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Domaine Regnaudot Maranges 1er cru Fussieres 2013

Domaine Regnaudot Maranges 1er cru Fussieres 2013

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Domaine Regnaudot Maranges 1er cru ‘Fussières’ 2013
13%
€24.40 from Le Caveau; Baggot St. Wines; MacGuinness, Dundalk; Green Man Wines, Terenure; World Wide Wines Waterford; Redmond’s, Ranelagh.

Elegant and nicely concentrated with delicious cool dark cherry fruits. It does have some light tannins, and so will probably keep for a year or two, but drinking beautifully now.

Ideal with white meats, chicken and charcuterie.

Maranges is the most southerly name of the Côte d’Or, right beside Santenay (see above). Jean-Claude Regnaudot produces great value wines from this appellation; his Bourgogne Rouge, which sells for around €18, is always worth buying, and this wine, from old vines in his best single vineyard, is a steal at less than €25.

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The Haul this weekend

DSCF6815Closerie des Alisiers Mâcon-Milly-Lamartine 2015
€14.95 from Whelehan’s Wines, Loughlinstown

I have reviewed the 2014 of this wine; a nice crisp dry white with a touch of honey and orange peel.

Etoile 2015, Domaine Begude, Limoux
€19.95 from O’Briens

Another Chardonnay, this time from Domaine Begude in Limoux; lovely wine, a future wine of the week in the Irish Times.

Viognier 2015, Domaine de Belle Mare, Pays d’Oc
€13.25 from Wines Direct

Fine. A little sweet for my tastes, but it does have good medium to rich peach fruits. Well-priced €13.25

Bardolino 2014 Cantina de Negrar
From Grapecircus, so probably available in Sheridans.

Delightful light (11.5%) summer wine with toothsome plum fruits.


Celeste 2014 Ribera del Duero, Torres

€21.95 for O’Briens and independents

Smooth lush dark fruits, beginning to develop some tertiary, if not barnyard flavours. No complaints from our dinner guests though.

Givry Clos Saint Pierre 1er cru 2012, Domaine Thenard

€28.95 from Whelehan’s Wines, Loughlinstown

Light and toothsome with maturing leafy red cherry fruits. Given the way Burgundy is going these days, good value.

Chakalaka 2013 Spice Route, Swartland
€24.99 imported by Liberty

Representing a range of very good wines from Charles Back that I tasted. A very attractive smooth big swarthy red.

Charles Mignon Cuvée Comte de Marne Gand Cru, Champagne NV
€45 from SuperValu

Very nice creamy Champagne with a core of ripe peach and pear fruit.

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Pink for Summer

Pink for Summer

First published in The Irish Times, Saturday 9th July, 2016

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Sales of rosé wines in this country have increased a little in recent years, but still remain stubbornly low at 4-5% of sales. This is largely made up of those drinking inexpensive sweet “white” Zinfandel all year round, and by occasional bursts of general pink drinking when the sun makes an appearance in our skies.

We drink the colour as much as the wine; there is something quintessentially summery about a rosé wine, drunk well-chilled over a lunch outside in the sun. I am constantly being told that rosé is much more than that, and we should be drinking it the year round. It is one of the most adaptable of wines, perfect with all sorts of food, but somehow I cannot bring myself to drink it on a wet January evening.

Rosé comes in more styles than one. Leaving aside the aforementioned sweet Californians, elsewhere just about every country has had a go at making rosé; ranging from light and crisp to full-bodied and sometimes fairly alcoholic. Today we concentrate on French rosé.

The lightest, which would include the Bordeaux and Provence rosé below, is very similar in makeup to a crisp dry white wine; these go very well with lighter salads, including seafood, as well as more delicate pasta and rice dishes.More fruity and full-bodied rosés can go with a wide variety of foods, including grilled or barbecued chicken and pork, all of those southern French classics with anchovies, olives, garlic and herbs. They also go nicely with cold meats, pâtés and other charcuterie. I also find they are good match with slightly spicy dishes including curries.

