Fear & Loathing in Bordeaux

It’s underway….as English wine scribe Anthony Hanson describes it….the annual croissant fight…..the en primeur campaign. It’s absolute madness, a scene of almost Hunter S Thompson grotesque…people with stained lips and teeth staggering around hotel lobbies, the usual wine royalty air kissing each other….Spurrier, HRH Jancis, Suttcliffe, Parker, etc, etc,

And all those crazy-eyed “Chinois” that are around this year in huge numbers, the Chinese wine buyers and journalists who might not quite be used to drinking 200 samples a day and scare the bejesus out of you when they stagger around a corner, covered in red wine….heads tilted just so revoking images of the zombie hordes from Dawn of the Dead.

I pulled into a new hotel today after two days based in Saint-Estephe in the Northern Medoc. My new digs… the achingly beautiful “Les Sources de Caudalie” in Pessac right next door to Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafite.

In fact the famous leaping bunny is visible from the lobby where I am typing now….obviously taking flight from the scene that awaited me when I arrived. A car accident had occured in the driveway and the two animated drivers were yelling both at each other and the poor tow truck driver that had come to survey their wine fueled foolishness.

Making a beeline for reception, I was greeted by a poor recepionist doing her best to operate in an area where every available flat surface was covered in wine samples for James Suckling of the Wine Spectator who is staying at the same hotel.

Apart from all the madness, the rushing to and from appointments, the pomp and ceremony, the lunches and dinners the 2009 does have one thing….the wines overall are a very, very impressive bunch.

There are some high alcohols, and some contrived examples that are obviously point chasers but for the most part the wines are balanced, show fantastic fruit density and concentration, plenty of extract and plenty of swaggering, gravelly tannins. There is some nice acidity present also and many people are saying this is the greatest vintage since 1982…. heard yesterday that the big bloke himself called it the greatest en primeur campaign he has ever covered……he could be right.

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Upcoming European Reports

In just over a week, the intrepid team at Eutopia heads over to Europe for an intensive wine tasting sojourn.

We are off to Dusseldorf first up to visit Prowein….arguably the most important trade event for the wine sector in Europe.

We’ll then head to Burgundy for some individual producer visits as well as attending the Les Grand Jours de Bourgogne, a week long event for trade and journalists showcasing the wines of each village or terroir in the region.

After Burgundy it is off to Spain to visit producers in Rias Biaxas, and Bierzo before heading to Rioja to catch up with fellow Aussie and all round good bloke, Scott Wasley of Melbourne based importers, The Spanish Acquisition.

From Spain, we’ll move to Bordeaux, jump on the journo bus and get stuck into a week of intense barrel tasting for the much-hyped 2009 vintage en primeur campaign. We’ll be running a live en primeur twitter feed during this event so make sure you follow our twitter feed at the bottom of this post to get all the latest on the tastings and general Bordeaux gossip.

Next up it is down to San Sebastian for a report on the pinxos bar scene and a visit to the hallowed ground of uber-grill, Etxebarri to see what all the fuss is about.

And then off to Paris for three days of scouring the city in search of the funkiest new wine bars and most rummage-worthy wine stores to set you up for your next trip to the city of light.

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Fontanafredda Wine Dinner, Tuesday 16 March at Sette Bello, Glen Waverley

An overnight success, centuries in the making

** The Fontanafredda dinner is now SOLD OUT **

Our next event is on the horizon for all you Melbournians - a six course dinner highlighting the best white and red wines of Piedmont’s Fontanafredda. We hope you can join us on Tuesday, 16 March at Sette Bello in Glen Waverley. For more information and to purchase tickets ($85pp or $75 for tables of 8 or more), click here.

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Maitre Renard Burgundy Chardonnay 2008

Maitre Renard Burgundy Chardonnay 2008

A great little wine that represents superb value and one that newcomers to imported wines will feel comfortable with. For starters it’s sealed with a screwcap….it’s also varietally labelled and has a distinct lack of confusing guff on the front label and back labels.

The wine is from winemaker Bernard Schurr who has applied his previous experience in Bordeaux and the South of France to fruit purchased from Marsannay and the Haute-Cotes de Nuits. The wine goes through a partial barrel ferment with battonage and 25% will see six months in new and older oak barrels while the remainder settles in stainless steel.

In the glass the wine is pale straw in hue and displays forward fruit aromas of melon, nectarine and white peach with a touch of grapefruit. There is a light dusting of soft spice, white flowersd, minerals and noughat but the appealing feature here is the bright, generous stone fruit characters on display.

