This Week I 'Ave Been Mostly Drinking

Russell Wallace - General Manager – This week I ‘ave been mostly drinking in memory of Cremola Foam!  Hmmm how to explain this one… Well I was sipping on Mas de Daumas Gassacs’ delightful little sparkling wine called Rose Frizant, a single vintage, in my case the 2010, tiny production wine from a company largely known for the cult red wines.

The reds are deep and really quite powerful as young wines, infinitely drinkable though, yet as they age around 10 years or more the transformation is just like a well aged Burgundy, silky soft and unbelievably delicate with delightful notes of the oak coming through.  Whilst I love the Gassac reds, it is their other less or often unknown wines that I rave about.  The whites are a pure delight, the Moulin deGassac Premiere Selection in particular is just unlike anything else (but in a good way).  The Rose Frizant, on the other hand, is just pure fruity fun and with my Seasonal Affective Disorder in full flow, owing largely to an impending, long overdue break to the sun in a couple of weeks, there seemed no better time to dive into a bottle of this old friend. 

I have always described the taste as something akin to, a slightly toned down version of, Cremola foam.  Don’t remember it?  Well it was an amazing staple in our house as kids a serberty type fizzy powder that you mix with water to get a real fruity fizzy zing.  As time has worn on I had started to doubt my initial description worrying that I was turning into one of these sorts that can only describe wine through irrelevant descriptives that seem only to exist in the mind of the high connoisseur.

Low and behold the very following night I was whipping up a little drink for my better half, the requirement was 0 alcohol, and something “different.”  Having never been an excellent mixologist and with very little to play with I picked up the only two likely candidates of slimline tonic and Ribeena and discovered a long gone childhood memory.  For this to work the Ribeena must go in first with some ice (crushed or whole I cannot imagine it matters), follow that up with some tonic, as you pour it in you will notice the glass instantly fills with a thick froth.  Get your straw, spoon or any other implement and get sipping this Cremola-froth, it is divine and ironically much like an intensified version of the Gassac Rose Frizant.  Panic over.

Kieran German – Shop Manager - This week I 'ave mostly been drinking to keep warm. Hot toddies and all that. I find a drop of Bowmore in one's coffee keeps the cold off, and I recommend a splash of Columba Cream in tea in lieu of milk. It is very, very good. This relentless winter and the havoc created by the weather is a gargantuan nuisance. But on the plus side, it does make reaching for the brandy excusable (in moderation of course. No operating heavy machinery etc.) Every cloud has a silver lining.

Picture the scene: the snow is coming down outdoors; the wind is knocking at the windows, or you can hear it in the chimney; and the light is fading. But you are sat by the fire, and you are reading a good book. What's missing? Claret. Winter evenings, for me, demand a good bottle of claret. And when the bottle is finished on with the second (with the roads as they are, it is not as if we are driving anywhere soon anyway). This week I tasted Chateau Capdet 2005. It is a superb vintage, as we all know, and this wine suited the conditions perfectly - flavours of stewed fruit, like bramble jelly and blackcurrant preserve. Some chewy tannins made this a really foodie wine - good with a broth, or a cheeseboard - but also suggested further ageing potential. My recommendation - buy a case, so you have an ample supply - just in case you get snowed in.

Still on a wines-for-winter theme, I also tasted Willunga 100 Viognier this week. In many ways, a classic Aussie viognier - with soft tropical fruit flavours before turning to give a smooth, bitter finish.

It was very pleasing when served at room temperature, and at 14% abv it had genuine warmth to it. I would say this is a great choice for white wine drinkers looking to offset the cold. And for a food match, I would say Macaroni cheese.

Susan Ross – Logistics Manager - Well last week saw another onslaught of a trade tasting, this time Forth Wines, based in Scotland, who supply mainly to hotels and restaurants in Scotland but also throughout the UK.  It’s a hard job having to attend these events and taste so many wines!

Held at the newly refurbished Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, a beautiful venue, this event didn’t disappoint.

Here is a list of my stars of the day, well at least some of them, there were so many....:

Thieri Loup, Pic Saint Loup, Coteaux du Languedoc

Deep rich fruit – a delicious wine with a touch of sweetness on the end palate.
A steel at the price.

Mar de Palha, Portugal – a small, family run business, practising organic and producing circa 100,000 bottles per year, these wines are stunning.  Portugal has come a long way in recent years to producing good quality wines.  All the wines listed on our website are superb, but these were 2 of my favourites:

Mar de Palha Sauvignon Blanc, Lisboa

A modern Sauvignon Blanc, great depth of flavour, clean and crispy but soft on the acidity.

