thirstforwine http://thirstforwine.posterous.com Most recent posts at thirstforwine posterous.com Mon, 23 May 2011 03:02:00 -0700 Tio Pepe En Rama and perception http://thirstforwine.posterous.com/tio-pepe-en-rama-and-perception http://thirstforwine.posterous.com/tio-pepe-en-rama-and-perception

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What a difference perception makes. However much you think you are being objective, there are always things that you take for granted.

I was EXTREMELY lucky to get a chance to taste the latest edition (for it is not a 'vintage' product) of the Tio Pepe En Rama on the Access Zone at the London Wine Trade Fair. I've written about this wine before (ANNIVERSARIES, HAIR AND HARE KRISHNA: A STORY ABOUT SHERRY) and I think that this wine was even better, fresher and more intense, so thank you Gonzalez Byass.

One day soon I'll write more about the wine again, but what struck me the other night was the view of the label.

I took the remnants of the bottle from the stand to a small gathering of wine bloggers that evening (it had been very well received on the stand by all those lucky enough to try it) and I poured some for Miss Vicky Wine. Miss Vicky (aka Anne-Victoire) knows a fair deal about wine, particularly her specialisms ... Beaujolais and Rose, but it seems she has rarely had much sherry. She comes from a very different perspective on the conversation.

What surprised me was her comment, "Why did they make the label so modern?"

It struck me as very odd as I consider the design to be extremely traditional, with the single colour, the waving flags, the leaf designs, the typeface, etc. Her perception, however, not knowing these "traditional cues" was that it was a very modern, design-led label.

Ultimately it does not matter. This wine will not rely on its label to sell (as it will be on strict allocation), but it does show you that whatever YOU think might be recognisable and well-known may well NOT be to someone else, particularly if you are selling beyond your own cultural group.

It reminds me of the very important lesson I learn every day when talking about wine online:

Wine may be a global product, but its consumption is local!

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/496502/mar10s.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aQQTUCZxJol Robert McIntosh thirstforwine Robert McIntosh
Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:23:00 -0700 Anniversaries, Hair and Hare Krishna: A story about sherry http://thirstforwine.posterous.com/anniversaries-hair-and-hare-krishna-a-story-a http://thirstforwine.posterous.com/anniversaries-hair-and-hare-krishna-a-story-a

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: 
  1. Robert McIntosh
    thirstforwine Amber & cloudy for fino. Some honey, iced tea & almond on nose. Viscous, lemon peel, nutty, smoky & savoury (not salty) effect #RamaDrama
-- 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.

As I found out from Anthony Rose's great post on this wine, En Rama is:
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?

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Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:50:34 -0700 Look what I managed to secure (thanks to @flagshipwines) http://thirstforwine.posterous.com/look-what-i-managed-to-secure-thanks-to-flags http://thirstforwine.posterous.com/look-what-i-managed-to-secure-thanks-to-flags
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!

Photo

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Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:45:00 -0700 High Spirits at the BFT http://thirstforwine.posterous.com/high-spirits-at-the-bft http://thirstforwine.posterous.com/high-spirits-at-the-bft

Thanks to the eagle-eyes of Justin Roberts (@justinjerez) I was alerted to an exciting new wine trade tasting called “the BFT”. Despite me being unable to say or write this without thinking of Roald Dahl’s BFG, I think the organisers have done a grand job of creating something new which I hope will be repeated.

The BFT is the Big Fortified Tasting (http://www.thebft.com). [For those who don’t know what that means, it covers wines such as Sherry, Port & Madeira (plus a few assorted others). They are all wines made with the addition of spirit, which means the lowest alcohol at the tasting was probably around 15%. Ouch!]

Fortified wines are a bit of a poor relation at the moment. Consumers do not seem to think of these wines as particularly sexy or “happening”. They are immediately associated with grannies, cigars and dusty bar shelves. Of course the truth is completely different (except for the cigars – for some).

It was great to see a very full house at the tasting, including top journalists, MWs, buyers, and restaurant staff. It was also interesting to see that people were asking questions and getting excited about the wines, not just revisiting old friends.

I hope that with events such as this, and a motivated wine trade, these categories can finally be revived. They offer such a wonderful range of flavours and experiences, and a diversity of culture and history with each style and region.

I fear, however, that the impetus is unlikely to come from the current producers and brands as it will require a major re-imagining of what the wines are, when they are consumed and who they are for, for this to happen. Is anyone brave enough for that? Go on!

One of the first steps should be to encourage the organisers to open up the event to consumers and allow them to be able to sample these wines side-by-side too. There are so many styles to choose from it can be difficult to get your head around it, but a little education goes a long way. Let's hope they do!


I used the opportunity to compare lots of different Fino and Manzanilla sherries side by side as I think they offer a style of wine that could attract new drinkers to this kind of category and you almost never get a chance to do this. My favourites included:

  • La Gitana Manzanilla: Crisp, with a light freshness, salty, almond skin finish
  • La Guita Manzanilla: Fuller bodied, almond, dry and salty, but fresh and delicious
  • La Ina Fino Muy Seco: Light, mineral, edge of sweeter citrus especially on finish
  • La Bota No.18 Fino de Machanurdo Alto: Typical dryness, but fuller bodied, with rounded finish not dry mineral. Very nice.

In fact the whole La Bota range from Equipo Navazos (via Rhone to Rioja in UK) was delicious – including the two wonderful La Bota Palo Cortados, No.21 (“rich & nutty but with a high alcohol that contrasted well”) and No.17 (“Caramelly touch on top of hazlenut richness, delicious”)

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/496502/mar10s.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aQQTUCZxJol Robert McIntosh thirstforwine Robert McIntosh