Another year end wine dinner featuring unusual wines

We had the year end PWC wine dinner last Friday, with the recurring theme of unusual wines and grapes. Starting with two rare champagne grapes, Arbane and Petit Meslier, made into varietal sparklers, there were a couple each of unusual Italian against Bulgarian wines. The Italians were a Lacryma Christi made from Piedirosso grapes and a Pignolo, whilst the Bulgarians comprise a Melnik and a Caladoc blended with 2 Cabernets. The other two wines of the night were the One Wine One World white and a Bouzeron from de Villaine.

The wines were not all new to me, with say the Arbane having been tasted over a number of previous occasions. That proved less acidic than before but still nevertheless proved suitable to the Brillat-Savrin bought to match it. The Pignolo which was initially matched with a Chinese duck with plums was reasonable with the duck breast. That, together with two new (to the gathering) couples proving to be very good company, made for a very nice evening.

Kapcsandy Rose 2007

I opened this wine to go with ham that was part of Xmas dinner, but ended up nearly finishing it before the main course because it was so good with the smoked salmon (from the Grand Hyatt hotel). The wine was a free gift from a wine order, and I must confess I would not have bought it myself. I know Kapcsandy as a fashionable Californian winery which produces popular Bordeaux blend red wines, some of which are as pricey as their Bordeaux counterparts.

As for this wine, it was a deep rose, with a crisp slightly alcoholic slightly fruity nose. The palate was dry with little fruity notes, well supported by an acid backbone.

A German GG Pinot Noir with fruit from the German-French border

I took this wine to a Xmas Eve family dinner to go with a loin of pork. As you can see from the symbol next to the vineyard name "Sankt Paul" is an Erste Lage site, and on the back it says it is a Grosses Gewaches wine, with the "climat" of Schweigener Sonnenberg. I suppose the Sankt Paul site is a portion of that, which is  a monopole of Weingut Friedrich Becker, being named after a St Paul's monastery which was nearby . The vendor tells me that the vineyard is actually across the border in Alsace (or Elsass in German). Although I cannot find any info on this from their Website, there are other postings on the web which attests to that fact. Anyway it was an interesting drink, somewhat between a deep rose and a very light red. It was good with the pork.

Cuvee WS from Weingut W Sitzius

Although I had met the wines from Weingut Sitzius through the local agent, the Cuvee Sitzius was something that I was going to seek out at this year's Wine Fair due to its curious cepage - Acolon, Cabernet Dorsa and Dunkelfelder. Of the three, I had only tasted Cabernet Dorsa, from a Swiss wine carried as it happened by the Sitzius importer. Acolon was created in 1971 by crossing Blaufrankisch with Dornfelder, whilst Dunkelfleder (though it was bred in the 1930s) has a slightly confused parentage - Wikipedia quoted VIVC (from 2008 though) as a cross between probably Farbertraube and Blauer Portugieser but now VIVC records the parentage of the grape as Madeleine Angevine with a teinturier grape.

Enough about the parentage of obscure grapes, what about the wine? The wine was a ruby colour with a slightly fruity acid nose. The palate was sweet with red fruit notes  and acid, well supported by an acid backbone.

Ch Pavie 1996

The 2003 vintage of Chateau Pavie was the subject of trans-Atlantic controversy about the "Parkerisation" of Bordeaux wines, as I had previously noted. Although I had the other Pavie estates, Pavie-Macquin and I believe Pavie-Decesse as well, I had never tried Ch Pavie itself. I finally got to taste one vintage (though not of the controversial 2003) at the Wine and Dine Festival this year.

The 1996 Pavie was a nice ruby red, with a fruity leathery nose. Slightly sweet on entry, the palate showed nice savoury notes, well supported by a nice tannic backbone (which is a bit surprising given its age). I suppose that tannic backbone would suggest that further aging is still possible.

More pottery fermented Georgian wines

I had previously blogged that I had met a Georgian wine fermented traditionally in pottery vessels (Qveri) a couple of years ago. It turned out that it was far from being unique. The same winery was exhibiting in this year's Wine Fair and they had presenting two more pottery fermented Georgian wines as well as the previous one. As it turned out, one of these was made from an indigenous grapes that I had never tasted before.

The wine I previously blogged about was white and made from Mtsvane. The other two were both red, one from the more familiar Saperavi and the other from Otskhanuri Sapere, which despite the similarity of its name to Saperavi is not related. Otskhanuri Sapere is one of the oldest grapes in Georgia and is found mainly in west Georgia, especially in Imereti. This wine is a deep ruby, with a sweet fruity nose. The palate is dry , slightly fruity and with slight earthy notes (probably from the Qveri vessels) well supported by an acid backbone with slight tannins.

Cesanese d Piglio

I blogged about the Cesanese grapes recently, now I will deal with the two wines made from the grapes that I tried at this year's Wine Fair. Both were from the 2011 vintage. The lesser offering was called Hermanico, and was a deep purple ruby with a sweet berry nose. The palate was sweet acid with berry fruit notes, supported by an acid tannic backbone.

The better wine was called Romanico and had been awarded Tre Bicchieri. A deep purple ruby as well, the nose was still berry and fruity but has orangey citrus notes. These orangey citrus notes carried through to the sweet berry palate and the backbone was more dominated by tannins with the acid staying in the background of the sterling backbone.

Cru Beaujolais as standby?

Many a times Cru Beaujolais suffers from association with Beaujolais Nouveau, yet it is often a reasonable standby when the direction of a meal is not at all clear. A 2 year old Cru Beaujolais will usually not clash greatly with most things one is likely to eat and can complement many dishes in a typical Chinese meal, with the exception of perhaps the more delicate steamed fishes.

Recently at home over dinner with a few guests, a Cru Beaujolais was opened because the meal was a real mix (like what the Singaporeans would call a pot luck meal). That was not particularly well received. Yet when many a critic would nevertheless call Cru Beaujolais a well kept secret. I know for certain that some years ago, a well made example (Regnie) was on the wine list of the Peninsula Hotel as a house red.

A mini-vertical of Ch Hourtin-Ducasse

We were at some booth or another at this year's Wine Fair when the owner of Chateau Hourtin-Ducasse (a cru bourgeois from St Saveur in the Haut-Medoc) who was passing by that booth invited us over for a tasting. He had three vintages on show: 2008, 2010 and 2011. Now the addition of 2009 would have made it a nice consecutive 4 year vertical. Even if one is unfamiliar with the chateau (as I was not), a lot can be gained from such a mini vertical tasting.

The basic elements common to all three vintages were that of a deep ruby wine with varying degrees of fruitiness on the nose and sweet fruit on the palate. A backbone of varying degrees of acidity and tannin gave support to these wines. The 2008 was going through a closed phase not only on the nose but a little on the palate too. The 2010 tasted rather unripe with leafy notes on the nose but with a degree of evolution in that there were meaty notes as well as white pepper. Strangely it was the most recent of the vintages, 2011, that seemed most balanced with fruity and meaty notes on the nose, a mix of sweet fruit and tannins on the palate and an acid backbone ending in a tannic finish.

Vecchio Samperi

This is a special wine from the winery of Marco de Bortoli, who is famous for his Marsalas. I had previously blogged about dry Marsala before and I was able to taste both a sweet version as well as this dry Vecchio Samperi at the Wine Fair this year. The experience was all the better for having Sebastiano from the winery introduce the wines.

The 10 yr old Marsala Superiore was a golden orange with a nutty sherry nose. The palate was sweet and nutty with the nutty and dried fruit notes forming a good structural backbone. As for the Vecchio Samperi (which was aged 20 years in a solera system), the wine was a golden orange colour with a similar nutty sherry nose. The palate was dry nutty (also with hints of dried fruits) with a touch of acid, and this time the nuttiness was not enough to cover the acid backbone. Nice!

Cramposie

Now the Wine and Dine Festival is not my designated hunting ground for exotic grapes, though I have had many a pleasant surprise there. One of the finds this year was this obscure Moldovan grape Cramposie, used for both wine and table, with a complicated east European pedigree. The grape is a cross between the Bulgarian Beala Debela and the Moldovan Iordan (also Zemoasa or Timpurie, Iordan is the Prime Name). VIVC lists its origin as Moldova although other websites talk of Romania, and in particular the region of Dragasani. Other than that, information does not seem readily available on the Web.

As for this wine, it was a pale straw with a crisp acid slightly fruity nose. The palate was a bit sweet, acid and slightly fruity, with an acid backbone giving good support.

