A deceptive Barolo

I tasted this Le Cecche Barolo 2010 at the organic neighbourhood wine shop the other day. I am not sure if this wine is organic or not (probably not) but the deceptive bit is nothing to do with this, it is to do with the light colour of this traditional style Barolo. If no one had told me that this is a Barolo, I would have said from the colour that it is a Pinot Noir. It was difficult to catch the colour on camera, so I had to tinker with exposure to get it to match what I saw in the glass.With a sweet berry nose, for which the WSET terminology use the term strawberry, I can see many being surprised when the encounter the heavy presence of tannins in the mouth.

Erbach Marcobrunn

Apart from wines from Niersteiner Pettenthal, I was also able to taste wine from another great German vineyard, Erbacher Marcobrunn, at this year's Wine Fair. I think I read of this vineyard in a Chinese book, claiming to survey the top100 wines in the world. The Marcobrunn of the name literally means the spring at the border, the border being that between the towns of Erbach and Hattenheim, also named thus (or near so) from around 1200. in 1810 thepeople of Erbach built a frame over the well and named it Erbacher Marcobrunn, much to the annoyance of Hattenheim townsfolk. In the 18th century, the Barons Langwerth von Simmern helped established the reputation of this vineyard all over the world, with the Tsars of Russia, Presidents Jefferson and Eisenhower being amongst the lovers of this wine. Unfortunately, the presenters of this wine at the Wine Fair is not Langwerth von Simmern, but an equally fmaous estate with a long history Schloo Schonborn.

Mas Amiel '69

This wine was on show at this year's Wine Fair. I had known of Mas Amiel many years earlier and I am sure I had tasted some of its modern style Maury, but I cannot recall having tried the traditional rancio style fortified wines from their stables. These latter are the wines which are aged in glass demijohns in the open for a year of the sun, the moon, the heat and the cold of the Cotes de Rousillon countryside, before prolonged aging in old vats in their cellars. This results in the traditional oxidative style of fortified sweet wines, which are characteristic of a few traditional fortified wines. As for this 45 year old Maury, it was a light garnet with a slightly nutty sweet acid nose with a hint of smoke. The palate was sweet acid a touch nutty and a touch pruney, well supported by an acid backbone.

Noval LBV and Vintage 2007

There was a booth which must be from AXA Millisme (from the wines showed) in that frustrating tasting. They had both the LBV as well as the conventional vintage port from the same year (2007) on show. Now this presents an interesting opportunity to taste an LBV against its own vintage of the same year (and estate). Just because both wines are from the same vintage and estate does not mean that the blend is the same for the two. Indeed, since the end charactersitics of the two wines are different, one would expect notable difference is both the grape as well as the sites for the fruit going into the different wines.

Although the vintage port had been decanted and aired for 2 hours prior to tasting, a spirity nose was still unavoidable. It was thus a touch surprising that the LBV just as hot and spirity on the nose, even with the extra barrel aging. The acid was less apparent on the palate with the LBV compared to the vintage, but the backbones were both spirity, sweet and acidic.

German Chasselas (or Gutedel)

I mentioned that I was attracted to the Britzingen booth by its wines made from Chasselas (or Gutedel in German) in the blog entry on Cabernet Mitos at the beginning of the week. I had only tried Swiss versions and I was interested in trying other versions, though some might say that the Swiss examples are all one needs to try.

There were a couple of wines on show, a dry one as well as an Eiswein. The dry was dry, crisp and slightly fruity with a good acid backbone. The Eiswein was a nice lemon yellow but the nose was a touch closed when I tried it, with only a hint of fruit and acid. The palate was sweet a touch fruity with a fair dose of acid, but the balance was a bit off kilter leading to a feeling of cloying sweetness. There was enough acidity in the backbone to keep the sweetness in check.

Bellavista from Franciacortia

The Bellavista winery was one of the tables that I spent a bit of time at, in the frustrating importer's tasting the other weekend. I have been trying Ca' del Bosco's wines for some time, including a still wine of theirs, but that is about all I know of the wines of Franciacortia and Curtefranca. Bellavista is another famous winery from the same area and they have one still Chardonnay and 5 sparklers on show, including their premium cuvee (named after the founder) the Vittorio Moretti 2006. Apart from the Brut NV, all the wines on show were vintage offerings, and included a rose as well as a zero dosage cuvee. The still Cahrdonnay was not bad either!

A Cabernet Mitos sweet wine

We went by the Britzinger booth in the German Pavilion at the Wine Fair last month and tried this Rotwein Beerenauslese 2013. I was attracted to this booth because they were presenting some wines made from Gutedel (ie Chasselas) of which I had only tried Swiss examples. (That is for another blog entry.)

This red wine was a deep ruby with a plummy sweet acid nose. The palate was sweet acid slightly plummy with hints of wood, well supported by an acid plummy backbone. The grape turned out to be a German Cabernet, this time Cabernet Mitos, originally believed to be a cross between Blaufrankisch and Cabernet Sauvignon bred in Weinsberg in 1970. This turned out not to be the case, as the second parent was found to be Teinturier du Cher rather than Cabernet Sauvignon after DNA analysis. Released for general cultivation in 2001, this grape showed good winter hardiness, making full bodied wines, with good levels of tannins and similar aromas to Cabernet Sauvignon. Since the Germans seem to want to make Bordeaux look-alike red wines, I would not be too surprised to hear more of this grape in the future.