Diary of An Occasional Wine Bibber

My new year’s resolution is straightforward: I have resolved not to drink any bad wines. This means as much determining whether I am in the mood on a given day to drink at all, as an unreceptive palate can transform even pure gold into base drosswein. Ha, who am I kidding? I reckon that if one disciplines oneself by choosing carefully what one eats and drinks it helps to sharpen one’s palate. If you taste, and worse, drink bad wines, your palate eventually becomes lazy because the obviousness of the wine repeatedly bludgeons a particular response from you. With experience I have tried to short-circuit disappointment - I find myself drinking within an increasingly narrow spectrum. I have an intuition for what is good and what I will probably enjoy - at a given moment and thus I am rarely disappointed, which doesn’t mean I want to hunt obsessively for great wines (whatever they are); my mood, as often as not, veers towards the easy charms of honest rusticity: “I am not fond, for everyday at least, of racy, heady wines that diffuse a potent charm and have their own particular flavour. What I like best is a clean, light, modest country vintage of no special name. One can carry plenty of it and it has a good and homely flavour of the land, and of the earth and sky and woods”. (Steppenwolf)

Journalists are necessarily trammelled because they have to allow their preferences to be over-ridden in favour of a perceived common denominator - that of “every-consumer”; they may, consequently, recommend wines that they would have no intention of drinking themselves. I can say that I will be scrupulously fair in my wine judgements - in an entirely prejudicial manner!

31/12/2007 - 01/01/2008

1995 Volnay 1er cru Taillepieds, Hubert de Montille

Starting off as I meant to go on I teed off the New Year with a bottle of 1995 Volnay 1er cru Taillepieds from Hubert de Montille which I had been saving for a special occasion. An alluring bonny-bright rose colour segued into a nose which was very pretty, reminiscent of red flowers with a hint of stone-dust. I tasted the wine and the truth thwacked me hard like a firm clout on the mazzard with a stovepipe - this was Pinot au naturel, naked and shivering, all nerve and sinew, unswervingly pure and refreshing to the very marrow. Alcohol? A trifling 12% - its extremely bearable lightness of being serving as an elegant dig in the ribs to all the apologists of chaptalisation and souped-up sweetness. It’s very difficult to graduate from this minimalist groove - in comparison all wines seem overdressed and wield a clunking fist in a clunking glove. Hubert de Montille whose advocacy of “chiselled wines”, those that slice the palate like a blade as opposed to fanning out with broad flavours, would be pleased to learn that his 1995 Volnay is as clean and youthful now as the day it was bottled. New World Pinot - read it and weep - this delicious Volnay puts the ace in grace.

15/01/2008

2007 Framingham Pinot Gris, Marlborough, New Zealand

I remember reading that Pinot Gris was the next big thing in New Zealand and would soon supersede Riesling as the aromatic flavour de nos jours. Well, pardon my Maori, but that assertion is a tankload of cobblers. PG is a notoriously difficult grape to get right; more often than not poor clones are used leading to high yields and big bunches of big berries. Acidity can be a problem: leave the grapes on the vine for too long and acids drop, sugars rise and you’re left with a wine with a massive belt of alcohol and flab for fruit. Harvest under-ripe and you have thin Pinot Grigio characteristics with some residual sugar. Every which way but yuck? The Mission clone, however, provides smaller bunches with smaller berries, the result of which is more pronounced aromatics and greater concentration of fruit flavour. Framingham’s inspiration has been the Alsace style rather than the leaner Pinot Grigio style. The emphasis on richness, weight and texture as well as expressive fruit flavours. The Pinot Gris ‘07 has lifted, fruit forward aromatics reminiscent of apples, pears, raisins and cream with some underlying mineral notes. Generous “apple strudel” flavours of apple, pear, quince, raisins, spicy pastry and custard. Rich, slightly oily palate with excellent weight, texture and mouthfeel culminating in a long, creamy finish.

18/01/2008

2006 Vin de Savoie-Ayze, Gringet “Le Feu”, Domaine Belluard

The vineyards of Domaine Belluard are situated in Ayze in the Haute-Savoie as Dominique Belluard was at pains to point out when we finally arrived at the winery. They rise to about 450m above sea level and from them you can see the spur of the Alps. Some of the vines are planted on the flat grounds near the winery, others terraced on the steep inclination of the exposed south-facing hills behind - including some on Terre Feu, a red scarred, mineral-rich subsoil composed of glacial sediments and moraines (continuous linear deposits of rock and gravel). The Alpine climate ensures a big temperature difference between day and night, ensuring both physiological maturity in the grapes as well as good acidity. 

Dominique Belluard, who enjoys hang-gliding (this would be a novel method of harvesting grapes), has a restless, questing demeanour.  Like many vignerons you sense he would rather be walking or puttering off in his tractor than talking. He has long grimy tapering fingers and constantly makes roll-ups one-handed - without looking. Occasionally, only occasionally, a half-smile will crack his features.

We learn about the Gringet grape, that previously it was thought to be Savagnin, the famous grape of Jura, but ampelographical testing suggests that it is, in fact, an older variety. Now the grape has virtually disappeared from Savoie with only Belluard holding any significant quantities: a mere 8ha. Most Gringet goes into the production of sparkling wines which are a local speciality and likely to remain so.