The Almaviva label

If you had wondered whether Almaviva had a Mozartean connection, any doubts would be dismissed on arriving at the home page of the Website, as the music was none other than the overture to the Marriage of Figaro. The wine label has 3 copies of a stylized design from Chile's heritage, a design which represents the vision of earth and the cosmos in the Mapuche civilization, and which was found on a ritual drum from that culture.

The name Almaviva came originally from Beaumarchais' play which was the inspiration of Mozart's opera. The label also has the name Almaviva reproduced in Beaumarchais' handwriting.

The Cesanese grapes

I tasted a couple of Cesanese d Piglio DOC at the Wine Fair this year, having read in the exhibitor's catalgoue that there were made from a grape I had not yet tasted - Cesanese d'Affile. Now that I am checking the facts for writing this entry, things seem a bit more complicated. First of all, the Wikipedia entry is about Cesanese Commune but consideres the Affile version to be a subvariety, and that is confirmed with separate entries in VIVC, although the synonym for the Affile version includes Cesanese d Piglio!

The Cesanese grapes are old varieties which can be traced back to the Romans, but is now rarely seen outside Lazio. In the last 10 or so years, the grape gained attention by being included in the wine Sogno Uno made by the American porn star Savanna Samson. A little Cesanese d'Affile is also include in the cult Tuscan wine Trinoro.

Rimage de Cabernet gernischt

I mentioned in the blog entry on Cabernet gernischt from Inner Mongolia that there was a fortified VDN on show. We got to the booth right at the close and they were very happy to see that there is still interest in their wares. After tasting a couple of vintages of the dry red, they showed us this sweet wine, which as far as we can ascertain is a standard fortified wine in the port model, with the addition of alcohol to arrest fermentation. (I had carefully asked if the must was fermented or not, ie whether it is more in the port mould or more like Pineau de Charentes.)

The wine was a ruby colour, with a sweet fruity nose with some slight capsicum notes. The palate was sweet and fruity with enough acid backbone to give support.

A couple of old vins doux naturels

I mentioned that I had tasted a couple of old vins doux naturels at this year's Wine Fair. I spotted them when I went through the list of exhibitors and noted down the booth to visit. By chance, a couple of friends who were going to the Fair, also wanted to visit that booth. I tasted the 1946 Rivesaultes first. It was a golden tea colour with a sweet nutty nose. The palate was sweet with orange and nut notes well supported by a nutty backbone.

As for the 1950 Banyuls, which tasted older than the 1946 wine, it was tea coloured with hints of pink. There were berry and smoky notes on the nose, which continued onto the sweet palate. That was all nicely held together by a sweet acid backbone.

Another RP90 dinner

I mentioned in yesterday's blog that we were having a Department dinner. This also served as a farewell function for one of our colleagues, who is also a wine lover. The lineup included a Chilean Chardonnay, a Spanish Grenache, a Tuscan Cabernet-Sangiovese blend, an Australian Cabernet from Coonawarra and the Carruades de Lafite discussed yeaterday.

The Chilean Chardonnay was crisp, had good fruit with a touch of wood. The Spanish Grenache was a little less impressive last night. The Tuscan blend did not immediately show well but later blossomed with improved fruit. The Carruades was a little disappointing. The best of night was the second most expensive wine, Katnook Odyssey. Dark ruby rim with an opaque core, the nose was sweet with concentrated berry fruit and wood. The palate was sweet rich woody with rich berry notes, well supported by a tannic woody acid backbone.

Carruades de Lafite

We are going to have a departmental dinner tonight and I was asked to organize a mini wine tasting for those interested in taking part. I thought I would repeat the RP90 exercise again as none of the members of the department were there that time. The most expensive wine in the line up, at least as far as the market price is concerned is the Carruades de Lafite 1998.

Lafite's second wine(like anything of Lafite) is subject to speculation, especially by the Chinese. At one point, before the Chinese caught onto Chateau Haut-Brion, the price of Carruades de Lafite nearly equalled that of Haut-Brion, prompting a telling comment from the British magazine Decanter. That of course is unwarranted madness. Now that top Clarets are being viewed as an investment rather than as a drink and their prices have spiraled out of reach on more and more wine lovers, it seems that madness has prevailed.

Virginie de Valandraud 2007

Named after the owner's daughter and established in 1992 as the second wines of Chateau Valandraud, the wine has now evolved into a standalone wine, using a different selection than the grand vin, rather than using the lesser grapes or barrels from the vineyards for the main wine. (There is now a 3 de Valandraud).

I came across this representative of the one of the first members of the garagiste movement at the Wine and Dine Festival this year. (BTW, apparently they actually started off making their first wines in a garage, as they had not obtained funds to build their winery at that time.) A deep ruby colour, with a berry leathery nose, the palate was sweet acid with plenty of berry fruit. There was an acid slightly tannic backbone for support.

Anatomy of a champagne

There was this booth at this year's Wine Fair promoting Champagne 17/319 a brand of Champagne with each wine made exclusively from grapes harvested at a single Grand Cru village. (The numbers mean 17 Grand Cru villages amongst the total of 319 villages in Champagne. It was a new venture and they had only got this one wine from Mailly. The base wines were from 3 years, 2006 to 2008 and the cepage was 85% Pinot Noir and 15% Chardonnay. The latter was from the 2007 vintage. The Pinot Noir was split across 3 years, 60% (of the total) was from 2008, 15% from 2007 and 10% from 2006.

Fruhburgunder

I had always thought that Fruhburgunder and Spatburgunder are both German synonyms for Pinot Noir, but it seems that the two actually count as different varieties, with the former being Pinot Precoce Noir, and only the latter being ordinary Pinot Noir. I found that out when I met the two varieties side by side at one booth exhibiting wines from the same estate. However the grapes received different treatment, with the early variety being aged in old barrels, whilst the ordinary variety was aged in new French barriques.

The nose of the Fruhburgunder was more leathery and leafy as opposed to the fruitiness of the Spatburgunder, even both had notable meaty notes. Both had berry fruitiness on the palate, with the berry elements more pronounced in the late ripening variety and both had adequate acid backbones.

Leiwen Laurentiuslay

I first heard of this site when I met Gerhard Grans some 10 years ago, when he mentioned that his Cuvee Katerina included fruit from a number of top sites, including Leiwen Laurentiuslay. This less well known Erste Lage site, furthest upstream in the Bereich Bernkastel area, was named after the St Laurence Chapel at the top of the hill, with the "lay" bit being the local dialect for slate, which is the soil type for this site.

I finally met this wine at this year's Wine fair. A golden straw colour, the nose of the wine was crisp acidic and slightly fruity. The palate was sweet with peachy fruit, well supported by an acid backbone for structure.

Korean Wines again

I had met Korean grape wines some years ago at the Food Expo, but had not been able to dig up the details for a blog entry before. This year, I found a booth with Korean wines again, so this is as good an opportunity as any other to blog about it again. I cannot remember any details from the last encounter, but this time I tasted two wines made from hybrids rather beloved of that part of the world, in this case, Muscat Bailey A and Kyoho. I am sure there were others too, but I had not factored a tasting in and I was rushed for time then, so these two wines will have to do for this sampling of Korean wines.

The white made from both grapes was a golden yellow and dominated on both nose and palate by Kyoho flavours and smells. The red (made from Muscat Bailey A only) was a nice ruby colour with red fruit on both nose and palate.

Seppeltsfield Para Tawny 1988

I had mentioned this wine in a number of previous posts. It was something that came as a pleasant surprise; I had not even marked out the stall for exploration (perhaps they did not specify clearly enough what they were showcasing in the exhibitor's info). Seppeltsfield is an old Barossa winery founded in the mid 19th century. They have a series of old fortified Tawnies, even back to the end of the 19th century, a small volume of which they might be persuaded to sell at rarified prices. They had this cask for tasting at the booth - the 1988. A nice tea colour, with a sweet nose full of vine fruits but noetheless harbouring hints of spirit, the palate was sweet buttery, complex and nutty with the nutty buttery elements hiding what must be a sturdy acid backbone giving sterling support.

Quintarelli and Dal Forno

One of the opportunities that presented itself at the Grand Tasting Pavilion at the Wine and Dine Festival this year was tasting the wines of the cult figures of Quintarelli and dal Forno, both from the Valpolicella area. Both are famous for their versions of the classic Veneto blend and I tasted them in a lineup suggested by the merchant designed to highlight the outstanding qualities of each as I progress. Although the 3 wines tasted were made from grapes which had undergone some drying, two were actually at the basic entry level of classification, with the dal Forno Valpolicella richer and more tannic than the Quintarelli offering. The Rosso di Bepi, which basically is Amarone in less than perfect years, certainly took the game to a much higher level.

