Triade (or triad, but skipping the gang associations) is a new wine available at Waitrose.
A blend of three grapes, of course; Fiano, Falanghina and Greco this wine is an attempt to bring us something new and modern from the south of Italy.
It has been created by what seems to be a very 'international' wine business, in the positive sense of it being aware of the needs of the international wine consumer but attempting to deliver something uniquely Italian, called Orion Wines (sorry about the Flash on the link - they're not yet *fully* aware of customer needs obviously).
Like the wine, the company itself seems to have a thing for the number 3, with 3 names behind the business (a winemaker, a marketer and a logistics specialist ... hmm, sounds like the beginning of a joke), and a "team of 3 full time winemakers" who go around Italy creating these wines.
This particular wine is easy to drink and pleasant, with lots of tropical fruit flavours of ripe pineapple, apricot and a hint of vanilla & honey too. As a drinking wine with more robust foods it is attractive, although it is not a "cheap" alternative coming in at over £8.50.
My only niggle would be that it is a bit TOO international. The fruit is attractive and ripe, but I don't know at all whether it speaks to me of Italy, but maybe that's my own limitations. The real south of Italy (such as this from Campania, but also Puglia and my personal favourite, Sicilia) are very different climates to the more 'classic' areas that tend to be from the centre or the North of the country.
I love the idea of blends, but as with an increasing number of wines, I find that barrel fermentation, which was done on 20% of each of these grapes before blending, masks a lot of what makes a wine unique to that region. Unless, of course, it is the oak ageing that you are after, like in Rioja, Bordeaux, etc. In this case, the wine already seems to have a decent "roundness" (a sensation of being full bodied) from the fruit, which with a higher level of alcohol (it says 13% but could be a bit more), means that it probably didn't need any more from the oak and distracts from being a fresher wine. But I'm probably being over-critical.
In any case, it seems to be doing well, because although I only bought my bottle on Saturday, they appear to be out of stock as I write this on Tuesday. I am assuming there will be more available soon.
Three cheers for all the threes at Orion, and I look forward to trying more of their wines at some point.
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?
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:
thirstforwineAmber & cloudy for fino. Some honey, iced tea & almond on nose. Viscous, lemon peel, nutty, smoky & savoury (not salty) effect #RamaDrama28 Jul 2010from TweetDeck
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?
Last night saw the first (of several more in future?) gathering of those of us who love talking about food and wine in social media, and live in South East London. Six food and wine bloggers, twitterers, facebookers, etc. got together under the “SE Massive (#semassive)” banner – apologies for the tag – to enjoy a meal at a LOCAL restaurant. We are used to travelling around London and the world for our experiences, and sharing them on these global communications platforms, but this time we used this reach to find people and places that were much closer to home. Following an invitation, we decided to try a restaurant called “Bella Vista” in Blackheath (http://www.bellavistarestaurant.co.uk/). The restaurant has been there for many years, but has recently been restyled and had a completely new menu created. As they say on their site: “The menu at Bella Vista has been created by Piero Marenghi, recently of London’s multi award winning Italian restaurant L’Anima, and is led by the very talented head chef Alex Tyndall, who has also worked at Michelin starred Chapter One.” Alex really did do us proud and the menu was delicious. The photos below hopefully speak for themselves, but every dish was very well executed, with fresh ingredients and perfectly cooked. I was particularly impressed with the moist, flavourful Mackerel and the Lamb, in fact my mouth is watering again just thinking about them. The full menu was: Calamari Ripieni With Sautéed Monks Beard Bresaolo di Toro, Beetroot, Goats Cheese & Rocket Grilled Mackerel, Caper, Anchovy, Fennel, Salsa di Pomodoro Paccheri Amatriciana & Pecorino Cheese Grilled Rump Of Lamb, Semi Dried Tomato, Marjoram Sauce Date & Mascarpone Tart, Frangelico & Hazelnut Sauce To accompany the food, we were joined by Ben Smith of Enotria (www.enotria.co.uk) who brought along 6 wines to match the dishes. Each was brilliant, and showcased the quality and variety of wines you can get from Italy if you know what you are looking for and are prepared to pay a little more than normal. My own favourites were the very refreshing Pinot Bianco which married with the Mackerel extremely well, and the minerally and juicy Dolcetto d’Alba from Ascheri with the Bresaola. The full list of wines was: Ottella Lugana Superiore DOC Molceo (wonderful acidity and citrus fruit, opened up as it warmed a little) Dolcetto Nirane Ascheri 2009 (plums, cherries and minerality) 2008 Pinot Bianco Classici DOC, Colterenzio (crisp, refreshing, citrus but balanced) 2008 Valpolicella Classico DOC Villa Novare, Bertani (juicy dark fruit and soft tannins) Parusso Barolo DOCG 2005 (young and a touch closed, but showing lots of promise) 2006 Morsi di Luce, Cantine Florio (marmalade in a glass) Thank you so much to Lizzie (@hollowlegs), Ben (@benbush), EuWen (@tehbus), Jess (@lovelychaos), Louis (@spiltwine) and Ben (@enotriauk) - from me (@thirstforwine) for a great evening. I must go back to Bella Vista with my family. It is a great local restaurant to have, and reminds us all that you do not necessarily have to travel into the centre of London to get great quality food, and that local restaurants such as these can actually provide a great balance between the quality of food and service, and a more relaxed, cosy atmosphere to welcome local customers. Grazie, e buon apetito!