back label" with the legally required information and this one has a pull off tab for keeping to remind the consumer of the wine to purchase on the next occasion. Like certain Burgundies, the painted "label" does not have a vintage date (unlike the port bottles where vintage or age is indicated). Burgundies employ a neck label, Nederburg Ingenuity White relies on the back label.

Cape Winemakers Guild and their Auction

This is a bottle of Auction Wine from the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction. It was one of the wines tasted at a KCCWS event (and since I cannot locate the notes yet, I cannot tell you when and what the occasion was). Founded by eight winemakers in 1982, the Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG) has gone on to become a significant force in winemaking in South Africa, through innovation and the exchange of knowledge. There is an auction each year, whereby the members would showcase their rarest and finest. There is a silent auction, through which funds raised are used by the CWG Development Trust to provide schooling and other educational programmes for disadvantaged children in wineland areas. The Development Trust also looks after the wine industry too, by providing for a paid internship programme for talented local winemakers from disadvantaged backgrounds, perhaps to be trained as future members of the CWG.

Macon-Davaye

This is a bottle of white house wine I had at a party a couple of months ago. It is a Macon-Davaye from the Domaine de la Crois Senaillet. The Domaine takes its name from the Cross erected at the village of Benoit Senaillet in 1886 to replace one destroyed during the French Revolution. Founded in 1969, the estate is located mainly in St Veran, with the rest in Macon and less than 1 hectare in Poully-Fuisse. Culture raisonnable is practised in the vineyard with a minimum of pesticides and chemicals used when necessary. This Macon-Davaye 2010 is produced from 7 diffferent parcles in Davaye with the grapes averaging 28 years old. After harvesting at full maturity, the grapes are destemmed, slow pressed and slow fermented, undergoing full malo-lactic fermentation and lees-aging prior to bottling. The wine is unoaked. It was golden yellow with a crisp minerally and mildly fruity nose. The palate was dry lemony, slightly fruity and acid supported by lemony acidity to the finish.

Graciano

Graciano is one of those grapes you don't often see on the labels. It is often used to colour, structure and aging potential to Rioja wines, which normally is based on Tempranillo, although some are experimenting with varietal Graciano Riojas. Graciano wines are deeply coloured, with marked acidity and phenolic content. However it is low-yielding and tends to thrive in limited areas, with Rioja being its main geographic base. This is an Australian varietal Graciano tasted at last year's KCCWS X'mas party. Deep ruby with a mildly fruity acid nose, there was sweet acid and fruit on the palate, supported by sweet acidity to the finish.

Zenit

This is a bottle of wine from Sopron in Hungary which is made from the Zenit grape. Goggle Zenit, and most likely you'll find references to the Catholic news agency of the same name. The grape variety Zenit was produced in 1951 by crossing Ezerjo and Bouvier and this variety thrives particularly on Hungarian volcanic soils. It ripens early (around September) and is often made into pleasant crisp whites, with better examples exhibiting good minerality and good levels of acidity. It can also reach high levels of sweetness and when the conditions are right (as they can occur in Sopron), very good raisined wines can be produced from it.

Gruner Veltliner

Gruner Veltliner is an Austrian white wine grape, which Hugh Johnson thinks is worth a try at any level - from jug wine to fine wine. Known as Weissgipfler before 1855 when the present name was first used, it is a cross of Traminer with an obscure grape St-Georgen-Rebe, of which only one single specimen was somehow discovered in 2000. Gruner Veltliner covers nearly one third of the vineyards in Austria being grown in the north east of the country. Examples from Wachau, Kremstal and Kamptal tend to be pure, minerally and capable of long aging. Examples from deeper clay soils of the Weinviertel tend to be more spicy and peppery, though a lot is also made into the wines intended for drinking young in the heurigen of Vienna.

Vereinigte Hospitien

The Vereinigte Hospitien, or United Hospices is an ancient charitable organization, whose history goes back to Roman times. The Emperor Constantine had cellars built in Trier which later became first a palace and then an Abbey. The Abbey was secularized at the end of the 18th Century, but a few years later, Napoleon consolidated all the various hospitals, leper houses, orphnagaes etc in Trier and formed the Vereinigte Hospitien, which still contains a nunnery and is continuing to contribute to medical nursing and social welfare of the area. The products of the vineyard and winery help finance the charity, though unlike its counterpart in Burgundy (Hospice de Beaune), it does not hold an annual auction.