Almiviva 2010

Almaviva is the name given to the wine that is the collaboration between Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Vina Concha y Toro of Chile starting in 1997. A vineyard of some 85 ha was established in the Puenta Alto area of the Maipo Valley planting Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties for this wine. The fruit is hand harvested in small trays before destemming and a light crushing to release juices for fermentation in temperature controlled steel tanks. The wine is matured in new French oak for some 16-18 months before egg white fining prior to bottling. I tasted this wine at this year's Wine and Dine. Deep ruby with a Ribena rich berry nose, it was sweet blackcurrant fruity on the palate, with tannic acid backbone (a touch salty) for support.

Bottling a Barrique of Claret

I saw the manual bottling of a barrique of claret at the end of the Wine and Dine Festival this year - when I say the end, I lterally mean the end, it was at the exit point that I saw the vigneron valliantly struggle to put all the content of the barrel the array of empty bottles he had also brought along. He was using a manual syphon to bottle, and that brought back memories of me bottling the contents of a demijohn during my forays into home winemaking. After the bottling, the corking was done manually, with a machine machine that is an industrial version of what I had used before. After that the bottle tops were dipped in wax to seal it. Then the labels were manually stuck on.

Tasting old wines at the Wine Fair

Old wines, especially those over say 30 to 40 years old are not easy to come by and one of the special things that one can do in wine fairs is to taste the odd old wine or two. I had the opportunity to taste a few at this year's wine fair earlier in the month, not to mention a couple of bottles from the 1980s. Apart from the old 1962 PX that I had already blogged about, there were also a couple of old vin doux naturel from Languedoc - a Banyuls 1950 which actually tasted older than the Rivesaultes 1946 also on show.

As for the wines from the 1980s, I chanced upon a merchant dealing with Seppeltfield's old fortified wines, even from the end of the 19th century. Now even though they were only having 1988 for tasting, this was opening the door to many older wines, though how many of these actually fall within my budget is another matter. (BTW, the other wine form the 1980s was the Duhart-Milon 1986).

Wine Fair 2013 - Fortifieds

Sometimes in the middle of the event, it is not obvious that certain themes are developing, but on hindsight it becomes very obvious. One of the targets for my Wine Fair "campaign" was to taste enough new grapes so as to take my tally up to 400. The unexpected theme was fortified wines. First there was the trio of old wines, Don PX 62, Banyuls 50 and Rivesaultes 46. There was also Marsala from Marco Bartoli, introduced by Sebastiano himself. Then there was the company which deals with both old Pineau de Charentes from Lheraud, as well as old "ports" from Seppeltsfield. Now that must count as a secondary theme for this year's Wine Fair.

The ASM Wine Tasting

The Annual Scietific Meeting (ASM) for the Anaesthetists' College and Society was held last weekend. Started in 1996, I had basically attended every one at least in part except for the second one (1997). I cannot remember when they added a wine tasting at the end of the proceedings for an additional social item, but it has now been an acknowledged feature of the meeting.

It has always been enjoyable and I had organized the one in 2007 as well as helped in the sake tasting in another year. Last year the merchant who provided the wines decided to give a lengthy lecture on biodynamic wines and that did not go down well at all. This year's presentation on Burgundy wines was well received though it was still on the long side. The wines were nice enough to make a good impression.

Wines from Tursan

Tursan is not a well known wine producing area as far as Hong Kong is concerned, though having seen the map above hanging at the back of a Lourdes souvenir shop, I had got my bearings for it. I was basically leaving Wine and Dine Festival on the Sunday when I stumbled upon this stand at the Admiralty exit showcasing Tursan wines. They emphasized its proximity to Bordeaux, their local indigenous varieties and the fact that they had made a number of wines to go with Asian cuisine, both Japanese and Chinese. The attraction of obscure grapes was one I could not resist, and I tasted a couple of whites.

A different way to encourage extraction

When red wine is fermented, the grape skins (or pomice) goes into the fermentation vessel and some form of agitation is used to encourage the interesting substances in the skins to leach out into the fermenting must to end up in the finished wine. The most dramatic of these is used in the brief fermentation of that great fortified wine, port, in which the maceration and fermentation is cut short by the addition of alcohol. The classical way to aid maceration is foot treading, but robot treading and pumping over also number amongst the methods employed. The latter is also used for ordinary still reds, as the the simple expedient of manually pushing the cap down into the must.

I learnt of a very different way involving pressure vessels as I was finding out (as well as tasting) a German Fruhburgunder. First I though it is the same as the ordinary Pinot Noir which in German is Spatburgunder, but in fact they count as two different varieties. The grapes ferment in a pressurized vessel in which the pressure is released when the pressure reaches three atmosphere above ambient. Imagine shaking a bottle of soda pop and then unscrewing the cap. Everything bubbles vigorously and the contents are thoroughly churned. That would also happen to the must as well as the skins, thus aiding extraction of the interesting material from the latter. Well one lives and learns!

One Wine One World

There are two wines, a white and a red, which were made for this project, One Wine One World, which ended up as a blend of wines from a number of different places around the world, to emphasize the elements that the various wine regions had in common, with the proceeds going to charity, mainly the Maimonides Foundation which promotes communication and understanding amongst Jew, Christians and Muslims. One of the people that the wine was served to was Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the UK, at a lunch with Bishops in Birmingham.

The red was blended from Mexican, Californian and Southern French wines, with a cepage of Grenache, Carignan, Syrah, Petite Sirah, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The white was an assemblage of wines from Italy, Slovenia and Hungary and made from Pinot Grigio, Friulano, Ribolla Gialla, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and a little Furmint and Chevalier. AS for the wine celebrity behind this project, it is James Suckling.

Furtiva Lagrima 2009

Una furtiva lagrima
negli occhi suoi spuntò:
Quelle festose giovani
invidiar sembrò.

This is the beginning of the famous aria from Act 2 of Donizetti's famous opera, L'elisir d'Amore. I certainly did not expect to see a wine of that name at the Wine Fair this year, more surprising that it was a product of a Portuguese winery. I had just visited a booth nearby, having marked a wine for tasting, when I spotted the name on the label of the bottle on the counter. I sang the opening phrase and the person behind the counter gave a thumbs up. It was indeed named in honour of the aria!

Made from a mix of Syrah, Touriga Nacional and Alicante Bouchet, the wine was a deep purple ruby, with a blackberry woody nose. The palate was slightly sweet with plenty of berry fruit but was also a touch savoury. Tannins and acid provide good support for the wine.

Essence de Dourthe 2008

This is a special cuvee from the Bordeaux negociant Dourthe, made from the best fruits of five of its top vineyards, Belgrave (Haut Medoc), Le Boscq (St Estephe), Pey la Tour (Bordeaux Superieure), La Garde (Pessac-Leognan) and Grand Barrail Lamarzelle Figeac (St Emilion Grand Cru). The fruit was picked at optimal ripeness and fermented in small oak vats separately and aged in new barrels for 12-18 months before assemblage into this Essence. So far, Dourthe has only released 2 vintages -2005 and 2008, and the latter included the St Emilion property which was not part of the 2005 selection.

I met this wine at this year's Wine and Dine Festival. Ruby with a berry fruity nose with slight minty notes, the palate was slightly sweet but full of berry fruit. Tannins kicked in mid palate accompanied by acid, which harmonized to provide a solid backbone for the wine.

Le Charlesmagne 2004 from Corton

I had previously blogged how, like certain Chateaux in Pessac-Leognan, the whites of Corton are more sought after and also more expensive than the reds, which are also produced at a higher volume. Most of the wine is either sold under the appelations of Corton or Corton-Charlesmagne, but there is also a small lieu-dit of En Chalesmagne (0.28 ha) which can use the AC of Le Charlesmagne.

I met this bottle at the Grand Tasting Pavilion at this year's Wine and Dine Festival. A golden yellow in colour, it had a closed crisp fruity nose as it was a touch too cold when served. The palate was sweet and fruity with a creamy acid aftertaste evolving into a good acid backbone for structure. I'm sure it would become more interesting with age and at the right temperature. (NB. white Burgundies, especially venerable wines from top sites need to be served at temperatures akin to venerable reds, but are too often served at temperatures for fresh whites, sending the wine into a dazed hibernation.)

