Life on the front line - Harpers 24-10-2008

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Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux London Tasting 2008

This took place yesterday at the Royal Opera House and showcased the 2006 vintage. There were undoubtedly some great wines on show, but with so much to choose from there is a danger of rapidly anihilating your palate - a bit like wandering aimlessly around the British Museum (or HMV for that matter). The second issue with this tasting is that unless you are a professional taster - which I'm not - it is quite hard to project your ideas of a wine 10 or 20 years into the future, when it will be drinking at its best. I find this especially true of Cabernet-heavy left bank Bordeaux. All of which explains why I tried to be selective and slightly favoured the Merlot areas, especially Saint-Emilion and Pomerol.

Some very brief notes on wines which stood out for me:

Chateau Canon-la-Gaffeliere (St-Emilion) - stood out as having more black fruit than the others I tasted and some spiciness

Chateau Clinet (Pomerol) - lovely roundness on the palate

Chateau Beaumont (Haut-Medoc) - spice and zing on the palate

Chateau Lascombes (Margaux) - seems to tick all the boxes, even at this stage in its development - my palate was getting numbed by this stage but it woke it up with lively red fruit

Chateau Pontet-Canet (Pauillac) - very fruit forward - you can taste a concentration of raspberries on the palate, but with big tannins too (62% Cab Sauv)

What better way to finish a tasting than with 15 top Sauternes/Barsac dessert wines. Two which I thought were fantastic were:

Chateau Climens - paler colour than the average and more lemon on the nose, but rich apricot on the palate, with loads of zing

Chateau Nairac - fairly similar to its rivals but seemed to have an added freshness/acidity which cut through the residual sugar

Update in November: I have just read Jancis Robinson's account of this tasting in the FT and she interestingly calls 2006 "the year of the sorting table", remarking that in "this disease-prone year", there was no hint of any rot. She notes that there were, however, traces of green, unripe fruit throughout the wines on show. Indeed, "it was hard to ignore the fact that the grapes were so much less ripe than in 2005 – particularly from the point of view of the austerity of the tannins". Read the Jancis Robinson article here.

Prosecco Tasting 2008

The annual Prosecco DOC di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Consorzio tasting took place this week at the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall. Here are some interesting facts I learnt:

1. There are 3,000 growers of the Prosecco grape in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOC region (shown in the photo). The average vineyard size is only 1.5 hectares (ha), meaning a high proportion of producers buy in some or all of the grapes they use.

2. The area of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOC region is about 4,000 ha. Cartizze, a sub-region producing some of the best quality sweeter Proseccos (Prosecci?) is 105 ha. 45-50 million bottles of DOC Prosecco are produced annually, compared to 150 million bottles of non-DOC Prosecco, which is classified as IGT - Indicazione Geografica Tipica (sparkling wines from regions not qualifying for IGT status are not entitled to call themselves Prosecco, even though they are made from the Prosecco grape).

3. Prosecco can be decribed as Brut with up to 15 g/l of residual sugar, above which it becomes Extra Dry.

4. There are 4 main co-operatives in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOC region. The Valdobbiadene co-op is called Val D'Oca.

5. The Consorzio has applied to the Italian government for elevation to the highest DOCG status (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita). There are currently only 36 DOCG wines in Italy.

6. Almost all Prosecco is non-vintage. The idea is to drink it young!

Armit 20th Anniversary Tasting

Notting Hill merchant Armit marked its 20th anniversary with its 2008 tasting yesterday at Delfina Art Cafe. Their strong French and Italian portfolio is backed up by some interesting New World wines. My highlights were:

Burgundy

Domaine Leflaive Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon 2006 - minerals and loads of citrus/pear, long finish with an almost autolytic taste

Mischief & Mayhem Meursault 2006 - lovely rounded fruit, gentle but full in the mouth

Rhone

Andre Brunel Chateauneauf-du-Pape Les Cailloux Rouge 2005 - classic Grenache - dark cherries, chocolate and spice

Germany

Baron Heyl Estate Brudersberg Grand Cru 2006 - a big, viscous trocken from this producer in Rheinhessen which really rolls around your mouth; lowish acidity though

Italy

Valentina Cubi Amarone - there were 2 Amarones, a 1997 and a 2003. I actually preferred the 03, which seemed richer, smoother and with an (even) longer finish. Both were tawny, with a classic nose of raisins and alcohol vapour; coffee, chocolate and dark spices on the palate.

Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili 2003 - light-med tawny colour; 14.5% abv, huge chewy tannins which dried my teeth out, high acidity - too young still? - would be good to taste in 15 years!

Ornellaia 2001 - walnuts and big red fruit (strawberries) on nose, as well as alcohol whiff (14.5%); a bit disappointing on the palate, alcohol masking the flavour a bit

Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2000 - 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc. Still young (average age for Sassicaia is 30 years). Tawny, big aristocratic nose, bit thin on palate?, high acidity, fine sediment, v long finish

Argentina

Nomade Torrontes 2007 - an especially floral, aromatic Torrontes from Cafayate; good acid (compared to other Torrontes I have tasted), although still a bit flabby/watery

NZ

Sauvignons - at the cheaper end, the Momo Sauvignon was classic NZ cut grass, greenery, apples; the basic Seresins (07 and 08) were very good (although a little watery on palate?); the Seresin Reserve was great - fresh minerals and a real mouthful of the terroir

Seresin Reserve Chardonnay 1996 - fantastic, deep golden, not too much oak

Seresin Riesling - strong petrol whiff (in a good way) - v typically Riesling-ish

New Côtes de Bordeaux AOC Approved

An enlarged but simpler appellation system has been introduced in Bordeaux. From next spring, the following new appelations will be appear on Bordeaux bottles from producers in the Côtes region: Côtes de Bordeaux Blaye, Côtes de Bordeaux Castillon, Côtes de Bordeaux Francs and Côtes de Bordeaux Cadillac.

The Côtes account for 10% of Bordeaux's production and cover 1,600 producers, or 120m bottles.

Las Moras Viognier

I had a tasty Argentinian Viognier this weekend from the Tulum Valley, San Juan (the province to the north of Mendoza). Medium-yellow in colour, it has mature stone fruit (apricot) on the palate, with a great thirst-quenching zing. Crisp acidity (6.57 g/l, pH 3.35).

Update 20 October - The above is one of the entry-level varietals, but I see that Las Moras' Alma Mora Malbec is Tom Cannavan's wine of the week (see article). He also recommends the Alma Mora Chardonnay-Viognier. Both are currently half price at The Co-op.

Wines of Argentina Annual UK Tasting 2008

Last week's Wines of Argentina (WoA) tasting at Lord's Cricket Ground predictably showcased 2008 vintage Malbec and Torrontes.

Malbec

Whereas at last year's tasting the focus was on Mendoza, this year's selection was from further afield, both north and south, and included the regions of Salta, Catamarca, La Rioja, San Juan, Neuquen and Rio Negro.

From the north, the star winery was Finca Las Moras (San Juan) - a great unoaked offering from the Tullum Valley, smooth with loads of violets and young red fruit; also a more alcoholic (14% abv) oaked version from the Zonda Valley. If I had to choose, I'd go for the unoaked.

From the south (almost 3,000 km south of San Juan in fact), the oaked sample from NQN Patagonia (Neuquen) was a very dark purple colour, with a nose of raspberries and a hint of rubber, not in a bad way. The palate had an almost sherry-like spiciness. There was also some serious sediment at the end of the bottle.

Torrontés

As for the whites, I was a bit underwhelmed. It may be a personal taste issue but I thought the majority were a bit flabby and lacking in acidity. I actually preferred the wines which had a bit of residual sugar, such as Bodegas Etchart's mid-priced Tardio Torrontés (late harvest). (Note that Torrontés is a descendant of Muscat and, in its best incarnations, has what Jancis Robinson calls a "headily perfumed" character - see article.)

According to James Forbes, UK Director of WoA, Argentinian wine exports to the UK have increased by 37.5% (to USD 44m) over the 18 months to June 2008 (i.e. since to beginning of the UK WoA campaign). The UK still lags significantly behind the US in imports of Argentinian wine, a situation which WoA UK is trying hard to rectify.