All its wines carry the picture of St James (Sanctus Jacobus) with his staff and the pilgrims shell on the label, recalling the St James Public Hospital of the Middle Ages, originally a pilgrim's hostel for those journeying to the tomb of St James in Santiago de Compostela. The first mention of Sanctus Jacobus wines goes back to 1464.

BTW, the scallop shell was a symbol of pilgrims (especially those journeying to St James' tomb) since the Middle Ages. This association can also be noted in French as scallops are coquilles St Jacques. St Peter has the John Dory (St-Pierre in French) and one story has it that the dark spots on its sides are St Peter's thumb prints.

An old dry Riesling from the Lower Mosel

We were given this bottle of wine, and we think that it has not been properly stored; most likely it has been store at too high a temperature for some time. However, being ever curious, I was interested to see if this would turn out tasting as if it has been aged for a long time. (cf blog on Chinese Cabernet aged at the edge of the Gobi Desert). Well the wine was old gold in colour, something not quite expected of a Mosel Riesling. The nose was crisp minerally and fruity, but there were rich honeyed notes in the off-dry palate with just a slight hint of dried apricots. A core of honeyed acidity carried the wine right through to the finish.

A country wide horizontal tasting

Horizontal tastings can be done to elicit the differences in both terroir and weather that can occur within the area of interest. For a region like Bordeaux, it can show how broadly similar weather can affect the communes in different ways due to the varying cepages and traditions involved in making the wines. For a larger area of interest like a whole country, it can illustrate what the highs and lows that the country has to offer for the year. Often certain areas will enjoy wonderful weather, whereas on others conditions conspire to make the life of the vignerons miserable. Rarely is a year universally good, or bad. As far as France is concerned, the millennial year 2000 was generally good across the board (except perhaps Champagne which is only fairly good). The picture was the lineup of a France 2000 dinner presented by PWC. For a better year than that, one can look at 1990, where it is just about excellent all over France!

Champagne eau de vie

If you speak to anyone about a distilled spirit from Champagne, they would quite often think of the marc. But there are some who also distill an eau-de-vie de vin from the base wines which go to make champagne. I tasted this at Champagne Moutard's booth at this year's Vinexpo, where I was invited to sample their ratafia (see earlier blog). After tasting a number of different champagnes, including their unique six grape sparkler, they showed me this product. It was a more refined product than their marc, leaning heavily towards a cognac style taste profile, with more wood notes but just as fiery.

A pleasant surprise at a horizontal tasting

I have been going to different horizontal tasting and have generally been impressed by only a couple of things: my general inability to identify wines and how Chateau Lynch-Bages always comes in the bottom three (where applicable). So it was quite a pleasant surprise when I actually got the answers right and won a bottle the other day at the KCCWS Bordeaux 2001 dinner (picture above). There 3 St Emilion wines amongst the 8 wines tasted and we were asked to identify these. What they had not told us was that 3 of the other 5 were from St Julien, though this is obvious if one looks down the list. I just took some notes for each wine and thought I can only identify one. Then when they hurried us up for the answers, i looked down the descriptions and chose the three with the most forward and fruity descriptions and submitted them. I was thrilled to be the only one to get them all correct!

The Nederburg Auction

This is a picture of the cover of the Nederburg Wine Auction Catalogue for 2010, the 35th Anniversary auction. Started in 1975 with only five wineries and only 15 top wines, it has now gone on to become a large international event showcasing some of the best wines of South Africa. The Auction is also famous for being where the famed dessert wine Edelkaur is being sold. Apart from being a major commercial event, it contains a Charity Auction which has been an integral part of the Auction from the start. The Charity Auction takes place after the sale of rare wines, when specially donated wines are sold off in aid of a nominated charity. The charities and donated items varies from year to year and for these two years, monies have been split been three community based organizations helping children in poverty.

Duas Quintas from Ramos Pinto

When I blogged about the Cuvee de 2 Soeurs as a champagne with solera aged base wines, I immediately thought of this wine, as this is also made from the fruit of two vineyards. I tasted this in the 2009 Wine Fair and I cannot remember if the representative at the booth answered my question or if he pointed to the two tawnies. You see, Ramos Pintos is a Port firm which has branched out into making table wines. They make a full range of vintage of tawny ports, and their 10yr old and 20yr old tawnies are from different vineyards, the names of which appears of the labels. The 10yr tawny is from Quinta de Ervamoira whilst the 20yr old tawny is from Quinta do Bom Retiro. Perhaps the table wines are also from these vineyards. On the other hand, the 30yr old tawny does not indicate its origin.