Mar de Palha Reserva, Lisboa

More a food wine than its little brother, the easy drinking Tinto, this is full of ripe black fruit, rich and elegant – smooth chocolate – superb!

Lomond, Cape Agulhas, South Africa – with a unique southerly position on the Western Cape with cooling sea breezes in the summer months - the best environment for its boutique selection of grape varietals.  Lomond focuses on sustainability and the preservation of biodiversity on the farm - where possible, organic and natural farming methods are used, in order to produce unique wines. 

These are fantastic wines, offering great depth of flavour, quality and affordability:

Some of my favourites:

Lomond Sugarbush Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc

Crisp and lively, herbal and tropical fruit.  A single vineyard Sauvignon with quality and taste a match for New Zealand.

Lomond Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Viognier SSV

I’m not a great lover of Semillon but this blend may well have changed my mind – if you fancy a change away from the likes of Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio etc., this is well worth trying.  Lovely tropical aromas, crisp and refreshing.

New for this year – coming soon on our website.

Lomond Syrah

Deep flavour of dark berry fruit and liquorice giving an earthy feel to this wine.  Great with food but could sip this one on its own quite happily due to its soft tannins.

Lomond Cone Bush Vineyard Syrah

A great example of a Single Vineyard Syrah – complex, earthy, elegant and beautifully integrated with soft tannins – a beauty of a wine and a must have.

Go on, give them a try – like me, you won’t be disappointed.

Next instalment... next week..

This Week I 'ave been mostly drinking...

Russell Wallace – General Manager - This week I ‘ave been mostly drinking... wines to celebrate a belated vegetarian Mothers day.  It is not that I forgot just that my mum was coming over to visit for a weekend so we decided to postpone the festivities rather than my usual long distance effort.  With both my Mother and Step-Father of the vegetarian persuasion and my better half always more keen on the veggie options I really had no choice but to take the dive myself as well.  What does all this mean for wine, I hear you say?  It means white wine and lots of it.  Billaud Simon Petit Chablis was a starting point for a divine canapé drink; crisp and smooth but still noticeable (by that I mean there is still flavour there) and a great option as something different for those of the New Zealand Sauvignon gang (just do not tell them it is 100% Chardonnay!).  I also had my first try of the sparkling rose variety of our Brazilian agency Casa Valduga.  They have a great range of lower level sparklers made in the Charmat method amongst which is a Chardonnay/Pinot Noir rose called Domno (they also have a non-rose version) that just blew my socks off.  Nice hint of sweetness that is not at all sickly and a depth of flavour that I have only encountered from Cabernet or Malbec based rose before.  The pick of the bunch for me though was the Aigner Gruner Veltliner, in this instance the Weinzierlberg.  Aigner is a legend amongst the very, very select few who know about it. Producing 4 hugely different Gruner Veltliner, I would have thought prior to my love affair with Aigner was not only impossible but utterly pointless!  Alas that is an attitude changed forever.  The weinzierlberg is essentially the lower end of the spectrum and one more generally thought of as a wine for aperitif and light sipping, it is thoroughly zingy and bares more to a new world Sauvignon Blanc than you would ever imagine.  On this occasion we were having my legendary Thai Green Curry and I thought that this slightly more acidic wine would stand up better to the heat, and boy did it.  Naturally with any wine the heat changes the wine dramatically but this is as good a heat wine as I have ever found.

As a quick aside but still on the vegetarian theme, it is often difficult to say the least to find some good quality vegetarian fine dining to treat my folks to.  On Friday night though we found it at Restaurant Martin Wishart, while their A la Carte does not offer vegetarian as standard their 6 course vegetarian tasting menu was a huge success. Having such a high proportion of vegetarianism in our family it always astounds me that it can be so difficult to accommodate for unless you are going for an international cuisine.  Sure most restaurants will cobble something together as an afterthought but when you enter the world of fine dining it is normally just if request it especially.  All I can say to that is well done Martin Wishart, and to any none Vegetarians, give their vegetarian tasting a try.  I have been lucky enough to try both recently and personally the vegetarian tasting menu was by far and away my favourite, and from a dedicated carnivore that is saying something!

Kieran German – Shop Manager - This week I 'ave mostly been drinking Camillo de Lellis Biferno Rosso.