Much has been made of Provençal rosé, usually dry and sometimes very expensive. I have yet to be convinced that any rosé is worth €30 or more. To me it is frivolous and fun, and that means less than €20. The Domaine d’Eole below does offer very good value for money. Look out too for the Mirabeau Rosé from O’Briens, at a price that works out at €12.71 if you buy two bottles. Marks & Spencer have the very tasty Coteaux Varois en Provence 2015 for €12.49. Tavel, a small town in the southern Rhône, traditionally made the most powerful, alcoholic rosés. The appellation here is exclusively for rosé wines. They have gone out of fashion, and most of the wines are lighter, although full of fruit, as with the Tavel below. Those from the Loire tend to be light and crisp.Rosé d’Anjou is usually a bit too sweet for my tastes, but Sancerre rosé, made with Pinot Noir, can be exquisite, and certainly worth the money. Alsace also produces some beautifully fragrant Pinot Noir rosé.

DSCF6640Domaine d’Eole 2015, Coteaux d’Aix en Provence
12.5%
€16.95

Very attractive exuberant strawberry fruits with a dry finish. Great with or without food.

Stockists: Whelehan’s Wines, Loughlinstown

Image 1Tavel Rose 2014, Prieuré de Montezargues
13.5%
€18.99

The deepest colour, with concentrated red cherry fruits. With herby Provençal salads.

Stockists: Wines on the Green; Dicey Reilly; McCabes; Nectar Wines, Nolans Supermarket.

DSCF6712Bordeaux Rosé 2015, Brande Bergère.
12.5%
€19.95

The palest of colours, with sour cherry and plum fruits. Delicate, dry and moreish.

Stockists: Grapevine, Dalkey.

Image 2Famille Bougrier, Les Hauts Lieux 2015 Le Rosé, Vin de France
12%
€12.95 (2nd bottle ½ price)

Light clean refreshing summer fruits. Perfect al fresco drinking.

Stockists: O’Briens

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A Few Days in Slovenia

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I was enchanted by my first visit to Slovenia a decade or so ago and had been trying unsuccessfully to return ever since. This is a really beautiful country that also produces some seriously good wines; sadly we do not see nearly enough of them in Ireland. The following is a short(ish) summary of a fairly relaxed three day trip to Stajerska, organized by Sinéad and Liam Cabot, who import most of these wines, and make their own wines there too!

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Stajerska is in the south-east corner of Slovenia, a twenty-minute drive from Austria and Hungary, and two minutes from Croatia; the border has a recently erected (very sharp) barbed wire fence running right the way along, although it is now unmanned, as refugees are now stopped at the Macedonian border. The inhabitants would once have considered the city of Graz as their capital rather than Ljubljana, and German is the default language. As mentioned above, this is one of the prettiest wine regions, with rolling green hills covered in vines, forest, fields of pumpkin and maize, dotted with substantial prosperous well-maintained farmhouses, each with its own immaculate kitchen garden. In June, there was still enough rain to keep everything verdant. Apparently it becomes much drier and hotter in August. The hillsides provide some excellent and varied sites to grow vines. The people are very friendly and open. It was a joy to walk around the narrow roads on a bright sunny June morning and very hard to leave. This is part of the Pannonian plain that runs through Eastern Austria and Hungary as well, bringing warm, dry Easterly winds.

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The newly fenced border between Croatia and Slovenia

The newly fenced border between Croatia and Slovenia

Verus

My fist visit was to Verus, a company set up by three former employees of the local large co-operative winery, which is now privately owned. Danilo makes the wine, Bojo the vineyards and Rajko looks after sales. They set up their winery in a bakery owned by a friend, who was closing it down. Set in an industrial estate on the outskirts of town, it is not the most glamorous winery, but a bakery is temperature-controlled, and therefore perfect for winemaking.