Domdechant Werner Domdechaney

The Domdechant Werner estate dated back to 1780, when the father of Dr Franz Werner the Domdechant (dean) of Mainz Cathedral acquired the Hochheim wine esate of Count York. Dr Werner had saved the Cathedral from demolition during the French rRevoluation and helped rebuilt it. The estate passed down the generations and is stilled owned and managed by the family. The estate includes Esrtes Gewachs sites such as Domdechaney, Kirchenstück, Hölle, Stein, Stielweg and Reichestal.

The Domdechaney site refers to the fact that the produce of the vineyard used to be paid to the deans of the Cathedral. Apparently in 1775, the dean attempted to irrigate the vineyard using a firehose and caused an infestation of noble rot and wonderful sweet wines, but unlike in Johannisberg, no one cottoned on to the connection between rot and the outstanding wines.

Chaptal

This is a picture of Jean-Antoine Chaptal, who first developed the idea of adding sugar to the grape juice before fermentation, to boost the alcohol level of the resulting wine. The process is named chaptalization after him. Son of an apothecary, he studied chemistry at the University of Montpellier, briefly teaching chemistry at the university's medical school before going into the manufacture of various acids and chemicals. When he was Interior Minister, he reorganized hospitals and introduced the metric system amongst various notable achievements. His numerous honours and achievements also included the naming of nitrogen as well as being one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

Jurancon Vendange Tardive

I bought this wine in Lourdes in May 2010; it was the first time I had encountered Vendange Tardive for Jurancon. To be truthful, it was the first (and so far only) non-Alsace Vendange Tardive (VT) wine for me. The cepage for Jurancon VT is limited to Gors and Petit Manseng, with harvesting only allowed 5 weeks after the harvest for Jurancon sec. The minimum sugar level for the must is 281g/l, 50% higher than Jurancon sec, and no chaptalization is allowed. Plain Jurancon (sweet if no sec designation) can also contain Courbu, Camarlet and Lauzet, with minimum must sugars of 187g/l and a minimum 35g/l residual sugar in the finished wine. I have enjoyed both plain Jurancon and Jurancon sec, so I am looking forward to tasting this wine soon.

Hospices de Beaune

The Hospices de Beaune was founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, the Chancellor of Burgundy, as a charitable almshouse and hospital and refuge for the needy and the poor. Receiving its first only in 1452, the Hospice has been providing medical services as well as refuge for the sick and the destitute without interruption to this day. Throughout the years, many donations have been made to the establishment, (and notably for a wine blog) including many vineyards. An annual wine auction has been held since 1851, on the third Sunday of November at the end of 3 days of festivities celebrating Burgundian food and wine. The wine, from the 60 hectares of mostly Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards under its ownership, are auctioned in barrels with the subsequent maturation and bottling being the responsibility of the buyer. Revitalised when Christie's took over its organization in 2005, it has slowly evolved from a wholesale only auction to attract consumer buyers.

Excuse the label which had somehow become detached from the bottle in the wine cabinet and then got water damage. The Magnum from which this came is still in good condition. I shall look forward to drinking it. Note also that although it has the Beaune AC, there is no indication of any vineyard etc designation. Instead it is named after the donor whose vineyard the wine comes from, hence Cuvee Rousseau-Deslandes.

A Blanc de Noir Eiswein

Eisweins are made from pressing frozen grapes and fermenting the resultant juice. As the pigments are in the skins, very little if any would be able to colour the juice and hence eisweins are usually white regardless of the colour of the grape used to make it. True, most ice wines are made from white grapes but there is usually the odd one that can be found, which is made from dark grapes. This is one such example, from the Rhinehessen. The grape is Blauer Portugieser, which despite its name does not come from Portugal. VIVC lists its country of origin as Austria, and apart from Germany and Austria, it is also grown in Hungary where it is a permitted grape in Egri Bikaver (Bull's Blood). As for this wine, it was a golden brass colour with a sweet luscious fruity nose. Sweet acid and fruity on the palate with a hint of lychees, structure was given by a sour plum acidity turning to a sweet plummy finish. Nice!

