Portuguese wine comes to Bristol

The best way to taste wine, especially red wine, is with food, so, when I see a tasting dinner organised in a local Bristol restaurant by The Wine Society, I take notice. When the topic is Portuguese wine and the speaker is as knowledgeable about his subject and as entertaining as Charles Metcalfe, it is clearly an event not to be missed. So, despite the awful weather – wind and lashing rain – my wife and I joined some 60 others at Bristol’s River Station restaurant recently. And we were not disappointed!

We were greeted with a warm welcome from Charles Metcalfe and an aperitif of Soalheiro’s Alvarinho, a rich, intense white from the Vinho Verde region, but with far more depth of flavour than you often find from there. A starter of scallops was accompanied by Filipa Pato’s Nossa Branco, an oaked example of a wine made from Bical, one of many native Portuguese grapes tasted during the evening. Even though the oaking was subtle, I wasn’t convinced it made the best flavour match with the delicious scallops.

Rare roast beef is marvellous for showing off a good red wine and we had two in contrasting style. For me, the steely Vinha Pan produced by Filipa Pato’s iconic father, Luis, from the Baga grape worked slightly less well with the dish than the fuller, more generous Quinta do Mouro, a blend of Aragonez (aka Tempranillo) and other Iberian varieties from the warmer south-east of the country.

The Quinta do Meruge from the Douro, another blend of local grapes, followed with the cheese course – a tasty, mature Montgomery Cheddar – showing, once again, how well a good hard cheese and red wine go together; sensibly, the restaurant avoided the temptation to offer a mixed cheese board, which is so much harder to match with a wine.

And finally, a dessert Moscatel from the Douro. Delicious on its own, but its intense sweetness seemed to have rather a fight with the chocolate, amaretti and sour cherry terrine. It was a brave attempt to match the chocolate and the sour fruit – both tricky flavours; sometimes these combinations of food and wine work well and surprise everyone. Unfortunately, for me, this one didn’t!

All too soon, time to thank our host and leave. Yes! It was still raining, but it didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for a delightful dinner, wonderful wines and Charles’ most interesting commentary.

Some of these wines may be available through The Wine Society, but are not part of their regular list, so I have not indicated prices.

A Delicious Loire wine tasting

Sancerre, Vouvray, Muscadet – some of the best known vineyard names in the world. What do they have in common? Give yourself half a point if you said that they were white wines (although Sancerre can be rosé or red, too!), but full marks if you also mentioned that they are all in the Loire Valley. The Loire is France’s longest river and, from just before Orléans, it skirts one vineyard area after another as it flows west before eventually emptying into the sea near Nantes.

But it is almost 200 miles between the vineyards of Sancerre in the east and Muscadet in the west. The soils and climate change markedly as you travel along the river and the wines, as a result, are extremely diverse in character. A single evening is never long enough to show all the various styles, but a recent event organised by the Bristol Tasting Circle featuring the wines of Langlois-Chateau gave a good overview.

We began with a pair of Crémants (around £13 each), a white and a rosé. Crémant is the name given to sparkling wines made in France, outside the Champagne region, but using the same bottle fermentation method and often, as in this case, producing elegant, delicate wines that are excellent value and far preferable to cheap Champagne.

A group of dry wines featuring the Loire’s three main white grape varieties followed. A crisp, fresh Muscadet (£9.75) showed how much this once derided Appellation – and its Melon Blanc grape – has improved. A couple of wines from Saumur confirmed the quality of the under-rated Chenin Blanc; personally, I preferred the clean, tangy unoaked version (£9.99) to the oak aged prestige cuvee (£15.99). And then a pair of very contrasting Sauvignon Blancs: a rich, grassy, almost New Zealand style Sancerre (£15.99) and a far more typical, restrained Pouilly-Fumé (£15.69).

Sadly, we only tasted one red – a simple, easy drinking Saumur Rouge (£9.99) – the Saumur-Champigny, normally a reliably high quality example of the Cabernet Franc grape, had already sold out; that, in itself, seems a strong recommendation!

And, to finish, what else but a Coteaux du Layon (£10.49 per half bottle), one of the Loire’s delicious sweet dessert wines featuring, again, the marvellously versatile Chenin Blanc grape?

The Loire really does have all bases covered when it comes to wine styles and all the wines mentioned are available from the wonderfully named “Little Tipple” in Long Ashton, Bristol.

