Lesser Known Grapes of Europe

This is the line-up for the recent PWC dinner, when we explored some lesser known grapes of Europe. Repeating the Arbane varietal champagne, as the participants of this meeting (bar my wife and I) have not tasted this grape yet, the rest of the grapes are new to PWC with the exception of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot which were featured in a supporting role in the wine from Mallorca, which I had recently blogged about.

We had 2 French wines, the champagne and a Mondeuse from Savoie. We had 2 Hungarians; a noble late harvest wine (but not classical Tokaj) from the Tokaji region and the wine made from the white Feteascas. What is notable in this pair is that the dessert wine was made from Koverszolo as well as Furmint and Harslevalu. Feteasca Alba and Koverszolo (prime name Grasa di Cotnari) were crossed to yield Feteasca Regala, making it the first time we had tasted a grape and both its parents in the same occasion. A Greek, a Bulgarian and a Fumin from the Italian Alps completed the line-up.

Fumin from the Italian Alps

This is a wine from the Valle d'Aoste DOC in the Italian Alps made from the indigenous Fumin grape. Viewed initially as a tough grape useful for blending, it nearly went extinct, but was saved by some enthusiasts in the 1980s who went on to make wines of quality from the grape and raise its profile. Grown and vinified carefully, Fumin can give well coloured purple ruby wines with a spicy nose, velvety texture and firm tannins. Dark ruby with a tuna meaty fruity nose, the above wine showed a sweet acid palate with fruity notes, and a sour plum acid backbone right through to the finish.

Mallorcan wine bought from M&S

I had blogged about a white wine from Macia Batle, which I had tasted in one of the wine fairs in the last 2 or 3 years. I wrote that I would blog about the reds, which so far I had not. What I had not expected was to see their red on the shelves of Marks and Spencer here in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, that is the only wine they carry from this producer, here or even in the UK. This wine is dominated by the local grape Mantanegro, with 20% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in a supporting role. Deep ruby with a sweet acid fruity nose lifted by small amounts of tannins, the palate was similarly sweet acid and fruity, with a nice acid backbone punctuated by fruity sweetness for support.

Lafaurie-Peyraguey 2001

I was offered a glass of this by a friend who was giving a group of friends to a posh dinner with wine a couple of tables away when we were having the last PWC wine dinner. Classified as a first growth with the likes of Rieussec, Climens and Guiraud, the wines of Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey are less familiar to me than say Suduiraut, Coutet, Filhot and Doisy-Vedrines. Yet 2001 was a great year for sweet white Bordeaux, with Yquen attaining RP100 points. Orangey gold with a sweet botrytis nose of dried apricots, the palate offered more of the same with a smattering of fruity acid, with the sweet acid notes forming support to a long elegant finish. Nice!

Clos des Capucins

This is a bottle of Domaine Weinbach's Riesling Cuyee Theo, from the vineyard of Clos des Capucins. Domaine Weinbach (Weinbach literally means wine brook), named after the little stream that meanders through the estate, was established by the Capuchin Monks in 1612. The estate is based on the Clos des Capucins, a historic plot of land protected by the walls of a former Capuchin monastery, which was mentioned as early as 890AD. The estate was sold off as national property during the French Revolution and came into the present owners when the Faller brothers acquired it in 1898. Theo Faller was responsible for developing and enhancing the estate as well as fighting for recognition of Alsace wines by the AC system. The above Riesling is named after him and comes from some of the best Rieslings vines from the middle of Clos des Capucins.

La Goulee 2006

This wine was tasted in last year's KCCWS/HKWS Joint Chrismas Party. I had tasted a number of offerings from Cos d'Estournel before, but this was the first time I had tried La Goulee. A wine from Medoc rather than St Estephe, it is also supposed to be more fruity and New World in style. There were unusual weather conditions in 2006, which could be exploited to advantage by vineyard management and green harvesting, which resulted in a good harvest of ripe small berries. The fruit underwent pre-fermentation maceration, yielding dark, well extracted juice with excellent body. The wine was aged in 50% new barriques over fine lees until first racking. Deep ruby in colour, sweet fruit with acid was amply evident on both nose and palate with a nice backbone giving support.