Cabernet gernischt from Inner Mongolia

Now this is one Cabernet that was not mentioned in the earlier blog. I had come across this enigmatic variety on browsing the exhibitors' info, but was not able to find it in VIVC. Googling it yielded little information, until an article wondered if the name was somehow a corruption of Cabernet Gemischt, an easy enough transcription error, with gemischt meaning mixed in German. Yet this was no mixture of Cabernet vines, or even a cross with either Cabernet Sauvignon or Franc with s mixture of pollen, the identity of the other parent not being certain. Wikipedia notes that some Chinese wine industry figures feel that it is actually Carmenere, first introduced by Zhangyu Winery into China's Shandong in 1892 mistakenly as mixed Cabernet, hence the name. In fact that turned out to be the correct hunch as Jancis Robinson has reported that DNA analysis by her wine grape book co-author has confirmed the grape to be Carmenere.

I chanced across the wine during the Wine Fair last weekend. There were 3 vintages on show, with a fortified VDN as well!

Don PX 1962

I had seen this Toro Albala Don PX 1962 in last year's Wine Fair and bought a bottle. This year they opened a bottle for tasting so that was a chance not to be missed. I had met these old fortified PX stickies before, but not one quite as old as this. They also showed me older ones, including one from the 1940s which got rated RP100, but those were out of my budget.

Back to this wine, it was a very dark tea coloured, liked overstewed Pu-erh tea and quite opaque. The nose was that of an old sweet wine, smoky with plenty of dried vine fruits. The palate was sweet with vine fruits and a rich pruney note, well supported by a raisiny acid backbone.

(PS The photo is from the later 2015 tasting)

Cabernets galore

One of the unexpected findings in this year's Wine Fair so far is the profusion of grapes called Cabernet something. Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon are somewhat familiar and has generally entered the vocabulary of many wine drinkers. I had also tasted a Swiss wine with Cabernet Dorsa last year and I see that a vendor has a varietal wine from this grape. Having visited the Fair for 2 days running, I had discovered another 2 Cabernets, Cabernet Moravia and Cabernet Cubin. Unlike Cabernet Dorsa, which is actually not related to either Cabernet Franc or Sauvignon (which incidentally is Cabernet France crossed with Sauvignon Blanc), these 2 new discoverires are related to the two classic Cabernets. Cabernet Moravia is Cabernet Franc crossed with Zweigelt, whilst Cabernet Cubin is Blaufrankisch crossed with Cabernet Sauvignon.

Muskat Moravksy

I went to one of the stalls I marked out for a look; it was one promoting Slovakian wine. Many of the varieties of grapes presented had been tasted already, so I was just looking around. They told me that there is this local variety of Muscat - Muskat Moravsky, which is a cross between Muscat Ottonel and an unspecified grape and suggested that I give it a try. It was a nice golden straw, with a grapey nose with orange notes. The wine was off-dry with acid orange fruit on the palate, and an orangey acid backbone for support.

When I came home and looked up the variety, I firstly mis-typed Muscat and found nothing. What was evident was that there are a lot of Muscats (their numerous synonyms notwithstanding). That is the same even with the Muskat spelling, with which I finally located the variety. The unspecified other parent turned out to be Prachttraube, and the Prime Name was an even more inpenetrable Mopr!

Chateau d'Yquem 1995

There were a few "trophy wine" I wanted to taste at the Grant Tasting Pavilion of the Wine and Dine Festival this year, and this is one of them. I had blogged about the disappointment of Mouton 1988, and another is that I could not get to try Pontet-Canet 2010. d'Yquem was a very nice drink, but it did not seem to have been as outstanding as say the 1989 which I had bought a few half-bottles. I had previously written that then 1983 was a nice Sauternes, but as one expects Yquem to be in the stratosphere year in and year out, that was considered a disappointment.

Back to the 1995,the wine was a rich golden orange in colour, with a sweet luscious nose with lots of botrytis character and plentiful dried apricot acidity. The palate continued with the sweet luscious theme as well as the dried apricot fruit and acidity, the latter of which gave sterling support as a nice backbone. Not disappointing in the 83 mold, just somewhat lacking in the WOW factor, even when I managed to have some pan-fried foie gras to accompanied it.

Preparing for the Wine Fair

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I usually peruse the exhibitors' list and make notes about what I would try and see. Having done so over the past couple of days, it seems that the wine fair still holds a lot of interesting things for me, even if we confine ourselves just to wine. In the products listed, there are at least half a dozen if not over ten obscure grapes that I have yet to taste. Some even come from say Georgia, or Turkey, which were the focus points of 2011 and 2012 respectively. I had aggressively tried everything going then, but it seems that there is much more to be explored. This is more surprising for Georgia as I had met them in 2 wine fairs and 2 Wine and Dine Festivals. The problem with the latter is that I have not been able to access the wines which they are showing, but I suppose that is the nature of that event.

There seems to be a large delegation from Penglai on the coast of Shandong, as there were well over a dozen exhibitors, but they do not list the products they would present, but then neither are the Japanese sake brewers or Shozu distillers, although there are numerically more of them willing to send pictures and descriptions of their wares from Japan. (Not having counted the sake brewers, I have no idea if the percentage is the same, though it really seems that only one Chinese winery made any impression (because of Cabernet Gernischt) but that needs another blog).

Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1988

I tried this wine at the Wine and Dine Festival over the weekend. It was one of those eagerly awaited bottles, so where the scheduled time comes, there was a good long queue forming. I did not come early, so I ended up tasting the tail end of the bottle. The problem with this is that the bottle never gets properly breathed and then the wine will not be at its best.

Even with this caveat, I find the wine a little disappointing. Ruby garnet in colour, the nose was meaty and fruity but with a slightly green leafy note. There was sweet fruity with a touch of spice on the palate, well supported by an acid backbone, but somehow there was still this lingering hint of leaf. It is unusual to find any hints pf green in a well-aged wine and at 25 yrs old, I think leafy notes or hints of greenness should well have disappeared. Maybe it was even worse when it was younger! I am glad I did not buy any of it then.

Cserszegi Fűszeres

This is the new Hungarian grape that I tasted at Wine and Dine yesterday. A cross between Irsai Oliver and Roter Traminer, it was developed in 1960 at the Pannon University of Agriculture. It has a high yield with high sugar, harmonius acidity, cold resistance and a distinctive aroma, which brings to mind its parent Irsai Oliver. It is usually made into semi-sweet and dry wines.

The Benedek Cserszegi Fűszeres 2012 was a pale straw with a touch of green. An aroma of orangey musct grapiness was on the nose, which followed onto a dry grapey palate, with a good acidic backbone for support.

Wine and Dine 2013

Just visited the Wine and Dine Festival at the new Central Harbourfront site tonight. It obviously has a different feel to the previous West Kowloon site, but more obvio9us is the fact that one pays more, like the admission charge, which had been included in the various glass and voucher sets of previous years. The Grand Tasting Room is reserved for American Express VIPs so I cannot comment on that.

How interesting you find these events depends a lot on what you want to get out of it. I want to maintain friendships, taste unusual wines and make new friends. In the brief visit today, I have been able to do just that and even get to try a new Hungarian and a new Greek grape. Thus so far, even if it has not been greatly impressive, I look set to achieve some of my objectives for this year's Wine and Dine Festival;

Cremant and Cramant

The term cremant is applied to Franch semi-sparkling wines made by the Methode Traditionelle - like how it is done in champagne with a second fermentation in bottle and subsequent riddling and disgorgement. Although the term was once also used in Champagne, that does not now happen. Of these, I have blogged about Cremant de Die (from the Rhone valley) and mentioned Cremant de Limoux (I think) when blogging about Blanquette de Limoux and the Mauzac grape. I have also tasted Cremants from Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Jura. The only Cremant AC which I do not not seemed to have tried is Cremant de Loire, but I wonder if some of the Loire sparklers I did taste are of this designation.

As for Cramant, it is a commune in the Cotes de Blancs subregion of Champagne and is designated Grand Cru (100%). Probably the most easily encountered example of a champagne from there would be Mumm de Cramant.

Filsell Old Vine Shiraz

I tasted this wine at a promotion recently. The wine, the younger brother of the flagship Meshach Shiraz, comes from the same Filsell vineyard, which was planted in 1920. One of the finest vineyards of the Barossa, it produces fruit of great intensity and concentration. The fruit is crushed and fermented separately in temperature controlled tanks with pumping over for about a week or so, before a final fermentation in oak. The final assemblage is matured in a mix of new and 2 year old American oak barrels (with a small amount in French oak hogshead) for 20 months before bottling.

