I had a nice bottle of Clare Valley Riesling last night (with room service Fish & Chips). I noticed it on the wine list of Ryan Duffy's so ordered it, though had not heard of Hungerford Hill before.
What I hadn't noticed was the vintage. The list made no mention, but when I opened it the colour was a dark golden colour and the nose was honeyed and showed the classic "rubber & diesel" notes. I am tempted to think that Nova Scotian Canadians have a mature palate for more evolved wines ... But I guess the reality is that it probably has sat on the list unloved for quite a while! It is real shame, because by the time someone buys the better bottles they can be out of condition, so people think "I don't like these expensive/unusual wines" so never trades up again. I intend to help some if these lists turn over their wines a little while I am here. I'm on a mission ;)
Oh, what confluence of events, what chance decisions led to this post!?
It so happens that a certain day towards the end of July is important to me as it marks my wedding anniversary. This year my wife and I marked our 14th with a fabulous evening at Galvin at Windows and Racine. It was also the weekend we were to celebrate the wedding of our friends @mathildecuisine and @dewilded (doesn't everybody call their friends by their twitter name these days?) so it meant that our kids would be spending the weekend with their grandparents.
Having a free day (luxury!) meant doing stuff we have not done for ages, like going to the theatre. Being the 'escapist' type myself rather than a serious theatre lover, we settled on tickets to Hair. We both knew the music, but neither of us had seen the stage performance. It was sheer, brilliant fun, very well produced and a wonderful, yet emotionally draining experience. A great call for independence, freedom, yet ultimately a utopian ideal brought down to Earth by realities of life.
In the middle of Hair, I am aware of a chant speaking to me. It starts out simply ... Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, ... then just as it lulls you into a false sense of "this doesn't mean anything to me, I don't believe in such things" with Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, it hits me with the sucker punch:
"Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare"
I realise that life, or fate, is speaking to me.
The time has come to open my bottle of Gonzalez Byass, Tio Pepe Fino En Rama.
In this 175th anniversary year for Gonzalez Byass they decided to bottle a mere 175 cases of this unique wine, an expression of the true, unfiltered, unrefined nature of Fino sherry. The result is a beautiful creature, not just delicate and expressive, but also generous and self-assured in a way that most Fino is not.
My twitter tasting note on first opening said:
-
thirstforwine Amber & cloudy for fino. Some honey, iced tea & almond on nose. Viscous, lemon peel, nutty, smoky & savoury (not salty) effect #RamaDrama 28 Jul 2010 from TweetDeck
-- this quote was brought to you by quoteurl
After a couple of days in the fridge (my wife does not share this passion), it is still a great wine, but maybe with more bruised apple notes, more of the honey, and a more hazelnut character.
the local jargon used by winery workers to refer to wine in its unrefined and most delicate state, prior to the normal stabilization, clarification and filtering processes that fino sherry has to go through prior to bottling. Elements of the Tio Pepe Solera are selected for the ‘saca’ or racking off, and instead of the usual clarifying process aimed at removing residual yeast and other naturally occurring particles, it’s racked into stainless steel and covered by an inert gas to allow for a natural and partial precipitation of lees and yeasts.
Less prosaically, according to my Wikipedia sources, Rama in the Hare Krishna mantra is "a reference to God himself, and in this case are a reference to "He who is All-Attractive" and "He who is the Source of All Pleasure"."
I like that! Tio Pepe, Fino "that is the source of all pleasure"
It is a shame that this wine is not going to live long. It is destined to shine for a brief moment, then return us to the reality of a shrinking sherry market, but some of us will be enriched by the experience.
The Age of Aquarius be damned. When can we expect the new Age of Sherry?
I missed out on getting bottles elsewhere, but a chance twitter conversation ensured that Flagship Wines put aside a bottle of the special bottling if Tio Pepe Fino en Rama for me. Limited stock available of the highly sought after Tio Pepe En Rama - only 175 cases of this special sherry has been made to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Gonzalez Byass.
I've just received it and look forward to sampling some of the other wines they've suggested I try.
Thanks folks!
Last week, cunningly (or otherwise) scheduled on the same night as the Spain vs Germany World Cup semi-final, I ambled along to the wine bloggers picnic organised by Find Wine. The idea was to have an informal and unusual get-together to taste some of the wines currently on the Find Wine list. As they only stock limited cases for each available 'slot' (check out my explanation of their unusual and rather clever business model here) they need to generate regular reviews to keep the information out there accurate and fresh. My favourite wines are mentioned below, but I particularly appreciated the effort they went to (a table, complete with white tablecloth, proper cutlery and plates to enjoy the oysters, smoked salmon, shrimp and cut meats (and more) - all under a tree in a deserted Hyde Park (see, I told you the timing was cunning). An interesting group of winos and foodies showed up to join the party including @mathildecuisine, Joe Wadsack, @r_mccormack, @htinlondon as well as Tina Gellie and more The conversation and blind tasting (see below) went on late into the night, so much so we ended up with an unusual "lock-in" which involved us having to decamp and scale the Hyde Park fences in the dark ... a process resulting in some hilarity for the more vertically challenged amongst us (read the Find Wine blog for details) I really wish these guys well. They are stocking interesting wines, care and think about the customer, and although new to the game, they are also using social media well. We need more innovators like these and we need to make sure consumers learn about them - they'll benefit greatly. My favourite wines on the night: Zuccardi Alma 4 Chardonnay NV (Sparkling from Argentina): A very good sparkler. Lots of bready complexity without losing freshness.Casa Marin 'Cipreses' Sauvignon Blanc, 2008 (Chile): Stunningly BIG nose - really amazing aromatic wine, and tastes fresh, fun and yet seriously good. Naiades Verdejo, Naia, 2006 (Rueda, Spain): A complicated wine. This is Verdejo, but not as we know it, Jim. Barrel Fermented to give it greater body and layers of nuttiness, spice and vanilla notes but lots of acidity & white peach fruit from the grape. Interesting for those more adventurous drinkers (and I happen to know that the 2009 vintage is a "Top 100" Spanish wine)
Santa Lucia Sangiovese 2008 (Tuscany, Italy): Not yet listed (they're on the 2007) but the 2008 was tasting very good, with lots of red fruit and that dryish, soft tannin I associate with Tuscan wines. Look out for it Conan The Barbera 2007 (Barbera d'Asti, Italy): Bucket-loads of dark fruit, tannin and ... pretty much everything you can think of that's big & dark. Seems a delicious wine, if still very young. If you like BIG wines, or have the chance to hold onto this for a bit, it is highly worth it.
And then, the blind tasting wine:
This had us all pretty well stumped. We started off in Italy (probably the south), toyed with Chile, spent a while in South Africa, and took a tour around Australia. It was a red wine, lots of "heat" (ripe fruit, soft tannins) but a spicy, leafy and green pepper style character that we assumed was Cabernet Sauvignon. It obviously had age, with balsam & cedar notes, but was still reasonably dense and alive. I can't remember what I guessed, never mind what the others did - though Rachel McCormack is happy to remind me she did suggest Australia ... amongst the other dozen countries she mentioned ;)
However, I will admit we were all pleasantly surprised to find out it was :
2002 Summerfield Shiraz (Pyrenees, Australia) at £19.99
Well worth trying if you like wines with a bit of age and character, and you've never tried what New World wines like this can turn into.
Great evening and I look forward to the next one
|