NV champagne from solera base wines

Non vintage champagnes normally employ reserve wine from good vintages to maintain a house style. This "novelty" (as they call it on their website) is part of their range of brut nature wines (ie no sugar dosage at disgorgement) and maintains a consistency in style via solera aging of the base wines a la sherry. However this solera system is only 6 years deep so the current release is the result of 6 consecutive vintages of the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines from 2 vineyards. The vineyards are not specified, but they have a trio of single vineyard champagnes - Champ Persin (Chardonnay), Vieux Beugneux and Dame Nesle (both Pinot Noir) - I wonder if this wine comes from these sites?

How does it taste? Golden yellow with good streams of fine bubbles, the nose was crisp and acid. An acid prickle greets the tongue on tasting leading to an acid palate and finish. With all this acidity, I think this champagne should be good for seafood and perhaps triple creme cheese.

Chateau Saint-Pierre

Being Peter, I have been on the lookout for a wine which may be named after the same saint as me, but although there is both a Chateau Petrus and a Chateau Saint-Pierre, their links to the disciple of Jesus remain somewhat rather tenuous. The estate of Chateau Saint-Pierre dates back to at least 1693 when it was owned by the De Cheverry family under the name Serançan. When the Baron de Saint-Pierre bought it at the end of the 18th century, the name was changed to the present one. Between 1832 and 1932, the estate was divided and several portions were sold off. One of these portion went to Henri Martin, who used it to assemble his estate of Chateau Gloria. In 1982, Martin bought Saint-Pierre and set about upgrading the estate. The above wine is the only example I have tasted. Deep ruby rim with dark core, it had a slight tinned tuna note on a berry nose. There was sweet fruit, acid and spice on the palate with a good smattering of tannins. A backbone of acid with somewhat lesser tannins than on entry carried it right through to the finish.

BTW, today is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, a very solemn feast in the calendar of the Catholic Church. Just because the above wine is Saint-Pierre, I'm sure you'll agree that its claim to be wine of the day is rather weak. But anyway, Happy name day for all Peters and Pauls!

The various sub-appellations of Macon

When I encountered this wine at a party, it struck me that I had not met this particular village in the Maconnais before. I was used to Macon, Macon-Villages and Macon-Lugny, but although I remember seeing Macon-Uchizy in Marks and Spencer, I took no further notice until seeing this wine. I also knew that there used to be Macon-Vire and Macon-Clesse, but these have combined to give a new appellation of Vire-Clesse. Actually although Macon produces red, rose and white wines, Macon-Villages applies only to white wines. Some 26 villages can be appended to the Macon name for white wines, of which 19 also produce red and rose wines from Gamay. There is an exclusively rose village, that of Serriere. One of the twenty-six is the village of Chardonnay, where the grape is supposed to have originated. Whether this is so cannot be absolutely confirmed, but Macon-Chardonnay is not a white only sub-appellation, it also produced red and rose Macon wines too.

A Canadian Baco Foch blend

This is a Canadian wine made from Baco Noir and Marechal Foch, both interspecific hybrids which had played a part in the renaissance of the Canadian wine industry, after grubbing up Concord and other labrusca vines and before the ascendence of Ontario Ice Wines. Both are early ripening, winter hardy and high yielding hybrids, but they lack the finesse of the international varieties which are in demand all over the world. Yet by limited yields and careful handling, both can make surprisingly good wines. On one occasion, a blind tasting put an Inniskillin Marechal Foch beat a Brouilly of the vintage before!

As for this blend, it was a deep purple ruby, with a sweet acid fruity slightly woody nose. The palate was dry-ish woody and fruity, (surprising there was some alcoholic heat for such a cool climate wine) with wood and acidity persisting through to the finish.

A single vineyard NV Champagne

Champagnes are normally multiply blended wines - from 3 grapes, many different villages and across different vintages. Single variety wines are not uncommon; varietal Chardonnays (Blanc de Blanc) being the commonest. Salon (previously blogged) is a single village wine whereas such wines as Krug's Clos de Mesnil and Clos d'Ambonnay and the Bollinger VV Francais are all single vineyard wines. All the aforementioned are vintage wines and very exclusive. This Champ Persin champagne on the other hand is NV and sells for a few hundred dollars (HK). As for the wine, it was a nice pale gold with good streams of fine to medium bubbles. A soft acidic and slightly fruity nose is followed by an initial attack of an acidic prickle, which leads onto an off-dry soft acid slightly fruity palate. The rather aggressive acid prickle turns into a soft mousse leading to a soft acid finish.