As for this wine, it was a deep purple ruby with a woody berr nose. The palate was sweet and rich with berry and woody notes and a slight salty tang. A good acid tannic backbone give good support.

A strategy for going to wine fairs

The Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival is happening at the end of the week and the wine fair a week later. There are many ways of enjoying yourself in these events, but if you want to make the best out of them, it is imperative to do your homework. This invariably means swotting up on the exhibitors' info on the event website. By going through the sections you are interested, you can select a number of stalls you "must visit" and enter them into a list (with their stall numbers). As you wander along the venue going from one "destination" to another, you will be distracted by things you have not noted (or which they have not listed in the blurb on the website) and be pleasantly surprised at the unexpected windfall.

That was how I found out about the Vino della Pace last year. But the unexpected windfall came as I rushed towards the Riedel Pavillion (at Wine and Dine), stopping after seeing Cyrillic alphabet and discovering the Massandra stall!

Describing what you smell and taste

During wine tasting, one looks at the wine, smell and then taste it in that order. Generally speaking, there are standardized descriptions which, though it might be unfamiliar to some, have become a sort of common language amongst the afficionados. Now standardization is all very well, but they are based on Western experiences.I have already blogged about the problems unfamiliarity with gooseberry brings (and how in this part of the world it is assumed to be the Cape gooseberry (or Physalis)). Others like wampi and the various preserved plums (such as chanpimui etc) are very must in the realm of gustatory experience of Guangdung and related cultures.

All these are inhibitory to the spontaneity of telling people what really comes to mind when you first tasted the wine. Sometimes, it is a certain meatiness with fishy overtones, which often brings to mind canned tuna (especially when it is accompanied by a metallic tang). Recently the wine completely surprised me with a smell of that peculiarly local soft drink, cream soda. It is not just vanilla from barrels, it smelt of cream soda and that even extended onto the palate. It certainly will stick in my memory for a long time.

Chateau Beychevelle

The name Beychevelle was the corruption of "Baisse-Voile" meaning lowering of sails, a custom from the time of Henri III when ships would lower their sails as a sign of allegiance on passing the Chateau. The Chateau was built in the 17th century and reconstructed and extended in the 18th and 19th century respectively. Now owned by Grands Millismes de France (Castel and Suntory groups), the estate produces a Grand Vin, Amiral de Beychevelle and a separate wine, les Brulieres de Beychevelle, which come from a few plots of wines in Haut-Medoc bordering St Julien and carries the Haut-Medoc appellation.

BTW, the website has a simplified Chinese section as well as a Japanese section, testifying to the rise of interest in fine Bordeaux wine in the Far East.

La Clape

I tasted this wine at a supermarket wine fair recently. It is from La Clape a sub-region of Coteaux de Languedoc. I had met the Cru of La Clape before, when I present one of its wines many years ago at one of the PWC dinners. La Clape goes back a long way, to when the rocky outcrop now known as the Massif de La Clape was offered by Julius Caesar to some of his trusted legionaries. They started growing vines and making wines here, giving the place over 2000 years of wine growing history. The reds are made from Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre. Tha example tasted was a deep purple ruby, with a nice berry nose. It was slightly sweet with a berry fruit palate, giving way to a tannic acid backbone.

Pinotage

Pinotage is a distinctly South African grape which was bred there in 1925 by crossing Pinot Noir and Cinsault (which used to be called Hermitage, hence the name). Despite being a cross of a Burgundy and Rhone grapes, the flavour profile of Pinotage is nothing like French wine and more like New World wines. A vigorous vine like it parent Cinsault, Pinotage is easy to grow, ripening early with good sugar levels. Grown mainly in South Africa, varietal Pintoage tends to give deep red wines with smoky bramble and earthy flavours and occasionally notes of tropical fruits as well as bananas. Apart from varietal wines, Pintoage is also blended as well as being made into a fortified wine.

Richer than 3 puttonyos

I was at a wine fair organized by a premium supermarket when I was offered a taste of the Henye Tokay Aszu 3 puttonyos 2006. Now although the number of puttonyos will determine the sweetness of the resultant wine, the residual sugar is now designated by the number of puttonyos, with 3 corresponding to 60g/L. Yet this wine tastes much richer than 3 puttonyos, more like 5! Now I wonder if there are other criteria used in determining the puttonyos level. Look at German Pradikat wines todat. They exceed minimal Oeschle levels by a great margin, in fact sometimes by a couple of categories, eg a Kabinett wines has a ripeness level above the minimum for Auslese. This is in part the result of global warming. With higher Pradikats, some vignerons will declassify to a lower designation for their own reasons.

Back to this wine, it was a nice golden orange colour with a sweet acid orangey apricot (fresh) nose. The palate was sweet with a dried apricot acidity, which followed through with slight prune notes to the finish forming a nice backbone to the wine. Nice!

Choosing wines for a Chinese Banquet

Although there have been posts about which wines go with which dish in a banquet, the difficulty of choosing say a red and a white wine for the whole meal is another matter. Johnson favours something light and aromatic with a touch of sweetness for the white, and recommend a Mosel Riesling (say a Kabinett). That is also my reserve position, especially if there are people who drink wine infrequently attending the meal. Yet if one is serious about seafood in the meal, something like a Chablis (1er Cru) should go down nicely. I would try either a fresh cru Beaujolais or a lively Pinot Noir (including some young fruity Burgundies we now find) for the red. However, this is not something that local drinkers are used to, especially since both would be rather light in body. Most banquets (especially wedding ones) end up with a Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon from say Australia or South America. Now I wonder what I should get for the gathering on Tuesday?

Alternative Wines Blog

When I moved this blog from yahoo, I also started a Chinese blog on alternative wines. This blog was inspired by the Fringe Wine website which published on obscure grapes, familiar grapes in unfamiliar styles or places etc. Now this blog has entries on all of these types of wines and grapes, so this new blog covers some ground that I've covered before, but offers an opportunity to sharpen my pen in Chinese. It is actually ironic that the first ever article of mine carried by a magazine which one buys here in Hong Kong is actually in Chinese (in the Wine Now magazine).

One impetus for me to improve my Chinese writing is when I saw some of the wine books in the shops today. They seem to contain much the same material as the sort that I've been putting in this blog, so the obvious question is: could I be writing a Chines wine book then? One can only prepare for it, hence this Chinese blog.

Melnik

This is a bootle of wine made from one of the new Bulgarian grapes which I have not tasted before. Apparently there are a number of grapes named after the town of Melnik, of which Siroka Melnik is the best known, a name sometimes shortened to just Melnik. Siroka Melnik is parent to a number of other grapes including Melnik 82 (crossed with Valdigue) Melnik Yubileen 1300 (crossed with Saperavi)and Ranna Melnishka (crossed with a mixture of pollen including Valdigue).

Back to Siroka Melnishka (or Broadleafed Melnik), which as a varietal takes to oal aging, producing tobacco notes in a wine which has been compared tio Chateauneuf in power and apice. Apparently, one of those who appreciated its wines was Churchill.

Maderization

Now Madeira is a nice though currently unpopular and unfashionable wine, which has undergone slow oxidation to give it a unique character. Yet apart from Madeira and a few deliberately oxidized wine, maderizarion is a wine fault. Not that maderized wines are always horrible to drink! I first came across a maderized Chablis which was bought in a neighbourhood wine seller. There was a nuttiness that alerted me to the oxidation. I threw i away, although on hindsight, I might have used it like a sherry (or even like the Chinese rice wine) in cooking.

A recent episode had me re-discovering where a missing bottle went, outside the fridge and in a hot place. The bottle was a Sicilian sweet white with a difference, bering made out of a mix of grapes originating from other parts of Italy. When I tasted a little, there was the unmistakable nuttiness, which seemed to complement the basic dried apricot notes in the original wine, making it rather reminiscent of a sweet sherry (maybe a sweetend amontillado). I decided to keep this wine and put it in the fridge. I'll have a proper taste of it later and finish the bottle.;

A 30 year old Burgundy

This 1983 Volnay Premuer Cru Clos de la Bousse d'Or was tasted at the last PWC dinners some months ago. We were taking a number of wines froim years ending in 3, so they were also a whole number of decades old. This one at thirty was the oldest that night. If you had been following my blog from the beginning, you might remember a 19th century Madeira, which is also a whole number of decades old too, actually exactly one and a half century old this year, but that is for another ocassion, another blog.

This 30 year old Burgundy was a garnet colour but with pink hints round the edge. The nose was meaty and earthy with a touch of acid, leading to a sour plum palate, supported by an acid backbone. A nice drink but nothing outstanding to grab you attention.