Buying Wine at Auction

I went to a wine auction recently; not something I do often, but great fun, whether you buy or not. You can get some real bargains and, sometimes, find old or rare wines that are no longer available elsewhere. But there are pitfalls for the unwary and it is easy to get carried away with the excitement of the bidding and end up spending far more than you intended. So it’s important to follow a few simple rules.

The first one is ‘Do your Homework’. Most auctions will have a catalogue or, at least, a list of wines on offer. Get hold of this in advance if possible and study it. Identify the wines you might be interested in and check their prices on the internet so that you have an idea what you should be paying. Set a top price that you won’t exceed. Unfortunately, I was only able to get the catalogue when I arrived at the auction, so my research was necessarily be a little more general, but I had an idea of the sort of wines I was looking for and the price I was prepared to pay. Never go in blind.

Once you’re there, look at the actual lots you’re interested in. Does everything appear in order? The label? The capsule? For older bottles, ask where and how they have been stored and especially their provenance – there are fakes around, particularly for the more valuable wines. Is there any sign of leakage from around the capsule which might indicate that they have been poorly stored? Again, for older bottles, some ullage (the evaporation of a small amount of wine over time) is inevitable, but beware if the level of the wine in the bottle is too low in the neck.

On the admin side, check whether there are any additions to the price you bid: auctioneers add various charges – taxes, storage, delivery, insurance, buyer’s premium – all quite legitimate, but you need to know and lower your bid accordingly. And not all small auctions will accept credit cards – take cash or cheque if you’re not sure.

And finally, the bidding. This is the simple part – and the most enjoyable. Keep a cool head. Know your top price and don’t be tempted to pay a penny more – however pressing the auctioneer may be. A good buy can so easily turn into an expensive mistake.

Wines for a Wedding

With a family wedding in the offing, I’ve been thinking about what wines I might choose for the big day – although, thankfully, the actual responsibility for that important decision will, in this case, belong to someone else!

I’d settle for no more than 4 different wines: one to greet guests at the start of the reception, a white and a red to accompany the meal and a Champagne (or equivalent) for the toast. And I’d keep the wines fairly simple – after all, the attention should be on the happy couple, not on the wine.

For receiving the guests, I’d opt for a Prosecco – light, delicate, but with an attractive sparkle to set the tone for the whole event. And don’t forget some soft drinks for the children, non-drinkers and those who have to drive home afterwards. With the meal, it would depend on the food, of course, but nothing too heavy or demanding; perhaps a Loire or New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc as the white and a Chilean Merlot for the red.

And a word of caution about the toast: avoid cheap Champagnes – they’ll please no-one; if the budget is a little tight, a Cremant d’Alsace or simply some more of the Prosecco is a better alternative. Otherwise, for much the same cost as a decent Champagne, an award-winning English Sparkling wine such as Ridge View or Nyetimber will add a touch of class to the occasion.

And how about quantities? An article I read recently suggested for 60 adults: 24 bottles of the reception wine, 48 bottles for the meal (split 50/50 white/red) and 12 bottles for the toast. I make that a total of almost a bottle and a half per person – or 15 wine units each! Unless you want your guests to leave very drunk – or your wine merchant will agree to refund for any unused bottles – I’d cut down on that number quite a bit. For 60 adults, the 12 bottles for the toast is about right but 15 – 20 bottles should be ample for the reception wine and 30 more than enough for the meal; even then, you’re unlikely to get much change from £700 for the wine alone (and this is at retail prices – far more at hotel or restaurant rates).

As I said at the start, I’m glad I don’t have to make the choice – nor pay for it!

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The Authentic Rioja

Rioja – Spain’s best-known wine. But how well known is it really? Ask people to describe a Rioja and you’ll usually hear something about it being aged for long periods in oak barrels giving a dry, oaky red wine. Some will add comments about it not being particularly deeply coloured and having quite low tannins. I’d be surprised if many mention any particular fruit flavour or that the wines have a youthful character.

And that description certainly was true for Rioja. But, these days, more and more producers are moving away from this style, aware that customers tend to prefer fruitier, fresher, deeper-coloured wines. So they’re maturing their wines for a much shorter period in barrel – sometimes just in tank – and tweaking the blend of grapes to include more Tempranillo for its strawberry character and less, if any, Garnacha. Some are even including some Cabernet Sauvignon for colour and to add to the fruit flavours.