A good Muller Thurgau from Italy

Thanks to AP for her photo. I first saw this in her Facebook album and added Jancis Robinson's description of the grape - decidedly mediocre but gruesomely popular. That is quite unfair for this wine, as this is one of the world's better specimens. Bred from Riesling and Madeline Royale (previously this parent was thought to be Sylvaner, hence some of its synonyms) by Herman Muller (from the Swiss canton of Thurgau) at Gesienheim in 1882, it is an early ripening, high yielding grape with less demands on site than Riesling. These qualities were particularly attractive in the post-war German struggling to rebuild a devastated wine industry. That helped the German wine industry turn out oceans of mediocre wine of the likes of Liebfraumilch.

In some well chosen sites, it does produce wines of note, such as in the mountains of northern Italy. Hugh Johnson reckons that the Feldmarschall by Tieferbrunner from 1000m high vineyards in the Alto Adige to be the best dry Muller Thurgau in the world. This wine from the Palai vineyard was first produced by Pojer and Sandri, in 1975 and caused a stir in the Italian wine world.

Bourgogne Aligote

Aligote is the second white grape of Burgundy and can be used to produce Bourgogne Aligote AOC throughout the region. A crossing of Pinot group of grapes with Gouais Blanc, pinning its origin down to Burgundy and surrounding areas, it is thus a sibling of the more illustrious Burgundian white grape Chardonnay. Generally planted in the sites not favouring Chardonnay, it tends to produce light acidic wines which are generally unoaked. It is also used in producing Cremant de Bourgogne. The best examples of Aligote wines are said to originate from the village of Bouzeron, where it has a separate appellation of Bouzeron-Aligote with restricted yields.

This wine was an old gold colour with a fresh crisp nose and a dry acid palate, with the acid persisting to the finish. It went well with some pan-fried prawns with sea salt, but was not so brilliant with some simply fried clams (similar to the way moules a la mariniere is cooked). Of course another popular way with this wine is as an aperitif, with a dollop of creme de cassis - a Kir. But that's for another tidbit, perhaps in a miniseries about wine cups and other mixed drinks with wine.

A German Chardonnay

This is the first German Chardonnay I have tasted, well at least a dry one. I wonder if I might have tried an Eiswein from that grape from Pieroth some years ago. It s also one of the few Baden wines I have tried. I did not manage to meet the vignerons from Stigler at the Schmidt Vinothek tasting at the end of Vinexpo last month, but got to taste all the wines on show. Winklerberg is a top site in Ihringen, but like Trittenheimer Apotheke, its boundaries now includes some of the surrounding flat land. This means that in both cases it is impossible to know whether the fruit is from the better slopes of the easier flat land. Although situated in the Silvaner stronghold in the Kaiserstuhl in Baden, Ihringer is actually more famous for its Pinots Noir and Gris. Chardonnay is definitely an outsider. Oh by the way, do you see that A.P.Nr is much shortened, to a total of only 7 numerals now. As for this wine, it was straw yellow with a hint of green. Slightly sweet acid on the nose with a bitter note, it was slightly sweet and slightly fruity on the palate, with acid and wood persisting to the finish. I must say for Chardonnay, I prefer Chablis and the likes of Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet.

Charity auctions and charity wines

nunc autem manet fides spes caritas tria haec

maior autem his est caritas

Caritas, from which we get the English word Charity is Latin for love. There are many charity wine auctions, of which the most famous must be the one held every November by the Hospices de Beaune. For this min-series, I will look at those auctions held regularly in the wine business community. There are also a number of wineries with a charitable foundation, which will also be covered. Whilst many in this latter category will inevitably be venerable monastic establishments in the traditional wine growing regions of the old world, some of the former are very well established events in New World countries. In the Screaming Eagle blog, I had already mentioned the Napa Valley Annual Auction, but a couple of South African auctions are also famous for their special bottlings only sold at these auctions. These are the Nederburg auction and the Cape Winemaker Guild Auctions which support a variety of good causes.

Ratafia de Champagne

This is the Champagne equivalent of Pineau de Charentes, of which I had blogged many moons ago. I was at this wine dinner at the periphery of this year's Vinexpo, featuring the wines of Chateau La Conseillante and the champagnes of Moutard. At the conclusion of the meal, they opened a bottle of marc de champagne for us to taste. I casually asked if they had Ratafia de champagne and they said they have, but only at the show. I got invited to see them at their booth and got to taste this mistelle from champagne.