Pink Port

When I first saw this in Marks and Spencers, I was a bit confused. Port is ruby or tawny, or even white, but never before pink!. It seems that some years previously, Crofts have made a port in which colour and tannin extraction had been carefully controlled and then fortified in a way that did not dominate the resultant product. This gives a wine with fresh fruity flavours, increased vibrancy and less heavy on the palate. Crofts suggests chilling theirs or even serving it over ice. This Marks and Spencers version is by David Guimaraens (of the Fonseca House) - they didn't mention chilling, but suggest nuts or a light fruit pudding as suitable matches.

Muscat de St Jean de Minervois

I have previously blogged about the fortified Muscats from the South of France with most of the discussion concerned with the Rhone appellation, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise. Most of the other appellations of Muscat based vin doux naturale are actually in the region of Languedoc-Rousillon and Muscat de St Jean de Minervois is generally regarded as the best of them all.

This is a small appellation just north of Minervois itself and is basically a small limestone plateau of some 700 or so acres at an elevation of 900ft. It is nearly completely planted with Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains, which is allowed to become super-ripe before harvesting. The grapes are fortified mid fermentation by the addition of grape alcohol to preserve the sugars in the grapes.

Quinta Vale Dona Maria LBV 2006

This was the port presented at the recent doctors' association wine dinner. It was an unfined and unfiltered port and instead of the usual cork stopper, it had a standard cork of normal length, the type you see in ordinary wine bottles. Although the owner had sent me pictures of grape treading in the estate, I had assumed that this was only for their top port. It turns out that in fact the grapes for all their ports undergo foot treading. Another unusual feature is that instead of the usual raisin and dried fruit aromas and flavours, it was more fresh (and slightly stewed) berries in its flavour profile. Yet despite this deviation from the expected, it was an excellent match with the fondant chocolate pudding and was exquisite with the Blue Stilton.

Caladoc

When I blogged about the unusual Bulgarian wines with obscure grapes, little did I suspect that one of those little known beasts was bred in France and from well known parents. This is the case with Caladoc, which featured in a blend with the two Cabernets. The grape was bred in 1958 at the INRA by crossing Grenache and Malbec, in the hope of producing a grape suitable for growing in southern France, with reduced susceptibility to coulure. However, it is not permitted in any AOCs and Languedoc growers are trying it out in VdP blends. As a grape it shares many of the fruity and spicy aromas as its parents, and with high phenolic levels tend to produce tannic wines with deep colour. I shall look out for these features when I get to taste this wine.

Partnering Port

We had a 2006 LBV port from Quinta Vale Dona Maria for the wine dinner I mentioned in the last entry. This was the last wine of the evening and I had ordered a chocolate fondant dessert to pair with it. This turned out to be a good match.

I was also quite keen to see if having port would make blue cheese more palatable for those who had not tried it before, so I had also arranged to serve some Blue Stilton at the same time. I had already blogged some time ago that my wife was converted to the merits of the cheese by presented it to her with some port. It turned out that there were many people that night who take Blue Stilton and so corresponding there were less targets for persuasion. However, few of them had tried the combination before and all had found it delicious.

An Iberian Wine Dinner

The annual Doctors' Association wine dinner is upon us. Last year we started off with the Rhone valley and ended up covering the whole river (including its source and upper reaches which is actually in Switzerland). I had thought of trying the Douro with its origin in Spain and ending up going into the sea at the Portuguese coast. However, those wines are gradually pricing theselves out of the budget, so I thought we can have the theme of the whole Iberian Peninsula.

The final line-up started with Innocente sherry as aperitif; followed by a pan-fried fish and salad starter, which was paired with Albillo. The main course and the cheese platter was paired with 3 each of Spanish and Portuguese red wines. A rich chocolate fondant pudding was offered as an experimental match for the LBV port, with a small wedge of Stilton offered for those who like these things.

von Kesselstatt's Chinese website

It is not unusual in Winery Websites nowadays to see a PRC flag for an icon which leads to the Chinese version of the Website. There is usually no indication whether it will be in traditional or simplified Chinese, but having a Chinese website is a good start. But we're talking about now.

von Kesselstatt had a Chinese section quite a few years back (maybe up to 10 years?), and I remembered that I had downloaded something useful from it, namely a list of food pairings of Chinese dishes with their wines. I am glad to see that they have kept the list and updated it. Bravo for this pioneer in Chinese winery website.

Stumbling upon some unusual Bulgarians

I was having a wander around a shopping mall opposite the Tsuen Wan Town Hall in the extended meal break between rehearsal and performance later that Sunday evening when I ran across a branch of the chain which sells many Bulgarian wines. I discovered a number of wines which contain grapes I did not seem to have tasted before. There was a blend with Caladoc, and two varietals, Melnik and Bouquet. A quick check with VIVC confirmed these were really grapes that I had not met, but now that I tried to find out more about them, it seems that there is more confusing information, as the grapes involved may have different synonyms, but in the VIVC, there are also separate listings too. This will need a little more time to sort out. On the other hand, these are three more grapes towards my target of 400!

Welcome!

Welcome to the new Pete's Wine Tidbits! As you all know the Yahoo blog is shutting down and my wine blog has had to move. I have chosen this as the new place for my blog to reside and I am still learning about this site, so things will take a little while to sort out. For one, I have not fouind how to upload pictures to the blog yet, a problem I hope to solve very, very soon. Be reassured that the blog is continuing and I will try and keep to the schedule of 5 posts a week (or one per weekday). I don't know if it will keep the old format or not, but I will try and make sure each blog will be accompanied by a picture. Meanwhile if you have just stumbled upon this blog now and before the transfer of the old material to this blog is complete, please go and visit my old blog before it closes for good on 26 December 2013.

Uccelleria's Brunello 2006

This Brunello which was offered to me (by friends at a neighbouring table) at the end of a wine dinner in which we explored some lesser known grapes of Europe, comes from fruit grown on vineyards between 150-350m elevation in Castelnuovo dell'Abate south east of Montalcino. After fermentation, it is aged for 24 to 36 months in a mix of Slavonian and French oak barrels before bottling and undergoes another 6 months minimum bottle aging before release. The wine was a deep ruby, with a sweet acid fruity nose. The sweet acid fruit carried on to into the palate accompanied by a smattering of tannins, yielding to an acid slightly tannic backbone giving ample support.

Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt

The origins of the von Kesselstatt estate go back to the 14th century with the vineyard purshase by the Kesselstatt family recorded in 1349. Some years later the von Kesselstatts had assumed responsibility of looking after the wines of the elector of Trier, and in 1777 the Emperor Josef II elevated the barons of Kesselstatt to Reichgrafs. The estate acquired  four former monasteries of St Maximin and their vineyards between 1854 and 1889, and these make up the present estate.

Gunther Reh bought the estate in 1978, and it has been run by his daughter Annegret since 1983. With 12 ha each in Mosel, Saar and Ruwer, and with holdings in many presitigeous sites, including Josephshofer, Bernkasteler Doctor and Scharzhofberg etc, von Kesselstatt was one of the first estates to offer Grosses Gewaches wines.

Langhe DOC

The Langhe DOC is a relatively new legal entity and it covers a large area of wine growing and wine making territory, which is home tyo many famous Piedmont names, such as Barolo, Barbaresco, Asti etc. Of course this limits what the vignerons can grow and also excludes all the famous international varieties. Sometimes a grower would like to tinker with some aspect of a traditional recipe, or they would like to try their hand at growing and making wine out of a famous international variety; of course they could resort to Vino di Tavola (like the pioneering Super-Tuscan growers did) but the emergence of the Langhe DOC allows them to use this legal category to sell their wines.

Champagne Gardet

Champagne Gardet was founded by Charles Gardet in the late 19th century in Epernay. In 1930 his son moved into a Belle Epoque residence in the premier cru village of Chigny-les-Roses to further develop the establishment. Now owned by the Prieure family, they have continued to balance traditional ways with modern wine making techniques to give a distinctive Gardet style, for example the base wines for their vintage Prestige Charles Millisime (the current brand name for the above wine) do not undergo malolactic fermentation to give better keeping qualities to the finished champagne. Their range include a premier Cru champagne as well as a demi-sec one.