In the mouth the wine again displays, lovely, clean, generous stone fruit characters with peach and nectarine the most obvious and some citrus flourishes. The are hints of white flowers and spice and the wine is balanced with the supple fruit nicely set off by the wines minerally acidity.

There is a lot to like here and a wine like the Maitre Renard provides a great introduction to the wines of France and a stepping stone for a deeper investigation of the subject. As a pouring wine in a bistro…..this ones a no-brainer.

Rated: Very Good
Value:
RRP: $24
Alcohol: 13%
Closure: Screwcap
Drink: 2010-2011
Tasted:December 2009 Open Label
Importer: Fourth Wave Wines

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Lis Neris Fiore di Campo 2007

Lis Neris Fiore di Campo 2007

Here’s a fantastic, idiosyncratic wine produced from Fruili’s native Tocai Friulano variety……although this will soon be labelled just Fruilano….Australia isn’t the only country with EU labelling law issues.

The Les Neris estate lies in San Lorenzo…..a small village on a plateau within the Isonzo DOC….way up near the Slovanian border. Lis Neris have 45 ha under vine here…..the soils are limestone-rich with a healthy dose of gravel and the plantings are a mix of Fruilano, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio.

Pale straw in colour with aromas of grapefuit and lemon zest with a healthy serving of funk…..lots of nettley, sulphidy goodies with floral flourishes and hints of freshly sliced fennel, toast, almonds and marzipan.

There is quite a lot of substance on the palate…it’s well weighted and flavoursome with a great line of vivid, minerally acidity that is sparkling clean and begs another mouthful.

Again… zesty citrus fruits with hints of nettle, cream, white flowers, fennel, toasted almonds and marzipan. Plenty of character and personality here with lovely clean fruit, unencumbered by oak….it’s balanced, taut and refreshingly good to drink.

Rated: Very Good
Value:
RRP: $40
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Diam
Drink: 2010-2014
Tasted: 23/11/09 Open Label
Importer: Negociants

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Piedmont, the complete package

There is a time and place for everything and every place has its time.

For Piedmont that time is late Autumn.

Piedmont is a place that wears brown well. Burnt umber, burnished bronze and tarnished copper too.

Don’t get me wrong, Piedmont’s pretty darn speccy at any time and I first fell in love with the place in spring when the vines have full foliage and blossom bursts from the trees.

But Autumn just seems so right here, the contours of the landscape fully exposed, bare vines running up steep slopes to medieval hilltop towns, a gentle chill in the air.

Vineyards in Piedmont

It looks right. It feels right. And it sure as hell tastes right.

For a start it doesn’t hurt that it’s white truffle season. More than enough funghi-erotic writing has been inspired by the glories of the white truffle and I don’t intend to add to the gushing torrent here other than to say you haven’t lived until you’ve eaten a bowl of handmade pasta in a medieval Piemontese castle that’s had a truffle the size of a cricket ball shaved all over it.

But even more importantly it’s a time when it just seems right to be drinking nebbiolo.

It’s a time when you turn to you glass looking for substance and depth, for tar and earth and a touch of floral lift, for beautifully etched dark fruit flavours and tightly woven tannins.

There’s something deeply satisfying about these great Barolos and Barbarescos, a completeness to them that makes them truly special.

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Pra Staforte Soave Classico 2005

Pra Staforte Soave Classico 2005

A step up from the Pra Soave Classico and if you tilt your head just right….one that could be stylistically compared to a Hunter Semillon with a bit of age under its belt.

Sergio and Graziano Pra are the men behind this 20ha estate near Monteforte (one called Staforte in the Middle Ages….hence the name) in Veneto’s Soave Classico district.

100% Gargenaga, matured in stainless steel….the tanks actually have paddles on the base which turn to keep the fine lees in suspension….this takes place for 6-8 months before bottling.

Light, pale gold in colour with aromas of pear, grapefruit and stone-fruits with hints of toast, hay, soft spices, hazelnut and minerals…it is a quite rich smelling wine with flashes of marzipan and nougat in the ofactory fringes.

The richness on the nose flows onto the palate which shows and fantastic, creamy texture from the lees work, lovely palate weight and an incisive drive across the palate. Again, citrus and stonefruits predominately with soft spice, almond and hazelnuts, white flowers and a clean line of minerally acidity.

