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.