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Over the last nine years they have built up relationships with some of the best small growers in the region – ‘mainly friends and relatives and we also own some vineyards now’ says Danilo. These are all small parcels located in the Jeruzalem region. Their Sauvignon Blanc, for instance, comes from twenty different plots. The wines are all white with the exception of a small quantity of Pinot Noir.
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The winemaking here is very modern, using inoculated yeasts, almost exclusively stainless steel and minimum contact with the air. ‘The first time our wine meets oxygen is when you pour it into your glass,’ says Danilo, ‘this region gives very nice wines with good aromas and fruit – you don’t want to lose them. Everyone likes to talk about the moon and their machinery, but cleanliness is everything if you are making precise wines.’

I have been a big fan of most of the Verus wines in the past, although sometimes I have found them a little too clean and almost confected. However, on the basis of this tasting, not only are the wines very good, they also age very well too. We tasted an excellent 2012 Chardonnay and a wonderful 2007 Pinot Gris. We also tasted a vastly improving Pinot Noir, an intriguing Gelber Muskateller and a very smart dry Riesling. These guys are making some seriously good wines, well worth seeking out.

Puklavec & Friends

This is the old co-operative that all three Verus guys worked for. It is now privately owned by the Puklavec family who were originally involved in the winery back in the 1930s. It is a large company, producing some 4.5 million litres of wine a year, working with 330 growers. In addition they own 150 hectares of their own vines. The large circular building houses a 367,000 litre tank, surely one of the largest in Europe. They also have an amazing collection of older wines, stretching back to the late 1950’s. Some of these are available for sale – see winearchive.com. The 1990 Sauvignon Blanc looked reasonable at €40.95 a bottle, but I am not sure I can afford the 1959 Pinot Grigio for €1,566!

Liam Cabot & Rok Jamnik of Puklavec

Liam Cabot & Rok Jamnik of Puklavec

We were given a tour by Rok Jamnik one of the winemakers. He gave us some very interesting samples from tank, and a great tasting of his sparkling wines (called Penina in Slovenia) from tank and bottle, including a demo of how to disgorge the plug of yeast from a bottle of sparkling wine in a sink. Sadly given the time constraints, we didn’t get to taste their very wide range of wines, but the sparkling wines were very good. Dunnes Stores and Cassidys did stock some wines from Puklavec & Friends, but no longer. Hopefully we will see them again soon in Ireland.

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That evening we had a tasting of 25 wines from all over Slovenia, mainly from Stajerska, but including other regions. Also present were two winemakers, Uros Valcl of Marof winery in Prekmurje (north of Stajerska) and Bojan Kobal from the winery of the same name. It really brought home how interesting Slovenian wine can be; lots of skin maceration for white wines, lots of biodynamics in the vineyard, and plenty of wine made with minimal doses of sulphur. Alongside the wines of the two gentlemen above, which were very good, the wines of Dveri Pax, imported by Wines on the Green, excelled. By the way, both of the above are looking for an importer in Ireland at the moment – happy to pass on details to anyone!

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Roka
The following day we spent in the vineyard or cellar with Sinéad and Liam Cabot. We have known each other for many years, since they first opened their wine shop in the IFSC, but leaving friendship aside, I was seriously impressed by their viticultural knowledge and winemaking skills. They are a dynamic couple, having somehow managed to move from Dublin to Westport, where they run a successful wholesale wine business (with a list packed with goodies – see cabotandco.com) supplying many of the finer hotels and restaurants in the west, while also buying a house with a hectare of vines in Stajerska. They seem to play tag-winemaking, with one running the business in Mayo while the other prunes vines, and then swopping roles a few weeks later. This while rearing three children! It all seems to work very well, although it has taken them six years to get the vienayrd into shape. The wines we tasted, many their first or second vintage, were very good.Their first vintage was 2011, the first commercial one 2013, and they have made huge strides in 2015.

Sinéad & Liam amongst the vines.

Sinéad & Liam amongst the vines.