The wine shows great harmony and finishes with a lingering vapour tail of toastiness….superb stuff….would be awesome with grilled Coffin Bay Scallops.

Rated: Outstanding
Value:
RRP: $60
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Cork
Drink: 2010-2016
Tasted: 23/11/09 Open Label
Importer: Negociants

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Brezza Barbera d’Alba 2006

Brezza Barbera d'Alba 2006

The name Brezza is best known for their brilliant Barolo’s they produce…..Bricco Sarmassa, Cannubi, Sarmassa, and Castellero…. from their 22 ha estate.

The vineyards here date back to 1885 and Giacomo Brezza bottled the first wine in 1910…..95% of the wines here are red….all authentic, robust, good value offerings and one of the pleasing thing about the wines is the estates willingness to adopt an alternative closure for our market…namely vino-lok.

Again….DOCG laws forbid the use of some closures so the Barolo’s will remain under cork for the time being but we can get the Nebbiolo d’Alba, Barbera d’Alba, Dolcetto d’Alba, Langhe Freisa, and Langhe Chardonnay under the Vino-lok which is a great thing….it’s a slow process.

This particular Barbera vineyard was planted in the Barolo commune in 1968 at 200m altitude on silty,sand soils with underlying clay. Hand-picked and de-stemmed the wine spends one year in large Slovanian oak before bottling and another six months in bottle before release.

Deeply coloured with inviting, savoury aromas of plum, blackberry and cherry with hints of spice, tobacco leaf, licorice with a hint of truffle.

Lovely weight in the mouth with a distinct savoury lean….again lots of red and dark fruit characters….cherry, plum and the like….there is a shrill acidity here….that probably sounds a bit harsh and in no way should put you off as it is characteristic of the variety.

It’s clean as a whistle, laden with spice and earth with a smattering of mahogany, bitter chocolate and truffle and is a wine that cries out for food rather than a solo effort. The oak sit’s nicely in sync with the fruit and the finish shows good balance…..it’s lovely stuff.

Rated: Very Good
Value:
RRP: $50
Alcohol: 14%
Closure: Vino-Lok
Drink: 2010-2020
Tasted: 7/12/09 Open Label
Importer: Deja Vu Wines

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The Anything But Boredom Club

Know and love your favourite local wines but want a change? Nicholas Crampton provides some recommendations on what European wines to try to excite your palate and broaden your drinking experience.

I grit my teeth regularly these days when I hear that somebody is “bored of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc” and that they are looking for something new. It’s not because I don’t think that people shouldn’t be looking for something better than Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, but it’s their motivation for doing so that annoys me  and the likelihood they’ll make the same mistake again.

This is what happens when you drink one style of wine to the exclusion of all others. When a fad burns too bright, it is inevitably destined to fade. It happened to Chardonnay, it will happen to Sauvignon Blanc and it will also happen to whatever becomes trendy next.

I’m all for having short lived obsessions, bursts of enthusiasm when you just want to try as many of a particular style or region as you can.  I also think its fine to have “go to” brands that make up the majority of your purchases and whom you trust enough to buy blind from a wine list if you need to.

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Ristorante al Castello

I am sure the recent reduction of the DUI limit in Piedmont from 0.8% to 0.5% has done quite a bit to save the lives of those driving after dinner. But nothing was going to save those of us unlucky enough to be driving with a sober Nick Ryan to dinner, or really anywhere else in Piedmont.

Nick’s approach to driving is to treat lanes as a general suggestion. This does smooth out the curves and I have no doubt it works very well in Formula One. The wave-like motion of our trip from Paris to Beaune (occasional blast of truck horn aside) was a mere point of conversation – where it became a bit more interesting was the tight mountain roads and blind corners of Piedmont.

Grinzane Cavour in Piedmont

Our affable host Bernard, now gripping the passenger roof handle with white knuckles, adopted a tone similar to the commandant in Hogan’s Heroes “please you MUST return to our side of the road for the hairpin corners” and “NO it is not Allah’s will”.

For those of you who have not been to Piedmont, which included me until recently, the region is best imagined as a network of steep sided valleys lined almost exclusively with terraced vineyards and with each ridge topped by tall, multi story buildings. I think the Piemontese built the ski resort at Mount Hotham – the idea being to find a steep, exposed ridge and put an equally steep and exposed building right on top of it.

The good folk of Grinzane Cavour, the small town just south of Alba where we headed for dinner, took this trend to its ultimate conclusion building one of the more impressive sights of the region, the imposing Castello Grinzane.

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