Dominique is a serious proponent of biodynamic viticulture. He speaks all of the time of “balance” with regard to the vine and its environment, the relationship of the plant and the cosmos and that the preparations given to the plant are to enable it to find this balance. When he mentioned the alignment of the planets and telluric forces a few eyes rolled, but I suppose that if you don’t work the land you’re not in tune with the rhythms of nature and all such talk must seem like arrant poppycock. The notion of achieving balance derives from holistic aspect of biodynamics that sets out the idea that all life is trying to achieve internal harmony and that we can create the preconditions for this state by observing and understanding how the natural world (or the world of natural forces and energies) works.

In his not hugely prepossessing paint-flaking winery which seems to be held together by masking tape Dominique expounds on his dislike of oak ("it deadens the flavour") whilst pouring us some Gringet from the tank. He’s not a fan of stainless steel either, believing that it doesn’t allow the wine to breathe properly. As a result he has installed oval cement betons. All the wines we tasted were fantastically pure, especially the mineral Gringet from the Terre de Feu terroir. No malolactic fermentation here - the fruit is beacon-bright, crystalline and the acidity sings. The wine conveys initial aromas of white flowers and jasmine, is citrus-edged with a hint of white peach, jasmine and violet and a twist of aniseed to finish. The latest Gringet cuvees from the egg-shaped tanks were more emollient and slight more textural as if the lees contact had smoothed some of the stony aggression.

This was the first time I had tasted the wine in bottle and the result was little short of magnificent. Le Feu has warmth suggested by its name; you taste how the lees nourish and enrich the wine, imbuing it with a luscious, almost cushioned texture of fruit. The wine exudes white pear and quince seasoned with hint of warm ginger and angelica. We drank it harmoniously with wild pheasant pot-roasted in Marsala with a sauce of ceps, apples and cream.

18/01/2008

2004 & 2005 Montlouis-sur-Loire, Stephane Cossais

In my numble op Chenin is up there with Riesling and Chardonnay as one of three truly noble white grapes. Whilst I’m not sure that the French really understand Riesling (even in Alsace) they appear to recognise the versatility of Chenin which makes everything from sparkling wines, to bone-dry examples and through the register of sweetness to the most marvellous nectars.  The classic Chenin descriptor is apples (or quince), nuts and honey; the great dry examples have mouth-puckering acidity and apple-skin-on-flint verve and carve through trout and salmon like a cold stiletto through hot butter.

We have several fine examples of Chenin on our list: the gorgeous, honeyed wines of Antoine Foucault which are raised in oak; Thierry Germain’s poised Saumur Insolite almost quivering with minerality; the mellow (tendre) Vouvrays of Domaine Champalou; the mulching, cider-house aromas of Laroche’s Savennieres. Stephane Cossais distinctive Montlouis nods most towards the Insolite in style. We began with the 2004 where almond and chalk inflections led into fleeting notes of dry honey. I liked the grippy acidity and the linear progress of the wine on the palate. Less incisive but more flattering was the ‘05 with ripe pear and bruised quince to the fore and a degree more alcohol. Chenin in the Loire exemplifies vintage variation more than any other grape I can think of and one of the effects of global warming has seen a move away from the more tongue-witheringly dry exemplars towards a richer, more accommodating style. And whilst Chenin can carry richness of fruit and certain weight of alcohol some of the subtlety is lost. As Julius Caesar didn’t say: Let me have lean and hungry wines about me.

18/01/2008 - 19/01/2008

2006 & 1976 Bourgueil, Domaine des Chesnaies, Lame-Delisle Boucard

Cabernet Franc is currently enjoying quite a renaissance not that it ever had much of a naissance. Wines made from this grape tend to have tasty refreshing acidity, even those medicinal green notes (bell pepper, mint) in unripe vintages (which can be quite moreish) morph into attractive aromas of currants, raspberries and violets into warmer years, and further attractions are light-to-moderate alcohol and restrained use of wood. Its moderation means that it is superb food all-rounder; seasoning poultry, light meats and river fish such as salmon and trout with an even hand.

From the elegant floral style of Chinon, to the cool gravelly savouriness of Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil, from the bolder, beefier wines of Bourgueil to the suave, silken personality of Saumur-Champigny - and from simple, fruit-packed bang-in-a-bucket-juicers-on-a-summer’s-day to structured reds that can age remarkably well, Cabernet Franc wears many and varied guises.

The wines of Domaine des Chesnaies are aged in large oak foudres, and in a top vintage may spend three to five years in cask before bottling. The Prestige cuvee is a selection of their finest vineyards, selected for long ageing potential, whilst the young Cuvee des Chesnaies has delicious youthful Cabernet Franc fruit. This estate is renowned for sitting on library stock and it was instructive to taste together the old and the new. The 2006 was plump and chunky with a nose of wild raspberries, earth and mint. The palate was uncomplicated and fruit-driven with pleasant bitter berry fruit. Cracking value at around £5.99. The 1976 was initially closed: we poured it into a decanter and watched it unfold. Dark, brooding colour, bruised black plum and warm earth aromas veering towards savoury, humus and mushroom, bold dark musky fruit on the palate with plenty of supporting tannin and acidity. A remarkable wine. I left a slug of it in the decanter overnight and tried it the next day and despite having been bombarded by oxygen for twenty four hours it had barely budged an inch.

The baby Bourg would happily assimilate charcuterie, rabbit and partridge, whilst the reserve cuvee is a natural captain of the beaky brigade: try duck with green peppercorn, mallard (real rather than imaginaire), roast pheasant and pigeon. It also has the chops for chops (lamb or pork). Either would wash down a slab of Pont l’Eveque.