Our tasting covered a range of cask/tank samples, as yet unbottled, including two very good 2015 Šipon (Furmint), a lovely Blaufränkisch, and two very good sparkling wines, one a white made from Sipon, the other a red sparkling wine, made from Blaufrankish ! Not being a fan of sparkling red wine, I expected to hate it, but actually it was very good. These guys are friends, but leaving that aside, I genuinely think they are producing some lovely wines.

Tasting chez Cabot

Tasting chez Cabot

Miro Vino

Miro at his winery

Miro at his winery

Miro lives a five minute walk through a pretty little village from Sinéad & Liams house. His vineyards face eastwards, whereas the Cabots look to the west. Miro has been through a lot over the last decade or more since the. At first, with the assistance of an Austrian winemaker, he increased production and began making modern fruit-driven wines. However a bad experience with a major supermarket chain left him badly bruised, so he took stock and these days is more reclusive and thoughtful, with a unique take on life. He has, I think, been a great friend and advisor to Sinéad and Liam.

‘We try to be as friendly as possible to the wine, and it is then as friendly as possible to us’, muses Miro. He uses indigenous yeasts and very little sulphur in his winemaking. We had a delicious dinner (cooked by his wife Slavica) outside the winery, tasting Miro’s wines throughout. All were interesting and most were very good.

Relaxed Miro

Relaxed Miro

We started with his delicious 2015 Sipon, and then the attractive rich, slightly oily but clean 2015 Totovino (Muller-Thurgau & Muscat Ottonel), a very good 2015 Laski Riesling, an excellent 2015 Pinot Blanc (alongside a more difficult version aged in new oak that needed time). To finish, we tried am intriguing 2002 Sauvignon Blanc – still very alive, crisp and very Sauvignon with honey, beeswax and truffle. Finally a glass of the amazing Fuga Mindi, made from every grape variety he grows, with no added yeats, sulphur – ‘no nothing’, says Miro. ‘It is a wine for the next life’. It fermented for seven years (my bottle at home still starts fermenting every now and again) leaving 11g acidity and 80-90g residual sugar.

This part of Slovenia is fascinating, and makes some great wines. If you do get the chance to travel, there I would certainly recommend you take it. If not, the wines below will do nearly as well! We stayed in a very friendly hotel run by several generations of the Hlebec family in the village of Kog. Father Milan Hlebec distills his own brandy known as Kognac!

Milan Hlebec and his (very good) Kognac

Milan Hlebec and his (very good) Kognac

A few wines to try.
Verus Pinot Gris 2015
€20.99 from Cabot and Co, Westport cabotandco.ie; Grapevine, onthegrapevine.ie

A fresh, floral aromatic nose, rich, plump spicy melons on the palate and a lingering finish. Very good wine. Great with smoked salmon according to one of the sommeliers present.

Verus Furmint/ Šipon 2015
€20.99 from Cabot and Co, Westport cabotandco.ie; Grapevine, onthegrapevine.ie

Šipon did not have a great reputation in Slovenia when we first made this wine’, says Danilo, ‘but with our first vintage we had a great success with Jancis Robinson, which made people sit up. If you keep the yields low and make it carefully, you can get very good wine.’ This wine certainly proves the point; less aromatic with green apple skins, a lovely quality of fruit, finishing long and dry. Seriously good wine. The current 2014 is also very good but in a lighter more refreshing style.

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Roka Šipon 2015
Arriving in Ireland late August 2016 rrp €15.99
We tried three cuvées of this wine; each made differently, that will be blended together. I have no doubt it will be very good; all showed lovely plump ripe fruit and a very good backbone of acidity.

Roka Laski Riesling 2015 rrp €15.99
A variety widely grown in Austria, Hungary and Slovenia. Laski Riesling is not always given the respect it deserves. We tasted a number of very good examples on our trip, including a deliciously plump fruity version that Sinéad and Liam will release later this year.

Roka Blaufränkisch 2015
Arriving in Ireland late August 2016 rrp €15.99
This was showing a little new oak, which I am sure will fade, with delicious fresh crunchy blue and dark fruits. Light and very moreish.