Bogazkere and Okuzgozu

This is a Turkish wine made from two indigenous grapes - Bogazkere and Okuzgozu, which I tasted at last year's wine fair. Both are native grapes from Elazig province on the Anatolian plateau in south eastern Turkey. Bogazkere gives dark red wine with blue hues, aroma of dried red fruits, figs and spices, which are capable of long aging. Okuzgozu whose named is derived from the large blue berries said to resemble bull's eye (Okuzgozu means bull's eyes) produces light coloured wines with medium body, berry fruits and spice flavours, medium body and good acidity. It is common to make a blended wine from these two grapes. This wine was a deep ruby with purple tints. The nose had a hot alcoholic whiff followed by red fruit notes. The palate was soft tannic with slight fruity notes and acid, with a tannic acid backbone for support.

Vieux Chateau Certan

This is Vieux Chateau Certan, an estate reckoned by many to be on a par with Chateau Petrus in quality, though in a completely different style. the origins of the estate which gave rise to this and other properties had been mentioned in last week's entry on Chateau Certan De May, and it was during the Revolution of 1848 that the Demays fled their property, only to return some years later to find it confiscated and divided. The main portion of the old Sertan estate was sold to Charles de Bousquet in 1858 to become Vieux Chateau Certan. The modern era for this estate came with its acquisition by Georges Thienpoint and it has remained in the family to this day.

Prince Golitsyn's Seventh Heaven

This is a bottle of Prince Golitsyn's Seventh Heaven, from the Massandra Winery. Originally designed by Prince Golitsyn who helped established the Massandra Winery for Tsar Nicholas II, the method for making this wine was lost for some time, before modern research rediscovered how to make this wine again. Made from a blend of Kokour White (a local name for Rkatiseli) and White and Rose Muscats, this fortified wine is aged in oak barrels for 2 years. This wine was amber with pink tints, with a sweet raisiny nose and a sweet vine fruit palate with orange notes. An acid sweet backbone provided good support to the finish.

Chateau St Georges

Chateau St Georges is a large estate in St Georges St Emilion, covering some 20-25% of the appellation. With a history going back to Roman times, the castle shown on the label was built in 1772, retaining only the four imposing towers of the old medieval structure. The grand vin is 60% Merlot with the rest divided between the two Cabernets. The grand vin is aged in 50% new oak for some 15 to 18 months. A second wine - Chateau Puy St Georges is made from younger Merlot vines with 9 months aging, whilst a special cuvee - Trilogie (launched 1995) is made from 45-year old Merlot vines

Rot

This "mouldy" strawberry most probably suffers from botrytis infection and this form of infection is called grey rot. Apart from its central role in the luscious sweet wines of Sauternes, Tokay etc, Botrytis cinerea is also an important in a number of other crops, including strawberries. The fuzzy mould is light grey and when advanced it becomes a dark grey in colour and looks as if ash has been sprinkled onto the affected fruit - hence the species name cinerea, same root as cinder and Cinderella. This is the destructive form of Botryits infection. When this fungus infects ripe healthy grapes, and infection is checked by damp dewy mornings (which encourages fungus growth) and sunny afternoons (which makes sure infection never gets out of control), the grapes slowly dehydrates and concentrates its acidity and sugars, giving the basis for making great dessert wines.

Chateau Certan De May de Certan

A number of estates in Pomerol have Certan in their name: could they have been divided from one big original estate? The answer, like the names that link other estates in the Medoc (except the Cos estates, see earlier entry on Cos Labory), is a resounding yes. The original estate was a fiefdom owned by the Demay family since the 16th Century. That estate has now divided into Vieux Chateau Certan, Certan de May, Certan-Guiraud which subsequently split off a portion as Certan-Marzelle and was then renamed Chateau Hosanna.

