Heaven on Earth and The Affair

This wine comes from Hemel-en-Aarde (Heaven on Earth) a relatively new (2006) South African defined region inland from Hermanus. It’s uniquely (for South Africa) cool climate seems made for Pinots and Chardonnays made in the European style i.e. restrained as opposed to the more fruit-forward NZ style. So why did this wine (La Vierge’s The Affair 2016) not tempt me?

It may charm other palates but I was not tempted to stray. The taste was quite sweet and very obvious, a simple attractive wine, no doubt, but with little past a superficial and confected palate. It followed a fresh cranberry fruit nose and typically light coloured appearance. I think it would be better for chilling but the lack of tannic structure and depth would still not appeal to my palate.

As Lord Mansfield said “Any fool can start an affair but it takes considerable skill to end it”. Me, I just put the glass down.

[Richard: from Connolly’s, in Birmingham where a request for an under £20 pinot noir resulted in an (over) enthusiastic recommendation for this wine, actually imported by the seller. Not sure why because, as Geoff implies, it wasn’t anything special – too simple and too sweet. Chilling helped marginally. Disappointing.]

Seven words Geoff never though he’d say…

…namely, ‘can I offer you some more Gewurtz?’

In this case, yes please, as the wine tasted (Alois Lageder 2014) had a characteristic essential for Gewurtz haters like myself – it didn’t taste of the grape.

Deep yellow, with a ‘deep’, rich nose with none of the typical Gewurtz aromas. More like chardonnay, in fact. A pure clean taste, slightly sweet but well balanced and very drinkable. As the wine warmed the true taste of the grape started to surface, but not enough to put me off.

[Geoff: (From the Alto-Adige (Sud-Tirol)) I’ve always liked the wines of northern Italy, braced as they are by the cool/moderate climate in the Alps. The culture is Germanic/Austrian more than Italian and the white wines have high levels of acidity whilst the reds can be quite herbaceous. They have a good reputation in Italy but we don’t see much of them swamped as we are by Prosecco and Chianti. This was from an Italian specialist Hay Wines in Ledbury (available on line). I really enjoyed this wine’s subtle rose petal aromas, freshness and yet full flavours. Back to Ledbury soon to restock.]

“Keep on punching.”

It’s a strange directive to put on a wine label especially as alcohol – or a surfeit of it – turns some people aggressive. It’s actually winemaker Craig Hawkins’ way of saying ‘be determined’ and you’ll succeed. Anyway, this is the name of his Testalonga’s 2018 Chenin Blanc Baby Bandito from Swartland in South Africa. It’s 100% Chenin Blanc from vines planted in 1972, very low yields, wild ferment, skin contact, hand-picked, whole bunch pressing, no temperature control, organically grown, minimal sulphur added – you get the idea. It ticks all the boxes for  the least amount of human intervention/natural wine addicts.

And, after all that wine making equivalent of hair shirt wearing, what was the wine like? Pale yellow with a very slight green tinge and a strongly saline nose with a delicate lemon aroma – it was an inviting start. The palate had a slight speckle, high acidity (difficult in a hot climate) and was initially sweet but quickly dried to along finish. It was vaguely reminiscent of the taste of a natural Prosecco with its pear notes. (I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way because I’ve recently enjoyed some artisan Proseccos.) Jancis Robinson had a whole panoply of flavours – but I’m not so good as she is.

At 11.5% ABV it was an enjoyable hot weather wine.

[Richard:  from Buon Vino, a seller we have blogged before. One of the better natural wines we have tried with enough complexity to be interesting.]

 

Pitti Pittnauer 2016

This is an Austrian blend of Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt. We tried the latter grape recently but the former has been missing in action since 2014. This was a good Sunday drink – not too alcoholic at 13%, responsive to chilling – it was a warm evening – with light raspberry flavours, juicy, a little spicy and Cabernet Franc-ish and very drinkable. From TWS, no longer available.

