Buy Now!

Wine lovers of Britain – read this Blog urgently! Not doing so, or leaving it until next week, will cost you money. Hopefully, that has got your attention!

It’s not been widely publicised but next Tuesday, 1 August, the way the UK Government taxes wine and spirits will change and – surprise, surprise – most prices will go up.  At present, £2.23 of the amount you pay on any bottle of still wine goes straight to the Government as duty.  This figure is the same whatever the price and whatever the alcoholic content of the wine.  So, whether you buy a £5 bottle of Liebfraumilch with 11% alcohol or a £500 bottle of Châteauneuf du Pape with 15% alcohol, the rate of duty is the same, £2.23 (plus VAT, of course).  From next week, this will change.  The price of the bottle still doesn’t matter (‘not fair!’ I hear you cry) but the alcoholic strength does.  The Government’s aim is, ultimately (in 2025, they say), to tax all alcoholic drinks based on their exact alcoholic strength but, for now, they are dividing wine into 4 categories.  Let’s look at how prices will be affected.  (I’m quoting prices per bottle but, if you buy your wine by the glass in a pub or restaurant, the same increases will apply proportionately).

To start, the good news:  the few bottles containing 11% alcohol and below will be slightly cheaper, as will sparkling wines, which were previously taxed at a higher rate than still wines.  These will now attract the same rate of duty, reducing the price of fizz by 19p a bottle (I always thought that Government ministers were Champagne drinkers!), or 50p a bottle if, like many Proseccos, they have less than 11.5% alcohol. 

Virtually all other wines will go up.  Those with alcohol levels between 11.5% and 14.5% (the vast majority of all wine sold) will rise by 44p a bottle, while wines at 15% alcohol and upwards (including all sherries) will rise by 97p a bottle.  And finally, for those (like me!) who love their port (which is, of course, around 20% alcohol), we will have to pay an extra £1.30 a bottle. 

Not good news, but those are the facts.  No wine recommendations this week, just a very strong hint to get down to your local wine shop now – or pay the price for delaying!

Hungary – Part 2

I blogged last time about the first part of our recent wine tour to Hungary.  From Eger, we moved on to visit Tokaj, named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2002 in recognition of the unique wine traditions of the area.  The region is famous for its luscious sweet wines made from a blend of the native grape varieties Furmint and Hárslevelű but the producers we visited were keen to show us a range of their dry whites, too.  Made from the same varieties, for me, the few unoaked examples we tasted generally worked better than the oaked bottles.  Oremus’ ‘Mandolas’ (mainly Furmint) showed real depth and complexity while Barta’s Hárslevelű had a lovely floral freshness.

But the main reason for a wine visit to Tokaj is to enjoy the sweet wines.  As in Sauternes, the key to most of these is the effect of botrytised grapes.  Botrytis, aka noble rot, is a fungus which attacks the ripe grapes which then shrivel and dry out.  This concentrates the sugar to the point where the yeast struggles to do its work, leaving a naturally sweet wine with modest alcohol levels.

The basic level of traditional sweet Tokaji is ‘Szamorodni’.  This uses a mixture of botrytised and non-botrytised berries to give delicious wines with flavours of marmalade and honey.  Strangely, the locals serve this with some red meat dishes – a combination that I struggled to come to terms with.  A step up from this and the wines are labelled ‘Aszú’.  These are definitely dessert wines and use botrytised berries, individually picked grape by grape, then pressed into a sticky paste which is added to already fermenting wine.  The result is aged in oak barrels for at least 2 years before bottling.  Although no longer needed under Hungarian law, you may see the words ‘4 puttonyos’ or ‘6 puttonyos’ on the label – the higher the number, the sweeter the wine.  And the taste?  Wonderfully rich with flavours of oranges and honey; obviously very sweet but with enough balancing acidity to ensure that the wine isn’t cloying. 

As close to liquid nectar as you will find and a lovely ending to a fascinating trip. We travelled with Good Wine Tours (www.goodwinetours.com).

(For the eagle-eyed amongst you, the 2 different spellings are intentional: Tokaj is the place, Tokaji is the wine). 

A Taste of Hungary

Bull’s Blood – most wine drinkers of ‘a certain age’ will remember it well!  Looking back, it was probably one of my first encounters with red wine; fortunately, the experience didn’t put me off wine for ever!  For those too young to know the name, Bull’s Blood was a rough, wickedly alcoholic concoction from Hungary, guaranteed to leave you with a bad headache the following morning. But it’s time to forget past experiences as the wine, now re-branded using its Hungarian name, Egri Bikaver, has changed out of all recognition as my wife and I can confirm.  We’ve just returned from a fascinating wine tour to Hungary including a trip to the region of production where we visited 2 of the top producers, Gál Tibor, founded by the legendary late Tibor Gál, and St Andrea.

In both, we enjoyed generous tastings but, before we got to their reds, we were introduced to a very attractive white, Egri Csillag (“Egg-ree Chill-ack”), that I had never met before.  A blend of local grapes, Furmint and Hárslevelű, this is a characterful dry white with flavours of dried apricot and honey.

And then it was on to the reds.  Bikaver, today, is made from a blend of grapes, based on the local Kékfrankos variety (aka Blaufrankisch), matured in old oak barrels and stored in vast cellars dug out of the volcanic soil under the small town of Eger.  It was impossible to pick out one stand-out wine as all we tasted were beautifully harmonious with lovely black fruit and cinnamon spice flavours and great length.  These are certainly food wines and would match well with lamb or beef.  Many, though drinking well now, would also keep for, perhaps, another decade or more.

The next day, the trip, arranged by Good Wine Tours Ltd (www.goodwinetours.com) moved on to the famous Tokaj region with its fabulous sweet wines (and much else!).  But that’s a blog in itself, so more about that next time.

449 and Counting!

There can be few businesses still operating today that can trace their origins back to the 1600s.  However, there seems to be an exception to that rule for wine producers in Alsace!  The 2 most famous, Hugel and Trimbach, date back to 1639 and 1626 respectively and are both still in the original families, while Domaine Paul Blanck and Leon Beyer are even earlier.  But the prize for the oldest, as far as I can make out, goes to Dopff au Moulin, based in Riquewihr, the same village as Hugel.  They are another family run concern (now onto their 13^th generation) and will be celebrating their 450^th anniversary next year.  Quite an achievement – even more so when you consider the turbulent history of the Alsace region that has yo-yoed between French and German rule for much of the last 300 years.  But, as the locals will tell you, they are Alsacien first and foremost and, while governments come and go, vineyards are simply replanted with fresh vines.

As with most Alsace producers, Dopff grow all the grape varieties allowed under the AC and offer a range of wines, white, red, rosé and sparkling.  We opened a bottle of their Pinot Blanc ‘Domaine Familial’ recently (Wine Society, £11.50); less well-known than Pinot Gris (aka Pinot Grigio), Pinot Blanc is, in my opinion, a much-underrated variety.  Dopff’s bottling spends a few months on its lees (the remaining yeast cells after they have converted the sugar to alcohol) to give an attractive savoury, almost smoky flavour which, together with a few years bottle age (we drank the 2018 vintage), made for a wine with admirable complexity (especially for the price).  Food-friendly, too; we teamed it with a salmon and prawn fish pie in a creamy sauce with a cheesy breadcrumb topping.

Definitely worth another bottle, especially to raise a glass for their 450^th next year.