The original Certan estate was partitioned during the French Revolution and the Demays were left with a small 5 hectare portion which they named Petit-Certan. This is the estate that became Certan De May de Certan.

Food matching adventures with Madeira Crimea

This bottle of Massandra Madeira Crimea was consumed over two dinners recently, a Xmas Eve dinner with family and the Magnum 2000 wine dinner just before the New Year. With some 40 g/l residual sugar, it was assigned to matching desserts, but I also tried it with cheese. It failed with the Xmas pudding, not being sweet enough for it. The strange thing was that we had it with a very sweet treacle pecan pie at Xmas Eve and it threw up some interesting interactions. The sweetness of the pie was unaltered but the buttery and nutty notes came to the fore when it was eaten with a mouthful of the Madeira. Maybe it was the nuttiness of the pecans that helped here. The interesting match with cheese also accentuated the nuttiness of the cheese, this time a French Emmental.

Kalecik Karasi

This is a varietal wine made from the indigenous Turkish grape Kalecik Karasi. There was a large Turkish wine-making concern on show at last year's Wine Fair, and I being ever adventurous, made a special beeline for their stand. Grown mainly in the Kalecik district of Ankara Province (Karasi, I think, means black, hence the name means the black grape of Kalecik), it produces some of Turkey's best red wine. It produces wines with aromas of red fruit and boiled candy, medium body, low tannins and crisp acidity. Deep ruby with a slightly sweet stewed plum nose, this wine was slightly dilute on entry with acid spicy slightly fruity palate. There was a good tannic slightly acid backbone for support.

Chateau Cantenac Brown

I gave my nephew a bottle of this for his 21st birthday: it was the only claret I've got from his birth year, having bought a case some years before and also having drunk most of the case. Chateau Cantenac Brown is a 3rd growth chateau in Margaux. Actually the parent estate (Boyd) was classified as the third growth estate, but this subsequently became divided into Boyd-Cantenac and Cantenac Brown. Most of Boyd became Boyd-Cantenac and Cantenac Brown was assembled from a number of vineyards cleaved from the Boyd estate. It was only after a successful legal battle in the late 19th century that Cantenac Brown became recognized as a third growth.

Decanter award for 2004 Pontet Canet

I have blogged about this wine and how it changed over the course of a number of PWC tastings. Robert Parker awarded this wine 90 points, which was how it got compared with Carruades de Lafite 1998 and an Ozzie Cabernet Sauvignon, which at the time trumped them both. There is however another professional assessment of the wine, which actually put it on a par with Latour and Mouton, and that was a blind tasting of 2004 Cru Classe wines published in the November 2007 issue of Decanter. It got awarded the 5-starred Decanter award - the list was in this order: Lafon-Rochet, Clerc-Milon, Latour, Mouton-Rothschild, Pontet-Carnet, Lagrange and Kirwan. Wines which won the Decanter award were not given scores (out of 20); I wonder if the list was in descending order of individual marks (which was how the rest of the list was organized). That would make Mouton and Pontet neighbours in quality, just as they are neighbouring properties. Perhaps Tesseron's assessment of what his property can achieve is not too far off. Well, the 2009 vintage was awarded the coveted RP100!

Rotgipfler

This is a wine made from the Austrian grape Rotgipfler. Known since the 19th century, it has been identified as a cross between Traminer and Roter Veltliner. Although Gruner Veltliner is also known as Weissgipfler, the two grapes have not been shown to be related. Found mainly in the Gompoldskirchen area of Thermenregion, Rotgipfler is often blended with Zierfandler (also known as Spatrot) to make the wine Spatrot-Rotgipler, which is often produced as a Pradikatswein.