Isole e Olena

Although this is the only product I have tried from the estate, Isole e Olena is a famous estate from the Chianti Classico area producing great Tuscany red wines and it is made up of two farms (Isole and Olena) were acquired by the de Marchi family in 1950 (hence the name). Although the current owner (fourth generation vigneron) Paolo was raised in Piedmont, he has always trasured his Tuscan roots. Initially disappointed with the requirements to add white grapes into the Chianti blend, he was intrigued by the possibility of adding grapes from outside Tuscany (especially international ones like Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah) to improve the blend. However he decided that clonal selection of the Sangiovese was the better answer and that Cabernet could overpower Sangiovese in the blend and would consider adding Syrah if the Sangiovese harvest requires some help. Apart from Chianti, Paolo produces IGT wines from his Cabernet and Syrah grapes, just as he also produces a pure Sangiovese (before the laws were changed to allow Chianti to be pure Sangio). Of course he also produces the delicious Vin Santo above.

Azienda Uccelleria

I was offered a glass of this wine by friends on a neighbouring table at the end of a wine dinner earlier this year. I must say I am not familiar with the producers of Brunello but Hugh Johnson's book informs me that this is a good producer. The name Uccelleria means bird house, which I suppose, explains the label, and the estate was acquired by Andrea Cortonesi in 1986. His family has been involved with agriculture in the village of Castelnuovo dell'Abate and the estate comprises more than just vineyards and includes olive trees which produce oil for sale too.Cortonesi built a new winery and cellar, and apart from 2 grades of Brunello and a Rosso, he also produces an IGT Rapace which adds Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon into the blend.

The Josephshofer label

This is a revival of an old label from the 1870s which the Estate has used for its Josephshofer wine since the 2003 vintage. This old label is divided into 4 quadrants, each with a popular maxim and a picture. Clockwise, from top left, there are "Red, was wahr ist" (tell the truth) showing a hunter listening attentively to a story; "Trink, was klar ist) (drink what's pure) with a drinker raising a glass; "Lieb, was war ist" (Love what's precious/rare) with a suitor on his knees before a maiden and "Iss, was gar ist" (eat what has been fixed) with a family seated at meal. The original was sent in by a customer and the estate has decided to use this label for their Josephshofer monopole to highlight the exclusive nature of this wine.

Muscat

Muscat is a diverse family of grapes used for a number of purposes and known since ancient times. It certainly has been cultivated around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea for some 3000 years and was used to make raisins. Pliny the Elder called it the grape of the bees and it is probable that it was the first grape employed to make wine. With such a long history, different sub-varieties began to emerge; it is said that there are some 200 different sub-varieties of Muscat (and you thought 60 different Lambrusco grape variants was a lot!)

Although there are so many different variants, most wines made from Muscat are sweet (from just a little to extremely sticky ones) and only in Alsace has there been any concerted effort to make dry whites from it (although others are trying it now). Muscat is famous for one of the legendary sweet wines that European royalty used to love a couple of centuries back - the South African superstar of yore, Constantia (see previous blog). Nowadays, the Australians have the lead on the really sticky stuff made from Muscat grapes, their Liqueur Muscats. Now as regards to those 200 subvarieties, I wonder how many I had tasted and listed for my Wine Century portfolio!

Buttafuoco

As I mentioned in the blog about Sangue di Giuda, there is another grape using the same grapes but made into a still dry wine, which I tried immediately afterwards. This is the wine - Buttafuoco (literally sparks) and these two names are actually subzones of Oltrepo Pavese as well as being DOC names. Although they were made from the same grapes, the two styles presented two quite different faces of that blend. This wine had seen wood, which was not evident in the sweet semi-sparkler. The colour was also much deeper in this wine in which tannins are also very much in the picture.The berry fruit was similar in both wines.

 A deep ruby, with a berry woody nose, the Buttafuoco showed berry fruit and tannins on the palate, with acidity appearing just before swallowing, giving an acid tannic backbone, in which the tannins had disappeared by the finish in which only acid remains for support.

Of roses, lychees and Gewurztraminer

A colleague went to visit Yunnan and brought these back from Dali - they are pastries with a flaky crust and a rose petal filling, apparently a local specialty. I tasted a quarter of one at tea time. The filling was definitely rose perfumed but was also really quite sweet, but on biting into it, it was much more lychee than rose. Could the lychee flavour be a very sweet version of rose petal, I wonder? I am no food technologist so I cannot give you the answer, but that was what my palate and mouth was telling me.

It is well known that the characteristics of the Gewurztraminer grape can be described using descriptors such as rose petal, lychees, hand cream, etc. I had previously smelt a nurse colleague's rose petal hand cream in the operating theatre and found it a good match of the nose of a nice Gewurztraminer varietal (especially a dry/off dry one from Alsace). I had not really smelt lychee in the glass (except for a German eiswein, but that was something altogether different). Now that I had tried this pastry I can understand the link between lychees and roses and will go looking (or even smelling) for lychees in the sweeter examples of Gewurztraminer.

Unlikely inspiration to chase a grape

I blogged about this book recently. What I did not expect was how it set another target in my grape chasing endeavoursl. The book lists 100 wines recommended by wine critics in the Greater China region, and amongst the familiar and not so familiar names are a couple of wines made from obscure grapes. The first, Pheasant's Tears Tavkveri 2009 led me to check and see if I had tried wines made from Tavkveri before. Indeed I had done so visiting the Georgia Pavilion in the Wine Fair in 2011. The second wine was a Burgundy made by Simmonet-Fevre. It was really a case of a surprise from a familiar maker of Chablis (for that is what I had tasted most from their range). They make a red burgundy from the Cesar grape. I wonder if I can find a bottle here in Hong Kong. Time to check the importers.

Blauer Wildbacher

As noted in a previous blog, Schilcher wines are made from the Blauer Wildbacher grape. An ancient grape which can be traced back to the Celts, this dark skinned grape was first recorded in the manuscripts of the 16th century. The grape is realted to Blaufrankisch and is mostly used to make Schilcher rose. Wines made from the grape tend to have berry fruity flavours and grassy herbal notes, accompanied by a lively acidity. Rarely it can also be made into eiswein. Some is also grown in the Veneto region of Italy, where mostly it ends up in blends, although a varietal oak aged example is also made.

Discovering Champagne Gardet

One of my sisters teamed up with some friends and do a champagne bulk order every Christmas, with the result that everybody stocks up on champagne for the coming year at prices which are much more competitive than retail. I participated most years, but let it go the last few years, as I found my consumption was slightly less than my order and I had accumulated quite a collection already. Previously they go with the familiar names, but recently they have found better deals with the less familiar makers. That was how I got to discover Champagne Gardet.

Gardet was at the time the house champagne for the famous Dorchester Hotel in London. Unable to take a case of the NV wine, I was nevertheless able to persuade my sister to part with a couple of bottles of the vintage offering which sports the above label. I had of course tasted both wines at Xmas and other family gatherings, with the bottle above being drunk a couple of months back.

A Greater China Wine Book for 2013

Having bought a copy of Hugh Johnson in Chinese, I took more or an interest in Chinese wine books. This is what I saw the other day whilst waiting for my little girl who was taking dancing lessons - a 2013 Wine Year Book collated by the Greater China Association of Wine Critics (own translation). Flipping through it, I was struck by the similarity of the contents with quite a bit of this blog. That got me thinking; maybe I should give a serious thought to trying my hand at writing something like that. Well. we'll wait and see what happens.

As for the wines in this book, there are many that I have tasted, even though it might not be the same vintage. There was however one wine that really got my interest as a grape collector. No, it was not the Georgian wine made from Tavkveri, as I had already tasted that grape. It was actually a Burgundy made from the rare Cesar grape - I wonder if I would ever get to taste that grape!

Josephshofer Kabinett and Spatlese 2011

I got so carried away with describing the Josephshofer vineyard that I forgot to include notes on how the Kabinett and Spateles of the 2011 vintage tasted to me. Being from the same site and vintage, the basics are going to be the same, such as the same deep straw colour (both are made from clean fruit) and the same stone fruit nose, although it seemed that the Kabinett was more obviously peachy on the nose. One expects the Spatlese to be sweeter on the palate and the Kabinett to be more obvious on the acid and both ran true to form.

What was a bit surprising was a touch of almond bitterness on the backbone of the Kabinett, a character more usually associated with botrytis. Similarly there was a luscious quality on the Spatlese's palate I'd normally associated with noble rot. Nowadays, with globally warming pushing up ripeness, it isn't simply a case of reaching the minimum Oeschle for the Pradikat, the overall balance and impression counts (as Egon Muller once told me) when making a Pradikatswein after harvesting. On the other hand though, surely there is no botrytis infection at these "low" ripeness levels!