[Geoff: My type of wine – refreshing, light, fruit-driven yet with some depth. WS have now moved on to next vintage. Still available. It’s from east Austria hard by the Hungarian border. Great with pizza.]

Classic claret

I have a memory of buying Chateau Citran en primeur, in the 1980’s when it was reckoned to be a reputable non-classified maker. This wine (the 2005) had an unmistakable cabernet – claret nose, albeit not as full-on and ‘cigar box’ as some, perhaps because it is 50% Merlot. Deep red with a brownish rim, austere but with a rich taste, balanced, savoury, still some tannin. A very nice drink which made me think – I must try more reds from Bordeaux.

[Geoff: one of M & S’s recent reductions, it was great to find a 2005 claret at below £20. Well made of 50/50 CS and Merlot it still had a lovely freshness and yet was surprisingly fleshy and not a just bare bones claret. So, for me, not ‘classic’. A few more years left in it yet but it’s drinking well now. We drank it with rump steak and when we looked around – it was gone!].

Domaine Matrot, 2013 Maranges and Domaine Guillot-Broux La Myotte 2012

 

Maranges is the last appellation – actually three small villages – before leaving northern Burgundy and entering the Chalonnais. The three villages had separate appellations until 1988 and its rather tannic reds was used to firm up softer regional Burgundies, such as Cote de Beaunes. 95% of the production is red.

Richard has blogged Maranges previously but I have never tried it. I bought this from Connolly’s in Birmingham and, in anticipation of its tannins, decanted it two hours before trying it. It accompanied some home-made beef/pork burgers.

The usual light red colour had a slightly brown rim and the smell was red fruits typical of the Pinot Noir grape. It was attractive and fresh, of lighter notes rather than depth. I anticipated something simple and wasn’t disappointed. It was a good match for the burgers’ intensity of flavour. The only strong characteristics were a rather stalky, slightly green quality which made the wine tight – but it wasn’t unpleasant. Good value at circa £17 – a simple village Burgundy.

[Richard: I tried a bottle from Maranges in 2014 (different maker) and wasn’t impressed. This was better, more pinot like, some fruit, not ungenerous. A decent everyday Burgundy.]

We’ve blogged a few wines from Leon Stolarski over the years. He specialises in wines from Languedoc, not Burgundy, so I wasn’t expecting a lot from this bottle, especially as, at £23 it is towards the bottom of the price range for decent pinot noir. Paradoxically it is one of his most expensive offerings, despite being, on paper at least, the lowest quality. Such is the pricing within Burgundy.

Actually, pretty good. Pure fruit nose, lots of cherry/redcurrant on the taste with a balancing acidity. Very enjoyable and only 12.5%.

[Geoff: The Maconnais is better known for its white wine production (70% of the total). It was interesting, therefore, to try this Pinot Noir and, to be frank, I expected an ordinary red wine. It was great to be proved wrong. The quality was really good – refreshing, light but with depth and interest that was engaging. Yes, £24 is a lot of money for a red wine from an area not traditionally red but it was a delight to drink.]

Beaujolais, beauty…and the best.

What is a beautiful wine? Is it one that is intense, complex and serious? Or is it a wine that “creates a peal of laughter at the table?” (‘L’eclat de rire a la table.’ says the neck label of a Chateau Thivin Beaujolais). Is this the Beaujolais makers’ conundrum? These ideas are not mine but come from an engaging book by Andrew Jefford entitled The New France; however it did encapsulate what I thought after a recent ‘Beaujo Tasting’ (their words) in Birmingham.

