Filed under: wine

Escaping London for a delicious celebration

I recently had a 'momentous' birthday, and to celebrate I was taken on a mystery trip. Just over an hour away from London on the train, we finally alighted in Arundel.

After a fair deal of searching, my wife had found a lovely place called Arundel House - with OVERWHELMING positive reviews on TripAdvisor, for dinner and accommodation. We love this sort of "Restaurant with Rooms" concept ever since we discovered another great place called Little Barwick House many years ago.

The place was perfect. Personal. Friendly. Relaxed. The room was ideal, and the best thing was the 10 steps down to the restaurant.

The food was very well executed, local, but understandably not too extravagant or unusual. My wife's lamb choice looked delicious, and I loved every morsel of my pheasant stuffed with black pudding (and the Great British Breakfast was stunning too).

Best of all, we drank a 1996 (a year with personal significance) Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots, Mongeard-Mugneret. Delicious! Nicely aged and developed, light on the red fruit but lots of spice and fresh leafy characters. 

Arundel itself was a beautiful place to walk around and packed with independent shops - something to do with the wealthy locals and tourists I guess, but the combination of historical architecture and obviously busy shops was a welcome sight. Next time I think I'll go when the castle is open (from April onwards).

If you are looking for a quick trip out of London, I highly recommend this place.

The EWBC in action ... in my glass

One of my favourite memories of the EWBC this year was when we put our collective palates on the line to learn about Austrian wines, taste a range of different bottles, then select a favourite (albeit slightly unscientifically).

The best bit was that this selection had an IMMEDIATE, practical effect, because the winning wine not only got our vote and our thanks, but also gained a retail listing in the UK with Naked Wines.

This was the knowledge and influence of bloggers IN ACTION. It delivered an actual bottle of wine to my table - the most tangible way of giving value to consumers, retailers and producers that there is.

So, who won, and how was it?

The winning wine was the Gemischter Satz Nussberg Classic 2009 by Gerhard Lobner from Weingut Mayer am Pfarrplatz as chosen by the 200 wine bloggers assembled in the Schonbrunn Castle in Vienna.

When I got back home I immediately bought my 'Advance Purchase' pack of this wine to be delivered before Christmas, which, I am happy to say, they achieved with 4 days to spare.

My thoughts, as shared on the site, were:

Gemischter Satz Nussberg Classic 2009
produced by Gerhard Lobner in Vienna, Austria
Note: Glad we chose this wine at the EWBC in Vienna in October. It is something a little different from the usual.

It has a very pleasant, easy drinking tropical fruit style that still doesn't stray too far from the kind of elegant, complex, slightly spicy style of white wine that one associates with the single varietal wines of Austria such as Gruner Veltliner.

The ripe fruit finishes brightly with a lovely mineral freshness. A field blend (Gemischter Satz) offers something distinctive in this variety-obsessed wine market, and to achieve this sort of quality for this price, from a vineyard within the city-limits of a European capital, is something truly unique and definitely worth exploring.
Rating: 4 (in 5)
(Tasted on December 21, 2010)

Spanish Wine on the High Street

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Spanish wines have been on the UK shopping lists for some years, so you might expect that a tasting of 60 Spanish wines, selected by the buyers from the UK's 10 main supermarket and high street retailers, would be a good indication of the state of the category. Well, maybe.

First, a statistic. Of the 60 wines at the tasting, there were 23 from Rioja. That's almost 40%. Interestingly, 10% came from a small region called Campo de Borja, but more on that later.
First, the highlights:

Asda: not very much I'm afraid. The 'benchmark' Viña Sol was good as always, but we already know that. The 2009 Mitico Old Vines Garnacha was interesting, if a little alcoholic.

Coop: The Sauvignon Blanc/ Verdejo blend from Rueda, the Casa de Sol, was decent at £5.29, and they too stock a decent, known, Torres wine, the Gran Sangre de Toro - spicy, not too heavy and a decent drop at £7.99

Majestic: I was a bit disappointed here. Majestic have a broad Spanish range, but I found some of these rather uninspiring. Chief among which were the 2008 El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa Old Vines Garnacha. I've had previous vintages and really liked it, but I found this leafy and acidic without the 'old vines' concentration it promised (and had before). 
So too the 1982 Bodegas Muriel Rioja Gran Reserva. Hats off to them for showing such an old wine. I think it was Hugh Johnson who said: "There are no good wines, there are only good bottles" (or words to that effect). At this age, tiny differences in bottles and how they aged will be very marked. We tasted two bottles. One was simply past it, lots of volatile acidity and no fruit, the other more mushroomy and earthy and a hint of fruit - not unpleasant, but the kind of character few consumers are actually looking for. Worth it for the experience, but a bit of a risk.