I tasted this wine at last year's Wine Fair. Pale straw with a slightly sweet spicy fruity nose, the palate was soft and aromatic with hints of spice. A spicy acid backbone with a hint of sweetness provided ample structural support.

Magnums from the year 2000

This was the line up for a recent wine dinner when we sampled a number of magnums from the 2000 vintage. Originally catering for 14 drinkers, the lineup would have included a Magnum of Grand Cru champagne as well as a Graves, but in the event they were not included as a number of accompanying persons did not drink. It was the birthday of one of those attending, so I brought along the special Massandra Madeira Crimea for the occasion. The clarets showed solid performances, with the Gloria being most immediately appealing. The Barbaresco needed more thought and outlasted the rest, blooming late and remaining attractive for the longest period of time. The Mondavi Reserve Cabernet turned heads as soon as it was poured, and won on its immediate blockbuster appeal.

Monastic wine from Mount Athos

This wine made by the monks of one of the monasteries of Mount Athos in Greece is called Epifanis. I cannot find out if that has anything to do with the feast of Epiphany which was celebrated yesterday. Back to the wine, it is made in the monastery from Limnio, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grown in their vineyards. Vinified in temperature controlled tanks, it is aged in new French barrels for 24 months. The wine was a deep ruby in colour, with a sweet spicy meaty capsicum nose. The palate was sweet spicy fruity with capsicum notes, with an acid slightly tannic backbone for support.

Lake's Folly Winery

Lake's Folly was started in 1963 by the late Dr Max Lake, who set out to prove that Hunter Cabernet could be splendid. It was Australia's first boutique winery. Only two wines are made, a Cabernet blend and a Chardonnay. The winemaking philosophy is "the vineyard is everything". The wine is open fermented and then matured in 300 gallon casks for 6 months followed by 12 months in an equal mix of new, one and two year old French barriques. The winery earned the label of a 5-star winery by James Halliday and the Cabernet blend is classified by Langton's as Excellent (3rd Tier).

PS, the blend is not conventional Bordeaux blend, the wine above was Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Syrah and Merlot.

Madeira Crimea from Massandra

This is Madeira Crimea 2006 from the Massandra Winery, a fortified wine made from Shabash, Sercial, Albillo and some local white grape varieties. The young wine is aged in half-full oak barrels for four years in platforms which are open to the sun. I managed to persuade the people at the stall in the 2012 Wine Fair to sell me a bottle of their wares and they sold me this bottle, after they said they have run out of opened bottles for me to taste. I finally tasted it over the Xmas New Year period. Golden tea with a sherry nutty sweet acid nose, it was sweet nutty and complex on the palate, with an acid nutty backbone right to the very finish. There were some great adventures with pitching it against various foods, but that's another tidbit.

Roter Veltliner

Gruner Veltliner is an Austrian grape which is getting better known by wine lovers all over the world: what surprised me was that there is a Roter Veltliner as well, also from Austria. The two grapes are however not thought to be related, though Roter Veltliner is a parent of Fruhroter Veltliner (the other being Silvaner). A naturally high yeilding variety, the amount of fruit produced needs to be restricted to give high quality wine, which can be found say from Wagram. The wine would then be elegant and rich in extract with fine aromatics and good ageing potential.

I tasted this wine at last year's Wine Fair. It was a very pale straw, with a crisp fruity acid nose, dry crisp palate with some apple notes, and planty of acid to support it right to the finish.

Laudatio

I recently blogged about the Cabernet Dorsa in this wine, which I tasted in last year's Wine Fair. This Swiss wine made from Cabernet Dorsa, Gamaret and Pinot Noir has the grapes vinified separately (presumably in steel) and then aged in oak barriques before assemblage. It was quite an impressive offering.

The wine was a nice deep purple ruby colour, with a sweet berry nose (and just a slight hint of jamminess). It was soft and fruity on the palate with noticeable acidity, and this acidity together with some tannins formed a nice backbone carrying on to a predominantly acid finish. Oak was not particularly noticeable.