Liam Tasting

Liam Tasting

Miro Traminec 2013, Stajerska, Slovenia
13.5%
€22.50 from Cabot and Co, Westport www.cabotandco.ie; Grapevine, Dalkey www.onthegrapevine.ie

I don’t often go for Gewürztraminer or its relatives but this is a lovely wine. It has subtle aromas of honeysuckle, and a clean fresh palate, with honeyed ripe peach fruits. A meditation wine, as is the Fuga Mundi below.

Miro Fuga Mundi 2007, Jeruzalem, Stajerska
13%
€43 from Cabot and Co, Westport www.cabotandco.ie; Grapevine, Dalkey www.onthegrapevine.ie

This is a intriguing wine in the very best sense, a mix of figs, raisins and tobacco, a true meditation wine to finish an evening off. I have a bottle beside my computer and reward myself with a glass when I finish off an arduous project.!

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Dveri Pax Šipon Ilovic 2011, Stajerska Slovenia
13%
€20.99 from Wines on the Green, Dawson St.

This is a single vineyard wine that provides perfect evidence that Šipon can mature well. Nice aromas of smoke and honey, with a delicious maturing palate of ripe exotic fruits, given real backbone by excellent acidity. Given the quality, very good value for money.

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Cornelia Swartland Red 2014

<strong>Cornelia Swartland Red 2014</strong>

Image 12Cornelia Swartland Red 2014, South Africa
14%
€14.99 from Marks & Spencer

Lifted fragrant aromas, medium-bodied spicy dark fruits, and a rounded finish. Lovely stuff.

Full-flavoured white meats. Mine went nicely with brined pork chops and caramelised onions.

Marks & Spencer has both red and white wines under the Cornelia label. Both are made by Adi Badenhorst, one of the new stars of South African wine, and both come from Swartland, a region that has been growing grapes for a long time, but has become everybody’s favourite in the last year or two. The red is a Southern Rhône-style blend of Shiraz, Cinsault and Mourvèdre

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La Perdrix de l’Année des Bêtes Curieuses, Muscadet sur granit 2014

<strong>La Perdrix de l’Année des Bêtes Curieuses, Muscadet sur granit 2014</strong>

DSCF6804La Perdrix de l’Année des Bêtes Curieuses, Muscadet sur granit 2014
12%
€14.50 from One Pery Square, Limerick; Jus de Vine, Portmarnock;
The Drink Store, Stoneybatter; La Touche, Greystones.

Vivid and mineral with delicious flowing green fruits and a crisp finish. Don’t worry about the vintage. Muscadet can take a few years.

Drink with shellfish and simple fish dishes.

I have been enjoying countless bottles of Muscadet this summer. It is such a joyous drink; light and fresh, but with a complexity and depth rarely found in a wine at either this price, or at 12% alcohol. Only Riesling comes to mind, but you don’t find many good dry Riesling below €15.

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Joha 2010, Primitivo, A.V. Guttarolo, Puglia

<strong>Joha 2010, Primitivo, A.V. Guttarolo, Puglia

DSCF6600Joha 2010, Primitivo, A.V. Guttarolo, Puglia
14.5%
€25.50 from Sheridan’s Cheesemongers.

Rich powerful and concentrated with a lovely earthiness. Plenty of full-throttle dark fruits, all held in balance. The alcohol is completely absorbed, and the wine just improves on opening. Great wine.

Partner with robust red meats and firm cheeses. One to open for a posh barbeque.

Having made his other Primitivo a Top Drop last week, this week I finished off a Coravined bottle of this, the amphora wine from Guttarolo (or at least a percentage is made in amphorae). Having preferred the Lamie dell Vigne first time around, I found this different but every bit as good.

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Ovilos 2012 Ktima Biblia Chora, Pangeon, Greece

<strong>Ovilos 2012 Ktima Biblia Chora, Pangeon, Greece

OvilosOvilos 2012 Ktima Biblia Chora, Pangeon, Greece
14%
€25.99 from Wines on the Green, Dawson Street; Baggot Street Wines; Jus de Vine Portmarnock.