I'm not much of a chef, but as a lifelong pizza-lover I have put considerable time and effort into perfecting traditional Neopolitan pizza. At my house it's thin base and stone-baked all the way. Recently two regular customers, Chicagoans, came into the shop and after some conversation we ended up debating the merits of deep-pan pizza versus Italian style. To cut a long story short, I ended up baking a Chicago-style, and it was a revelation. It is a world away from the bready boxed-up phoneys you find in freezer aisles here in the UK. With thanks to Roberta and Michael, you can find the recipe here should you be so inclined.

 

Anyway, rather than pair the pizza with an American bottle (which nevertheless has its appeal) I went back to the old country and picked out Camillo de Lellis Biferno Rosso. This wine has caused quite a stir amongst customers and colleagues (not to mention web reviews) as being especially good value for such a tasty drop. Predominantly montepulciano, it had good body and depth, showing black forest fruits and a slight chocolatey hint. But moreover, it had a good acidity which picked out the tomato flavours of the pizza while complementing the texture of the mozzarella most refreshingly. I have no doubt this wine has great versatility, and at less than £8 a pop it is worth putting a few on the rack for rainy days. After all, we should all have a stash of good, inexpensive wine for those nights when, after a long day, we can't be bothered cooking and instead just call the pizza delivery.

Dianne Barrie – Company Administrator - This week I ‘ave been mostly drinking white port – Taylor’s Chip Dry to be precise. I’ve never considered myself to be a port drinker, but just recently I discovered white port. This is very different to the usual red port most people recognise; it has more sherry-like characteristics and is much lighter than red port. White port is packed full of fresh fruit flavours, yet it is mellow with hints of warmth from oak barrel ageing (which is just as well since the temperatures here have once again plummeted and snow has returned to Scotland!) Nevertheless, this will be a drink that I will look forward to enjoying once the sun does eventually appear!  Give it a try and see for yourself – I know you won’t be disappointed.

Mark Powrie – Orders Team - This week I ‘ave mostly been drinking……. Innocent Bystander Pink Moscato 2012… As the weather starts to turn bad again, I decided that I would try and keep the good weather going, with this cheeky pink sparkling. This is such an easy drinking sparkling, starting with good bubbles, leading to an explosion of fruit in your mouth, and finishing with a slight tart taste at the end. This sparking is one of those that can be enjoyed on its own, plenty of ice to refresh any palate, or with a starter of scallops or cheesy baked in breadcrumbs. Definitely a summer drink or one to help keep your spirits up.  This sparkling is a steal at £6.13.

This week I 'ave been mostly drinking

Russell Wallace - General Manager - This week I 'ave been mostly drinking... nout, nothing, nada (unless you count Robinsons blackcurrant squash!).  Sad but true, this last week has been a totally dry week. So I guess what I need to fill this week is a "this week I wish I have been drinking" feature! For this there is one outstanding vineyard that has been releasing its new vintages for their bin ranges, thats right Penfolds.  Every year the hype seems to get greater and the demand bigger around this gem in the Australian wine crown. So wether you are a fan or a sceptic it is firmly here to stay and Robert Parker's newly released ratings for the wines seem set only to boost this. I have always had a fascination for Penfolds. Perhaps it is the dazzling array of wines they seem to keep adding to, but, more likely, it is the dinner I was lucky enough to enjoy at the Loch Lommond Golf Club 2 years ago in the company of the legend John Duval (if you don't know this particular legend he is the former wine maker responsible for creating the wines that are now iconic).  This year will see the release of the 2008 Grange which has just received the very rare accolade of 100 points!  So with this being a fantasy and all I can ignore what seems set to be a record breaking price tag for a record breaking wine can't I?  Well in truth no, and I will come back to explain why in just a second.  Next to the luxury wines of the Grange, RWT and 707, the 'little brother' wines of 389 and 407 are the next to get the limelight and with ratings also in the 90 point zone.  But then these are the kind of wines that generally speaking are sold within seconds of being bought so if you are looking for these from Exel Wines then again sorry but no can do. So it brings me to my champion the Penfolds Bin 28 2010, we have managed to hold back some stocks of this wine and with a 92 point rating (that is the same as the 389 at twice the price) it shall surely stand alongside the big names but at a fraction of the price.  This really brings us back to the raison d'etre of myself and the wider Exel Wines team: Quality and Value. With a price tag of around £20 it will still be a treat kind of wine, but ultimately a fantasy wine I can justify turning into reality very very soon and seeing if Mr Parker's ratings live up to my expectations.