Sangue di Giuda

I met this wine in this year's Food Expo. Having seen that it lists a grape that I had not tasted, I had a try. The grape concerned was Uva Rara, which will be dealt with in another tidbit, though it had already been mentioned in a previous blog that it was one of 4 grapes called Bonarda. Another grape in the blend that makes up this wine is also known in some places as Bonarda - Croatina, which has, I think, been covered in the aforementioned blog. The third grape in the blend for this particular wine is the more familiar Barbera.

Sangue di Giuda (literally blood of Judas) is a sweet mild semi-sparkling (frizzante) red. There is another wine (which I tried next) using much the same cepage but which is dry. (That's for another tidbit.) Ruby with a sweet berry nose, the wine continues with the sweet beery elements into the palate which was livened up by the prickle of bubbles. A sweet pruney acid backbone ensures it does not cloy.

Johnson 2013 and its Chinese translation

When I first took a look at the page containing the copyright info, I had a shock because it said that this was first published in 2012 (correct for Johnson 2013) as the 2012 edition. If it were true, then my efforrt in sourcing Johnson 2013 would have been misplaced. Having checked through the foreword (titled Agenda 2013 in the English), it occurred to me that they just made a mistake in the attribution, for indeed this is the Chinese edition of the 2013 edition. The other thing that occurred to me was that this translation did not come from Hong Kong but Taiwan. For those unfamiliar with the pitfalls in Chinese translations and transliterations, the names will be different depending on whether one takes the Cantonese (Hong Kong) or Mandarin/Putonghua(Taiwan, PRC respectively) pronunciation; and you guessed it, there can be three or more versions of the Chinese name. Of course if the book is from (or even for) mainland China, then there is the problem of traditional vs simplified Chinese characters.

It seems that the translaors and editors have taken an easy way out and left the original European name in. The grape names are the Taiwanese ones. My little disappointment is that there was no use of the Chinese synonym for Rkitaseli (Baiyu, 白玉), but then that was not in the original, although it was in Jancis Robinson's Pocket guide of 1996.

Robert Parker

This entry on Robert Parker will conclude this mini series on wine personalities. There can be hardly anyone with even the slightest interest in wine who has not heard of Robert Parker or his scores. His scores not only affect prices, but also the assessment of vintages etc. There is even a trend to make wines in a style that he is expected to rate highly and thereby increase the profile as well as the prices of the wines.

Parker started off as an in-house lawyer in a bank, with his wine interest starting when he was duing a vacation in France. In 1975, he began thinkin about writing about wines because of a general lack of independant information about wine quality, with many of those writing wine reviews being tied to the industry. He started the Wine Advocate in 1978 and the rest, as they say, is history. He has gone on to write many books (eg above) and contributed many articles to various publications. Parker stood down from editor-in-chief of the Wine Advocate at the end of 2012.

Black Corinth Grapes

To be truthful, Black Corinth grapes (above) are used for at least three purposes, for the table, for wine-making and for currants. This was bought at a branch of the big two supermarkets the other day. The main use of this grape is actually for drying, and its small grains yield the small black dried grapes that we call currants, not because it has anything to do with the fruits of the Ribes genus (ie black and red currants) but because we corrupted the word Corinth. This grape was mentioned in the blog about Mavrodaphne of Patras, because it is the other grape (apart from Mavrodaphne) used in that famous wine.

The oldest of all raisins, Black Corinth grapes were mentioned by Pliny the Elder and came from many producers along the Ionian coasts although they were named in the 14th and 15th century after Corinth, where they were exported. Production shifted to Zakynthos (Zante) in the 17th century and so the name Zante currants was adopted in the USA.

Meeting Favorita

I tasted this wine at the last Food Expo, because I want to try a wine with Favorita in it. There was a bit of confusion about Favorita, not least because some authorities regard it as a synonym for Vermentino. However, it seems that DNA studies have shown that although it is related to Vermentino as well as Pigato, it is a separate species. Favorita is a large berried white grape mainly grown in Piedmont, where it is also used as a table grape. A late ripener with a good deal of acidity, Favorita has distinct pear notes and is more age-worthy than Arneis. Traditionally use to soften Nebbiolo in blends, varietal wines can be minerally when grown on warm sites, but responds to oak with more rounded mouthfeel.

As for this wine, which is Favorita blended with Arneis and Chardonnay, the wine was pale straw in colour with an acid nose accompanied by much fruity notes. The palate was off dry with less fruit but also a touch of lemon, introducing a good acidic backbone giving sterling support.

The Kesselstatt Scharzhofberg

I mentioned in previous blogs that I had tasted wines from four out of the eight growers in Scharzhofberg. The offering from Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt was the second one I had tried. So it was a nice surprise to find the above wine in the Food Expo in which I found my 4th wine. It was not just a Scharzhofberg wine but a special cuvee of their Auslese - Fuder 10 with a long gold capsule and from the small but (for Saar) exceptional 2005 vintage.

The wine was a deep yellow with a sweet luscious nose full of stone fruits like peaches and apricots. This abundance of sweet luscious frutiness carried on in the palate, well supported by an acid backbone that showed some notes of prunes (usually more associated with red rather than white wines). Nice!

So now all four of the Scharzhofberg wines I have encountered are on the blog!

Hohe Domkirche Trier

As noted in a previous blog, Hohe Domkirche Trier is part of Weinguter Bishcoflichen Trier, together with Bischöfliches Konvikt and Bischöfliches Priesterseminar. They were merged in 1966 to give Weinguter Bishcoflichen Trier.  The Hohe Domkirche (Cathedral of Trier) estate is the most recently established of the three (in 1851) but the cathedral itself is the oldest church in Germany and the oldest cathedral north of the Alps being built in the 4th century. The cathedral has been closely associated with winemaking for a very long time, with documents dating back to the mid-13th century showing that staff were freed from religious duties for the grape harvest. The estate holds 22 ha of vineyard of which the most famous is the 6 ha of Scharzhofberg.

Tejo wines

This is a bottle of DOC Tejo wine, from the Province of Ribatejo in Portugal. Prior to 2009, the DOC as well as the VR were both named after the province (ie Ribatejo) but this changed, initially to have just Tejo VR, but later, the DOC name was converted to Tejo as well. Grapes grown for wine in this region include such local white varieties as Fernao Pires, Alicante Branco, Arinto etc; local red grapes as Castelao, Trincadeira; other Portiguese varieties as Aragonez (Tempranillo) and Touriga Nacional as well as international varieties as Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

The region has a wide range of soils and crops (including fruit, olives and rice) and was used to supplying large quantities of rather commercial wines. In recent years there has been a drive towards quality and with the classification of the DOC into 6 subregions, further delineation into special regional emphasis enables the DOC to produce a wide variety of wines of increasing quality.

Encountering double purpose grapes in the supermarket

This is a box of Black Corinth grapes bought at the supermarket the other day. To be truthful, apart from its use as eating grapes and as the second component of Mavrodaphne of Patras, Black Corinth are used mainly for drying into currants. But this is not the only time I have encountered grapes for wine and table in local supermarkets. Some one has sold (and I forgot which supermarket) Korean Campbell Early under its Korean synonym for the table, but then Campbell Early is not a common Western wine grape. However, Muscat of Alexandria is, and I remember seeing it in the supermarket section of a Japanese department store

Of course your common or garden table grape can be made into wine by an adventurous (or simply mad) winemaker. I had blogged about a wine made from Kyoho grapes, which can be found in Japanese supermarkets, the supermakret sections of Japanese stores and increasing in fruit stores (usually mainland or Taiwan grown versions). Of course the commonest table grape, which is sometimes made into wine, to be found in supermarkets as table grapes is Thompson Seedless, a white seedless grape which is also dried into "raisins" usually called by its synonym Sultana.

Another mixed up wine

Those who remember the blog entry on Vino della Pace with something like over 600 grapes in the blend will undoubtedly find this wine a bit of an anti-climax; after this wine only have some forty odd varieties. However, to those accustomed to Cabernet Sauvignon and Cab-Merlot or Cab-Shiraz blends, and to those that struggle to remember the 13 grapes (or 18 if one separate white and grey variants) of Chateauneuf (or Cotes du Rhone), this is much more mixed up than they have encountered before. Unlike VIno della Pace, this one had been presented at one of the local Wine Century gatherings two years ago and I remember JC saying that this counts for the next level. Now I wonder if JC had that cepage list handy; I'm sure there are a number of grapes in this wine I have not tasted before. I don't really think I have encountered over forty Portuguese grapes yet!