Filed under: tasting note

Choosing Chenin Blanc for some variety

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"If you could only pick one grape to drink the rest of your life, what would you choose?" 

Not a fair question, but it was a thought inspired by a game I overheard on the radio when I was daydreaming. I assumed I knew the answer to that ... but the more I thought about it, the more I was not sure. In the end, I cheated and decided it would have to be one for white and one for red, but even so I was stuck.

I have to admit I am a cosmopolitan drinker (not the cocktails!). I like variety and believe that there is no "one best style" in most cases. There are simply too many issues to consider. 

So it finally dawned on me that the answer (at least for the white) had to be ... Chenin Blanc.

It was an odd choice. In truth, I drink very little of it, but when I do I am often blown away. It makes everything from great sparkling wine, wines that are INCREDIBLY dry, through delicious, almost dry but rich to full on luscious and sweet wines. One grape. So many wines.

What does the grape "Chenin Blanc" evoke for you? 

For many, unfortunately, it is a fairly simple, often dull, white wine usually from South Africa.

It certainly should not have to be that way. Chenin Blanc was (and might still be) the most planted variety there, so it was grown more for volume than quality, but there are great South African versions - I'm fond of the wines of Ken Forrester, A A Badenhorst and De Trafford.

However, for Chenin Blanc lovers, the variety and complexity of the wines of the Loire Valley (it isn't all about Sauvignon Blanc thank goodness!) have to be ranked amongst the world's very best. This blog is not the place for in-depth looks at Loire wines - for that I point you in the direction of the indefatigable Jim Budd and his Jim's Loire blog.

So, when I saw an offer for some Chenin Blanc with a little age (though not yet nearly enough) on a special price, I jumped at the chance.

I bid/bought a case of bottles of Villebois Chenin Blanc 2007 from the Naked Wines Marketplace (in its first iteration). I have had a slightly mixed experience with the wines from this producer (who sells wines mainly thanks, it seems, to Naked Wines) but thought it worth a punt. According to their site, they focus almost entirely on Sauvignon Blanc but I'm rapidly getting bored with this grape (if I'm honest), so I am not sure what the story is to this wine, although the label implies it comes from their main vineyards.

This particular wine reminds me of baked green apples and hay on the nose. It smells bright yellow. It is a big, round wine in the mouth, showing the ripeness of the grapes, but maybe also a hint of some botrytis in there too. It has the sharpness of the filling of a bramble & apple pie, and also finishes with crispness and notes of honeyed, cinnamon spice. 

I paid £45.96 for 6 bottles, including delivery - making this wine £7.66 a bottle. A proper steal. 

However, it is now no longer available, but you might want to keep an eye on the site as it seems to have been quite popular, so you never know when they might find something from 2008 ;)

So, what would your one (white) grape be?

Mixing with three cool Italians

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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.

Having a little something special with dinner tonight

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Petalos 2008 tasted at home (with some beef stronganoff from Cook! if you need to know)

Pétalos Del Bierzo 2008
produced by Descendientes de J. Palacios in Bierzo,
Note: A wine of its own. I don't know of many I could compare in terms not only of the taste and experience, but the story and the history.

You can research the history, with the internationally renowned Alvaro Palacios "rediscovering" a regional grape in a forgotten region, and turning it into a destination for wine lovers. You should in fact.

As for the taste, I love the savouryness of the wine. This is a wine that shows real herbal notes on top of the fruit. The name is Petalos, or petals, and there is certainly a petal-like floral hint there, but really the wine is a balance between red fruit (raspberry and cherry) and herbs (thyme and savoury). The nose is meaty, almost like bloody steak (that musky aroma you get from really fresh steak - apologies to any vegetarians), but also with the red fruit and herbs, and all wrapped up in something quite spirity. It can almost remind you of those herbal "digestive" drinks you find in Italy, except the red fruit aromas give it away. In the mouth it never threatens to be a fruit bomb. On the contrary, as you taste it the immediate impressions are of the fresh, bright acidity and tannin and a strong mineral tang. But as it rests in your mouth, and as you swallow, the darker fruit aromas suddenly emerge and waft around your mouth and nose for such a long time. Not a wine for the faint-hearted, but delicious and unique. Try it!


Rating: 4,5 (in 5)
(Tasted on May 24, 2011)

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)