Textured and rich with creamy peaches and apricots and all the requisite balancing acidity. A delicious harmonious wine full of character.

Big enough to handle white and richer fish dishes. We had ours with barbequed chicken.

Please don’t let the price put you off; this is a fantastic wine and worth every cent. I see I made it a wine of the week twice, once in the Irish Times, and once on this site a year go. It has only got better with time. A blend of 50% Semillon and 50% Assyrtiko, the latter a highly rated indigenous Greek grape variety.

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Three women wine writers

Three women wine writers
Alice Feiring at Litfest 2015

Alice Feiring at Litfest 2015

First published in the Irish Times, Saturday 2nd July, 2016

This week we veer right off the beaten track and celebrate three female authors who have each published a well-written book on an obscure wine region. Books on nebbiolo, vin jaune and Georgian qvevri wine are unlikely to climb the best-sellers lists. But each is a lovely read.

Alice Feiring was a fascinating and provocative speaker on natural wine at the Ballymaloe Litfest 2015. She has gone on to write a wonderful, emotional book, For the Love of Wine, about traditional winemaking in Georgia, one of the oldest wine-producing countries in the world. She explores the ancient culture of making wine in qvevri, clay amphorae, and meets up with some of the most remarkable characters making wines that sound intriguing. I would love to have included the amazing Pheasant’s Tears Saperavi as a wine of the week. The wine is macerated and fermented with stems, skins and pips in clay amphorae lined with beeswax and buried in the ground for months on end. Sadly, it has sold out completely.

The Jura has been the trendiest region in the wine bars of London and New York for several years. It produces some of the most unusual and least known (until recently) wines of France. Even the most hardened wine anorak will find it difficult to recall savagnin, poulsard and trousseau. And nowhere else in France will you find a vin jaune, the country’s answer to sherry, as well as the most extraordinary chardonnay and pinot noir. Wink Lorch, author of Jura Wine, has spent part of the year in the French Alps for two decades. Her enthusiasm and knowledge is infectious; this book really makes you want to travel there, drink the wine and eat the food too.

Jancis Robinson calls growing nebbiolo an exercise in precision engineering. In Barolo and Barbaresco: the King and Queen of Italian Wine, Kerin O’Keefe writes that, for her, barolo “was like a Fellini film; with the first sip I wasn’t quite sure what was going on but I knew I liked it, by the next sip it was starting to make sense, and by the time I finished the glass I was hooked”. Not everyone finds it so easy to love nebbiolo, which can have very high levels of tannins and acidity. It has a haunting bouquet. All are agreed that it hates to travel outside of Piedmont, and that it reaches its apogee in two small towns; Barolo and Barbaresco.

Like Feiring, O’Keefe pulls no punches, and is quite happy to criticise where she feels it is required. She has an obvious love and understanding of her subject. Her book is the definitive guide to the soils, the grapes and the growers producing these great wines.

IMG_1923Didimi Krakhuna 2013., Imereti, Georgia

12%
€27.65

Bone-dry with invigorating crisp sparky minerals and cool yellow fruits.

Stockists: Blackrock Cellar: The Corkscrew; Green Man Wines; Fallon & Byrne.

DSCF6303Barolo Le Coste di Monforte 2011, ‎Guidobono
14.5%
€34-35.00

Fragrant floral aromas with liquorice, raspberries and firm dry tannins.

Stockists: Mitchell & Son; Sheridans Cheesemongers; Grapevine; Donnybrook Fair.

ImageVin Jaune 2006, Arbois, Domaine Rolet
14%
€51 for a 620ml bottle

Astonishing wine with tangy almonds and walnuts, cumin and a long bone dry finish. Serve lightly chilled with a good Comté.

Stockists: 64Wine, Green Man Wines, Clontarf Wines.

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