Morrisons: Here they obviously decided that their Spanish wine drinkers like 'classic' styles. The Riojas had a bit of that dusty tannin, slightly musty old oak and dark fruit character of old. Generally not that encouraging, though the youthful 2009 Caño Verdejo (white) was fresh and crisp, though a touch expensive.

Marks & Spencer: One of the stars of the tasting ... was a white wine. The 2009 Val do Salnes Albariño was not cheap at £10.99, but I really liked the lemon curd, honey and grapefruit character which lasted for ages. I admit I know the family who make this wine, so call me biased, but I was not alone in picking out that wine for distinction.
The 2005 Campo Aldea Graciano seemed promising, but I must admit that despite having a decent aged character for such a young wine, I found it a little unbalanced (too much tannin & acidity and lots of alcohol) which masked the purple fruit which was only apparent on the finish. Maybe worth trying in a few more years?

Oddbins: I missed their main tasting, so was hoping to see the results of the rebuilding of this business. Can't say I picked out much from here. Many wines were decent, but unexciting, including wines like the Burgans Albariño I have liked in the past  (shame they didn't have their Mencia I've been meaning to try for ages). The stand out was probably the 2009 Carchelo from Jumilla - a big, butch wine with rich, jammy flavours that tastes great, but packs a bit of an alcoholic punch.

Sainsburys: The 2009 Luis Cañas Barrel Fermented (White) Rioja seemed to be popular. I found the yeasty-ness a little over the top (but then I really don't like cheese and it reminded me of a cheesy character). Maybe it will settle down and it is worth trying.
Once again, one of the classics was on show - the Marques de Riscal 2005, with its refined and mature American oak character (with a hint of soapiness to me - what's that from?), but still spicy, ripe fruit and simply elegant

Spar: I kicked off the tasting with the only Cava on show (surprisingly) which was the Spar Donacella Cava Brut. This is simple, straightforward sparkling wine, for sale at £6.79, and as such it still has that rubbery character I get from cheaper Cavas, but it did have a hint of sweetness on the finish to freshen the palate. At that price it'll probably do reasonably well.
However, it also included the 2009 Viña Albali Airen - a real stinker (on the nose), which may well best be avoided - or maybe our bottle was faulty?

Tesco: Not a bad range on show actually. The best wine was probably the 2004 Baron de Ley 7 Viñas Reserva - with a salad-sounding smell of balsamic, tomato leaf, white pepper and lots of fruit, but then it was £16.14 (if you bought 6 bottles) so it deserved to have this much character.
More popularly, it had a decent "Tesco Finest" Old Vines Garnacha from Campo de Borja for only £4.98 (if buying 6) which had an unusual "all spice" nose but was quite drinkable.
Waitrose: Similarly, Waitrose also had a Rioja / Campo de Borja pair worth trying. The Gran Lopez Tinto (£4.79) had quite a floral character, with a hint of boiled cherry sweetie too, which might be a touch alcoholic, but was quite good. The Rioja was another Baron de Ley, the Club Privado 2006, which was quite 'classic' in style, more focused on the ageing characters rather than fruit flavours, but nonetheless a decent wine for £8.29

So, Rioja (at the top) and Campo de Borja (at the VERY low end of the price spectrum) do well, and maybe the other regions, except for Rias Baixas and its Albariños, not exciting the buyers enough to show them. Hopefully the next vintage will encourage them more.
How have you found the Spanish wines you have tried recently? Anything exciting on the high street, or do we need to head to the independents and mail-order merchants to find retailers doing something more exciting?

Elyssia's looking good

Last night's wine was a sample (yes, I get them from time to time despite my warnings, and sometimes they're worth reviewing).

Elyssia Gran Cuvee Brut, Cava, 11.5%

A very decent sparkling wine, which happens to hail from Cava-land and one of the big boys in that game, Freixenet.

This particular cuvee brings together the world of cava (Macabeo & Parellada grapes) and Champagne (Chardonnay & Pinot Noir).

I'm not sure I could have pinned this down as Cava in a blind tasting - which is a good and bad thing. A lot of Cava available in the UK is not that exciting, but good Cava can be LOVELY, and hard to find.

This one has a good lemon and tropical fruit core and a nicely delicate mousse (a way of saying that you feel the smooth texture of bubbles but they're not so aggressive that you feel each individual explosion in your mouth, like popping candy, as you might experience with some carbonated waters and cheaper sparkling wines).

What I liked more was the hint of fruit sweetness to balance the wine, some light nuttiness and maybe also a hint of ginger (I got a whiff of ginger ale on the finish), which together make it a lot more interesting than many alternatives, though still quite youthful.

It was good on it's own but also managed well with a pork and green pepper sauce dish.

Available from Waitrose at £14.99 it isn't your everyday wine price, but compared to alternatives, a very decent wine to consider for Christmas celebrations - or any other celebrations you can manage to arrange before and after.

(I can't believe I've started Xmas recommendations already)

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