It was remarkably similar to Pineau de Charentes, although the cepage is much more well known: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. An old gold with a sweet vine fruit nose, it was sweet woody nutty and slightly fruity on the palate, with the acid and nuttiness persisting right on through to the finish. Traditionally drunk as an aperitif, I wonder if it might go with a nice hard cheese with a nutty flavour.

Spanish wine made from an Italian crossing

This is a wine made from Incroccio Manzoni from the Cans Rafols dels Caus winery in Penedes. Incroccio actually meaning a crossing and Prof Manzoni had a few that were commercially successful, including Manzoni Bianco and Manzoni Nero. This is presumably Manzoni Bianco, a crossing of Riesling with Pinot Blanc. most commonly found in northern Italy, this example however comes from Spain. Can Rafols dels Caus is a winery in Penedes on the outskirts of Barcelona. Since 1979, the current owner bought out his siblings and rebuilt his grandfather's estate whilst replanting the vineyards. He introduced the well-known international varieties as well as keeping the traditional Catalan grapes. Well, where does this grape fit in? To be honest, I don't know. All I know is that this is a single vineyard wine from El Rocallis which is planted with Manzoni Bianco, and the grapes are handpicked, fermented for 40 days before aging in French barrels. Old gold in colour with a meaty tuna nose, the wine was off dry and woody on the palate with hints of fruit. Acid was evident too on the palate, turning into a more lemony citrussy finish. The nose slowly evolved some honeyed notes. Interesting!

Moscato d'Asti

Now I find it strange that Moscato d'Asti should make it into the list, because low alcohol fruity fizz is a popular wine isn't it? But as the Decanter article pointed out, confusion with industrial Asti and trying to pair it with rich creamy desserts probably spoiled it for Moscato. Although both are made from Moscato Bianco and both receiving DOCG status in 1994, there are important differences between the two even though they share the same grape, production area and even Consorzio. Moscato has a lower range of alcohol strength, with a minimum alcohol strength of 4.5% as opposed to 7% for Asti. This is a result of stopping fermentation earlier with Moscato and leaves it with a higher residual sugar but lower pressure than Asti. Hence Moscato is frizzante with bottled sealed by conventional cork whilst Asti undergoes processing by the Charmat method and is bottled with the cork and cage of sparkling wines. I had the above wine in a wine-pairing package with a menu de degustation in one of the hotels. This Moscato from I Vignaioli di Santo Stefano is a top example, and I remember thoroughly enjoying it, though the dessert could be improved upon!

Symphony from California

This is a bottle of Californian wine made from the grape Symphony, bred by Dr Harold Olmo at UC Davies in 1948. A crossing of Muscat of Alexandria with Grenache Gris, development took over 30 years with the grape finally being released commercially in 1981 and patented in 1983. I had previously blogged about another Olmo grape Carnelian, which I tasted in a Australian blend with Shiraz. This is my first varietal made from Olmo grapes. I saw this wine in a small wine shop in a shopping mall I visited for the first time the other day. The chance to taste this unusual grape was too good to pass over. We had it the night we bought it and it was reasonably good with some small crabs we had that night. Pale gold with a sweet acid fruity nose, the sweet acid fruitiness extended to the palate, leaving a sweet sour finish at the end. Slightly reminiscent of QbA wines of a quality slightly above average, it nonetheless did not have the finesse to compete with the average Kabinett I now enjoy.

Marc de Champagne

I had already blogged previously that the Italians used the pomace left over from wine making into a spirit; the Champenois also do this just as other regions also do it in France (Burgundy for example). Grappa is Italian for pomace, whilst the French is marc (both for the waste produce as well as for the spirit). The only marc I had tasted before was from Chateauneuf, so this is the second marc for me, which was offered at the end of a wine dinner featuring Moutard Champagnes and the wines of La Conseillante. Golden yellow in colour with a smooth wam slightly woody nose, it was however quite "hot" alcoholically on the tongue even though it was generally warm and fragrant on the palate, going onto a woody finish. Having been poured a little glass of that, I then asked about ratafia, which was how got invited to their stand in Vinexpo.