We tasted eight wines, six of which were cru Beaujolais – Regnie, Brouilly, Cote de Brouilly, Moulin au Vent, Chenas and St Amour – covering three vintages (2015-17). I was hard pushed to identify any major differences. All purple in colour, all slightly tannic (maybe the MaV more so), all acidity plus and red fruit flavours. The speaker was keen to promote the region’s wines so if she could get just one to be memorable she had succeeded, I assume. Well, sorry, they were all okay but not one stood out. Neither peals of laughter and nor complexity. Perhaps she needed to show ……

Cote de Brouilly 2011 from Roger Peguet which Richard provided on Friday. The age had robbed its purple robes and left a low intensity ruby colour and the nose was rich, sour cherries. But the palate was delightfully fresh, sweet in the middle and bowing out with a balanced, long dry finish. A lovely wine and a big step up from the Beaujo Tasting wines.

So, maybe there is a difference. It starts  with cru quality – plus a bit more – and needs some time to show its best.

[Richard: this is the old Beaujolais referred to in the last post – the wines were tasted together. Mature Gamay is often supposed to take on Pinot Noir characteristics and the producer does make a lot of red Burgundy but this, while rich and savoury, was not a pale imitation of the more prestigious grape. Very moreish with lots of character. From Vin Cognito and only little more expensive than the Morgon, below.]

 

Beaujolais – young and old.

Geoff was at a Beaujolais tasting in Birmingham recently (spoiler: unimpressed) so we thought we’d try a couple of our own to see how they measured up.

First was a 2017 Morgon, Chateau de Pizay La Centenaire, purchased from Connolly’s, in Birmingham (£17). I’d tried another bottle last week and like it a lot, finding it rich and spicy. This bottle though, was a disappointment. Bright red/purple, no ‘banana’ nose – a good thing – in fact little aroma at all, rather spirity, but only 13%. Not much fruit or Gamay typicity – just a generic red wine, decent mouth feel, dry and with a faint ‘turkish delight’ taste. Underwhelming.

[Geoff: This was so underwhelming – and got worse – that I now think the bottle was faulty. No life, freshness or varietal definition. I hope R’s second will be better.]

Made on honour

I struggle with Sauvignon Blancs, especially from those from the New World. Their overt notes of freshness, grass, high acidity and elderflower can, to me, taste harsh and lacking in depth or richness. I know that’s a negative opening but you should be able to guess the opposite sentiment that follows. I really enjoyed this 2017 SB – from the Springfield Estate, Robertson in the Breede River Valley of South Africa.  This estate has been farmed for five generations of the same family and are proud of their heritage – “Made On Honour” appears on the label. They use natural yeasts.

The colour was really pale yellow with slight greenness and it had the smell of SB but very subtly. The palate, unlike many New World SBs, was rich (good!) as well as being gentle and more Old World Loire (eg Sancerre, Pouilly Fume, Reuilly Quincy). There was also an attractive sourness which, strangely, manifests in quality dry Rieslings.

As Richard so aptly put it, this wine “gets away from the cliche” with its restrained quality. It’s very good value at £12.49 – if that still is the price.

[Richard: from Waitrose and a wine I’d buy again. An excellent halfway house between New and Old World sauvignon styles.]

 

 

 

Never before tasted?

The above, or a variant of, is a headline we’ve used before. Such is the number of grape varieties now available that it would be possible to drink a different grape on every day of the year – not that we would, being sensible drinkers.

Geoff confidently predicted I wouldn’t be able to identify this wine (Val de Souto 2017, Treixadura Ribeiro, M&S £12) and so it proved – I couldn’t even get the country, which was Spain. Very pale yellow, some chalk on the nose with a faint lemon/melon aroma, a rich mouth feel, despite being only 12.5%, not complex with no individual fruit identifiable apart from a rather bitter, grapefruit-like finish. Enjoyable but it needed food.

In fact Treixadura is not a new grape for us – we blogged on a similar wine from the same region early last year  – and the comment made then still holds – the flavour, while pleasant, is not distinctive enough to recognise blind.

[Geoff: This was one of those M&S wines that had been reduced to probably somewhere near its true value. Yes, it did need food (asparagus risotto) and was interesting rather than more-ish. A cooler climate NW Spanish white that lacked a trademark taste. Okay.]