Kieran German - Shop Manager - This week I 'ave mostly been drinking Tinpot Hut Sauvignon Blanc. With the exception of the truly extraordinary [not to mention unusual] GreyWacke Wild Sauvignon, the Tinpot Hut Sauvignon Blanc was the most palate-catching sauvignon I tasted during my recent jaunt to the Edingburgh wine tastings (of which you can read more here). Now, I like Kiwi Sauv; but when it comes to this sort of wine, my wife is the true connoisseur. So when I taste them I'm always more concerned with whether they're going to suit her superior tastebuds. This was the one I was sure of. At first sniff - faint hints of stoned fruit; substantial minerality; green salad. The nose is giving, but it's savoury. Onto the palate and you can almost feel the hairs of the kiwi-fruit skin. This is a dead dry wine, but it has a soft finish - none of the sharp acidity some of its peers show. And when you go back for a second sip green pepper is the overwhelming flavour. Who says Marlborough has no diversity? This is a wine made with some skill and great fruit. If my wife says so, it must be true.

Kieran and Mark Taste Wine in Edinburgh - Part 1, Liberty

February and March is the wine fair season in our business. That's when our suppliers gather all their producers under one roof and we go around their tables tasting lovely things and deciding what we think you, our valued customer, would like to be sipping, tasting, sharing and enjoying for the next wee while. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it. This is always good fun, and a great opportunity for us to talk to winemakers about their wines and learn a few things. It's always a pleasure to see how passionate the producers are about their product.

Last week Mark and I went to Edinburgh to the Enotria and Liberty wine fairs on a voyage of bacchanalian discovery...

First up was the Liberty shindig. This took place in the Signet Library in the Old Parliament Square in Edinburgh. It was a beautiful setting; full of ornate and historic interior architecture and lined with old books.

It was hard not to be distracted. But Mark and I are professionals and we had a job to do. So we each took a sample of Nyetimber and looked through the tasting schedule, working out our strategy. The Nyetimber was lovely, by the way, and we'll be bringing in some of the demi-sec to go along with the Classic Cuvée; Blanc de Blancs; and Rosé we already stock.

Liberty are an excellent company to work with because their portfolio is focused on high quality wines of superior provenance; they do familiar wine styles with considerable aplomb, but they surprise with unexpected gems. I had a ball working through the New Zealand Sauvignons, for example. Never a variety of endless diversity, I had thought. But here I was noting nuance and character in each different glass. Honourable mention has to go to Tinpot Hut (available online and in our Perth shop); but the show was stolen by GreyWacke Wild Sauvignon. Now this was left-field - spontaneous barrel fermentation over the course of a year using atmospheric yeast only. Pungent, earthy flavours, yet no shortage of finesse. I was bowled over by this beauty, so it was a privilege to speak with Kevin Judd, the winemaker (of Cloudy Bay fame), about how he made it. (It is now also in our shop).

One of the most surprising wines that Liberty showed was Zorah's Areni Noir. Areni Noir? No, I hadn't heard of it either. Turns out it is an indigenous Armenian varietal, grown in historically renowned soil by Zorik Gharibian. The wine confounded expectations, showing the class and depth one associates with a fine Burgundy. Those in search of something different, something genuinely exciting are encouraged to check this out. But be quick, as word is spreading and demand is likely to outstrip supply very soon.

Stopping for lunch was a treat. Liberty laid it on, complete with considered vegetarian options (extra kudos) and a couple of lovely bottles.

Rejuvenated, we moved onto red wines in earnest. We found a sparkling Bonarda from Alma 4, which was absolutely cracking. Light, lovely mousse and vibrant purple fruits. But it was in the Australian reds section I got utterly seduced. Here was an uninterrupted succession of engaging, subtle, generous and sophisticated wines without even a hint of the jammy bombasity so often associated with the country. Take the Innocent Bystander Yarra Pinot Noir, for example. For a mere £15 per bottle you're getting a measured mix of jolly-rancher fruit; earthy/farmyardy flavour and good acidity. The 'Farrside' Geelong Pinot Noir was even better (at three times the price you'd expect it to be). It was like a magical Volnay, with a long, long finish. Meanwhile, the Plexus GSM had aromas to die for. My favourite, though, was the Balnaves Coonawarra Cabernet. Light, spicy and extremely vibrant fruit flavours. The notes I took on the day read simply 'MUST HAVE'!