Sekt bA from a Grosslage

I had already blogged about two Sekt bA before and both of these had vineyard designations - Mulheimer Sonnenlay from MSR and Mommenheimer Silbergrube from Rheinhessen. My third Sekt bA is from Nahe - Obermoscheler Paradiesgarten and the owner tells me this is a Grosslage. Now Sekt is not commonly seen in Hong Kong and Sekt bA is rarer still. I understand this is being sold here; Weingut Schmidt has also got a couple of other Sekts and I had already tried these at the "accidental wine tasting" I had earlier blogged about. This wine was a pale gold with few streams of medium sized bubbles and a sweet fragrant fruity nose. There was a pronounced acid prickle on the tongue giving way to an acid slightly sweet and mildly fruity palate. A streak of acidity ran through the palate right to the finish.

Riesling - Hochgewachs

This is a strange and unfamiliar designation for German wines. I only met it in a Mosel Riesling in a shop in my neighbourhood recently. It was not easy to find out about it. Apparently this is a designation for Riesling only, which sits at the top of the QbA scale. In order to qualify for this, the grapes have to reach a ripeness that is 1.5% potential alcohol above the minimum (for Kabinett in that subregion) before chaptalisation and reach 3 (out of 5) on the official quality scale. This allows the better growers to make QbA wines which from must at Kabinett level but which they deem not good enough to make as say a Kabinett wine according to their own standards. Having added sugar restricts them to sell it as a QbA, but this latter category allows them to set these apart from the masses of Liebfraumilch and the like. The "back label" of the above wine yielded a little more information - it is from the grosslage of Scharzberg from the village of Ockfen on the Saar.

Dolcetto di Dogliani

This wine is the odd one out, in that I neither tasted it at a wine fair not did I buy it for one of those curious grapes dinner - someone brought it to dinner. It was a house wine of one of the Cova Cafes and the friend liked it, so he bought some and took a bottle to dinner. Dolcetto is often a rather overlooked grape in Piedmont, playing third fiddle to Nebbiolo and Barbera. Only in Dogliani does Dolcetto get top billing and a DOCG to boot. I cannot find the tasting notes of the above wine to hand at this moment but I seem to remember a tasty drink.

The 6 grapes of Champagne

This is the "back" label of the Cuvee des 6 Cepages from Champagne Moutard. I think it is another unique champagne from that house. Previously I had blogged about their Arbane Champagne, which is the only varietal wine made from Arbane in the whole world. This champagne made from all 6 permitted grapes must also be the only such champagne in the whole world. The only grape I have not tasted in this list is Petit Meslier and it was through trying this champagne that I finally tasted this grape. A nice golden yellow, with few streams of very fine bubbles, it has a sweet fruity acid nose. A noted acid prickle hits the tongue before giving way to a crisp palate, reinforced by an acid backbone persisting right to the finish.

An interesting experience with different Riedel glasses

After the seminal experience at the Riedel wine glass tasting, we had been careful to use the "correct" wine glasses when we drink at home. Sometimes with friends, we would try out some incorrect matchings to illustrate the difference one gets with using different wine glasses. (We have subsequently found the same with Chinese tea as well). One day whilst we were with friends, we poured the white Burgundy from the Chardonnay glass (which was the recommended one in the Vinum range) into the Burgundy glass (the fat bellied Pinot Noir glass). Instead of a diminution of the nose, it actually amplified the bouquet and we thought we had stumbled onto something fantastic. Then we put the wine into the mouth. It was quite disappointing. Not only did it not live up to the promise of the nose, it was in fact inferior to the palate one gets using the Chardonnay glass. As it normally happens in these "experiments", tasting the wine back in the recommended glass gives the desired (and best) effect. So we had not picked up on an oversight of the design team at Riedel after all!

A German red made from Regent

Regent is an interspecific hybrid bred in 1967 by crossing Diana (Silvaner x Muller-Thurgau) with the interspecific hybrid Chambourcin. It was only released for planting as late as 1996. An important new fungal resistant variety, Regent gives deeply coloured wines with moderate acidity and a tendency to high tannins and must weights. They can aromas of cherry and blackcurrants and it can also take to some degree of barrique aging. This was an extra wine in a German wine tasting at the fringes of the recent Vinexpo. Purple ruby with a sweet jammy berry nose, the sweet berry fruit (with hint of jam) carried through to the palate accompanied by acid right through to the finish. No much evidence of tannins in this example!