So spotting a Rioja today may not be as easy as you think. But a few producers shun all these modern trends and still make Rioja in the most traditional way. One such is Viña Tondonia and I tasted a range of their wines at a dinner at Flinty Red in Bristol recently. Tondonia pride themselves that everything at their winery is under their control – even their barrels are made by their own coopers from wood seasoned and smoked (toasted) on site. And they give all their wines extended ageing and only release them when they think they are really ready to drink.

The tasting included a trio of white Riojas including one dating back to 1991 that had spent fully 10 years in barrel, reds from 1995 and 2001, even a 13 year old rosé! (Yes, white and rosé wines have always been a small proportion of Rioja’s output). I’d be the first to admit that Tondonia’s wines are not for everyone and they are a rather different and acquired taste, but for the flavour of authentic Rioja in the traditional style, Viña Tondonia is unmatched. Corks of Cotham have a range of their wines.

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California: Growing the Wrong Grapes?

“California has a Mediterranean climate, so should be making wine with Mediterranean grape varieties”. A controversial suggestion on the back label of a bottle of Californian wine, the Uvaggio Vermentino (Wine Society, £9.50), I opened recently. Controversial because the idea would mean no Chardonnay, no Cabernet Sauvignon, no Merlot and no Pinot Noir. All of these varieties originated in either Bordeaux or Burgundy, both far from any real Mediterranean influence. And the only widely planted Californian grape native to an area close to the Mediterranean is Zinfandel – related either to Puglia’s Primitivo or the Dalmatian Coast’s Plavac Mali, depending on which source you consult.

In fact, California’s climate is far more diverse than suggested with cooler areas suited to premium quality Pinot Noir (remember the film “Sideways”?) right through to the warmest parts where the likes of Zinfandel do, indeed, thrive. But the idea of growing Mediterranean varieties isn’t new; Randall Grahm and others have been trumpeting the merits of growing varieties such as Grenache and Mourvedre, both native to the southern Rhône Valley, for more than 2 decades – and with great (and deserved) success.

And look around – you’ll find many other Mediterranean varieties in California apart from the Vermentino that prompted this blog; Muscat, Malvasia and Barbera are all grown, and that’s just three chosen at random; it’s simply that the volumes are dwarfed by those of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest – and worse for those of us in the UK, quantities exported are tiny. That means that, sadly, we’re forced to concentrate more on European wines to experience a much wider range of grapes and tastes.

Personally, I’d love it if more Californian producers grew (and exported) wines made from varieties other than the ‘Big 6’ – the Vermentino I mentioned earlier was a delicious surprise – but is California really growing the wrong grapes? I don’t think so. Ask those who regularly buy and enjoy their wines!

Chilean wine: every day drinking and more

Chile’s wines are characterised by lovely vibrant fruit and I often recommend them when someone asks me to suggest a good bottle that won’t cost a fortune. Also, with so many reliable producers – Concha Y Toro, Cono Sur, Isla Negra among them – I can be pretty sure that, whichever example they pick up, red or white, they will enjoy drinking it and it will be fair value for money.

But there’s more to Chilean wines than this; they’re not just pleasant, fruity, every day drinking. Spend a little more and you can find wines of real quality as I proved recently by taking a bottle of Vina Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon (Avery’s, £11.99) to a lecture I was giving for a Wine and Spirit Education Trust course. We tasted it alongside a Classified Medoc and a Grand Cru St Emilion – both costing around twice as much – and it compared very well indeed. Although it was still very young and tannic, it was a typical Cabernet Sauvignon with intense blackcurrant fruit, both on the nose and the palate, together with attractive eucalyptus and spice notes. In 3 – 5 years time, this will be a real winner!

But it was no coincidence that I chose this bottle; Los Vascos has a great pedigree. The estate where it is produced, in the Colchagua region, has been owned since 1988 by Domaines Barons de Rothschild, owners of the First Growth Bordeaux, Château Lafite, one of the most iconic names in the wine world. They’re unlikely to risk their lofty reputation by producing anything other than a very good wine.

And they don’t just operate in France and Chile. Look out also for Caro wines, a joint undertaking with the Catena family vineyards in Mendoza, Argentina. Or, if you care to wait a year or two, their latest venture is a new vineyard and winery in the Shandong Province of China. Now that is an interesting prospect!