Erstes Gewachs

This is the Rhinegau equivalent of Grosses Gewachs. and it is designated by the group of three arches flanked by the words Erstes Gewachs. The top wine from Erste Lage vineyards in the Rheingau, it must be hand picked selectively with a minimum ripeness of the Spatlese level, fermented fairly dry, with a maximum residual sugar of 13g/L and a minimum of 12% alcohol. Only Riesling and Pinot Noir are admitted to the Erstes Gewachs classification.

I tasted this wine at the "accidental wine tasting" whilst attending a medical seminar on brain and respiratory monitoring. As for the wine itself, it was a nice golden yellow with a crisp slightly sweet stone fruit nose. The palate was sweet acid and fruity, with a Chinese sour plum type acidity running through the palate onto a nice finish.

Lagrein

Although I had presented Lagrein in the same dinner as the Ciro, I had actually first tasted it (the wine above) in the 2010 Wine Fair. A red wine grape of South Tyrol, Lagrein is a descendant of Terodelgo, and is related to Syrah and Pinot Noir. It is a very vigorous vine with general yields, producing wines with deep colour, high acidity and tannins. Lagrein is traditionally produced in 2 styles: a tannic red Lagrein Scuro or Dunkel and a fragrant rose Lagrein Rosato or Kretzer.

The Lagrein wines I have encountered are both of the deeper variety. As for the above wine, it was ruby with a slightly leathery nose. The palate was smooth and fruity with acid, with a tannic acid backbone.

A fruity dry white Bordeaux

This was a wine I tasted the other day at the Club when a merchant organized a tasting of some wines showing at Vinexpo. This Sauvignon Semillon from what used to be known as Cotes de Blaye was a lively fruity white good for summer drinking. Dominated by Sauvignon Blanc (90%), the wine had both the green gooseberry nose often associated with French examples as well as a hint of tropical fruits (I detected some passionfruit) more often encountered in say New Zealand examples. Off dry and fruity on the palate with a lively acid backbone, this is a good party wine, though I'm sure it would be nice with a plate of prawns.

Cotes de Bordeaux has taken over the former appellations of Cotes de Blaye, Cotes de Castillon etc (except Cotes de Bourg) since its launch in 2008. The former names will be added onto the basic Cotes de Bordeaux to describe it, like Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux above.

A Mencia from Bierzo

Mencia is an indigenous grape of Bierzo, where it is making wines that have elevated the status of that DO. I had tried Bierzo a couple of years ago at the Wine Fair, and I am sure I have seen this offering from Descendientes de J Palacios in the shops before. However when I tried to but it, it was unfortunately sold out. Formerly producing light pale fragrant wines for early consumption, renewed interest in the grape occurred when the yojnger generation of winemakers produced more concentrated and complex wines from old vines growing on hillsides (often on schist soils). The samples I had tasted at the 2010 Wine Fair were rich in colour with different layers to both nose and palate, and acid and tannins on the finish.

As for this wine (which I drank at the recent Spanish KCCWS dinner), it was ruby coloured with a cherry berry nose. The fragrant cherry notes extended to the palate which was also marked with tannins. There was quite a bit of astringency at swallowing which extended right to the finish but the cherry notes persisted throughout.

Chateau Doisy-Vedrines

There are three vineyards with Doisy as the first part of their names; and if you guessed that they were originally one vineyard which was later divided, then you would be spot on. Of the three (the other two are Doisy-Daene and Doisy-Dubroca), Diosy-Vedrines is the largest and most often seen (Hong Kong and elsewhere). All three were classed as Second Growth in the 1855 classification of Sauternes and Barsac. The vineyards of Doisy-Vedrines are in a single block, planted 85% with Semillon and these with Sauvignon Blanc. After selective manual harvesting through triage successif, the wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks under temperature control, before 18 months aging in barrels with 70% new oak. Fining and filtration is done prior to bottling. As for the above wine, it was a nice golden yellow in colour with a sweet dried apricot nose. The apricot notes follow through the palate onto the long finish where its was joined by a good smattering of acidity giving it a nice balance.

Erste Lage

Erste Lage are designations for the top vineyards of the locality and is represented by the symbol with a numeral 1 and an elongated base (making an L) with a representation of a bunch of grapes. Various maps both contemporary and historical are used to define the sites. However not all wines from such a site will automatically qualify for the designation. Apart from yield restrictions, the grapes must be attained the ripeness of Spatlese and be selectively harvested by hand. The designation can be used for both sweet and dry wines. For the latter, the top wines can be designated Grosse Gewaches (most of Germany) and Erste Gewachs (Rheingau).