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TWO AUSTRIAN WINEMAKERS

Two of my favourite Austrian wine producers were in Dublin this week conducting tastings and holding dinners with people from The Corkscrew. I got to one in Thornton’s. Some great wines.

 

Fritz Wieninger and Johannes Hirsch

Fritz Wieninger and Johannes Hirsch

WIENINGER

Fritz Wieninger has 35 hectares of vines up in the hills surrounding Vienna. His family ran a heurige, a Viennese tradition of winery/pub/wine bar that offers wine by the glass or bottle along with some food. Fritz has taken the winemaking side into a different league and is today the best producer in Vienna and one of the greatest in Austria.

We tried several of his ‘Gemischter Satz’, wines made from a field blend of many different grape varieties. This is another Viennese tradition. The first, from several vineyards, was a delicious fresh spring-like glass of wine; the sort that makes you want another sip, and then another – the kind of thing you would love to come across in a Heurige. The second from his Nussberg vineyard, reckoned to be the finest site in Vienna, was altogether more serious, a rich concentrated wine with lovely mineral traces too. We then moved on to his Nussberg Riesling 2013, a wonderful pure textured wine with racy green fruits and excellent length.

Later in the tasting (the two winemakers tic-tacked) we returned to Wieninger’s Chardonnay Select 2013, his Trilogie (Zweigelt/Merlot/Cabernet) and his Pinot Noir Select. Apparently he made his name in Austria with these three wines. I enjoyed the Chardonnay, but was less impressed with the two reds; possibly the Viennese prefer this style and have too many great white wines from others? Good wines but I thought the first three white wines were the standouts.

Kevin Thornton's Smokin' Scallops

Kevin Thornton’s Smokin’ Scallops

 

HIRSCH

I have been visiting the Hirsch stand at Vievinum, the great biennial Austrian wine fair, for many years now. I have a soft spot for the Kamptal anyway – the more elegant refreshing style is right up my street, and the region boasts some of Austria’ greatest producers – Scloss Gobelsburg, Bründlmayer, Loimer, Jurtschitsch and others besides. I have always put Johannes Hirsch right up there with the very best, and it is great to see his wines return to Ireland after a few years absence.

 

At the tasting we worked our way through three vintages of his Zöbinger Gaisberg Riesling, one of his two great single vineyard Rieslings. The 2008 and 2009 were very good and very different in style, with a little more residual sugar, but the 2010 was the star wine of the entire day, a youthful but beautifully structured wine with distinctive flavours of orange peel and juice, a refreshing acidity and wonderful length.

 

Three 2013 Grüner Veltliners, from three different vineyards were fascinating, but here the Lamm was a real star. Hirsch has 33 hectares of vines. He was one of the first to put his wines under Stelvin (screw-cap) and says one Austrian magazine asked his readers to boycott his wines for this crime! As a result he suggests decanting his wines before serving to allow them develop.

 

STAR BUYS

I would certainly love a few bottles of the Wieninger Gemischter Satz 2014 for €17.50, and the excellent Nussberg Riesling €28.50 seems very reasonably priced.

The Corkscrew has the Hirsch Riesling Gaisberg and the Grüner Veltliner Lamm from 2013, both for €47.95 – expensive but well worth it, and a match for most burgundy at the same price or more. The Riesling Zöbing 2013 at €24.95 would serve as a very good introduction to the house.

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WILSONONWINE 2015

Just published a book in conjunction with the Irish Times. So far sales going very well. Available online from the Times, good bookshops, and a few wine shops around Dublin too.

 

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POSH PINK

 POSH ROSÉS

 

 Wagner-Stempel Rosé 2013, Rheinhessen, Germany

€17-19

This is a delicious rosé; wonderful subtle red cherry fruits and a lip-smacking dry finish. A mere 12% alcohol and dangerously moreish.

Daniel Wagner-Stempel, who visited Ireland recently, is one of the most highly regarded young wine producers in Germany today. Based in the less-fashionable Rheinhessen region, he fashions a series of exotic, fruit-filled   white and red wines.

Stockists: Wicklow Wine Co.; The Corkscrew, Chatham St.; Searsons, Monkstown.

 

 

 Sipp Mack Rosé d’Alsace 2013 13%

€17.49

In a similar vein to the Wagner-Stempel above, this is a delightful, elegant, fragrant, raspberry-scented rosé with good acidity and a long dry. By the way, Mitchells also have a delicious, more full-bodied Côtes du Rhône rosé  from Domaine Brusset for €15.49.

Alsace tries very hard to make red wine from Pinot Noir. In many cases the wines are little too light and acidic. However, Pinot noir can make excellent rosé and perhaps this is what Alsace should make with this variety.

Stockists: Mitchell & Son, CHQ, IFSC & Glasthule, www.mitchellandson.com.

 

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GOING PINK

Going Pink

‘Neither fish nor fowl’ one of my former bosses would say of rosé wines. I knew what he meant; a rosé is either a white wine trying to be red, or a red wine that didn’t quite make the grade. But rosé deserves more than that. Properly made, it is one of the great hot weather drinks, refreshing, thirst quenching but still frivolous. It is not really a wine to write about; it is there to drink and enjoy. I enclose four possible options tow under €15 and two over; the last two, made from Pinot Noir, are in my favourite style; fragrant, light and dry.

 Delheim Pinotage Rosé 2013, Stellenbosch 12.5%

€12.99 or two for €19.40

Ample rounded fresh strawberry fruits with clean crisp acidity; a great all-purpose wine for whenever the sun comes out or as a summer party wine.

Delheim is one of my favourite South African producers, mainly because they don’t try to hard with their wines. Family-owned and run, they produce a series of well-made fruit-driven wines at very keen prices. O’Briens have  been importing them for many years. I am not a huge fan of Pinotage but it seems it can make very good rosé wines.

Stockists: O’Briens

 

Mirabeau 2013, Côtes de Provence 13%

€15.99 or two for €23.98

This is a very tasty modern exuberant ripe fruit-filled rosé that would suit any summery occasion, indoors or out.

This is part of a rather complicated but very successful rosé promotion that O’Briens are running all summer, whereby you buy two bottles and get the second at ½ price – which means 25% off, I think? In any case, this wine  is made by an English/German couple who moved from London to Provence seeking the good life. They have been hugely successful in gaining publicity and in making very gluggable rosé .

Stockists: O’Briens

 

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TWO AUSTRIAN WINES

I am just back from a trip to Vienna and therefore full of the joys of Austrian wines. Austria makes some great white wines and increasingly good red wines. As a small country with small producers, it will never produce really cheap wines, but the overall standard is remarkably high. These are two of my all-time favourite Austrian producers.

 

   Bründlmayer Kamptaler Riesling Terrassen 2013

   €19.95

 

  Willi Bründlmayer is one of Austria’s greatest winemakers. He produces a string of wines, some very good others brilliant, but always interesting. The Kamptaler Riesling is a wonderful racy wine with lively      refreshing citrus and green fruits and a long dry mineral finish. A perfect aperitif or with all manner of fish, chicken and pork dishes.

 

Stockists: Greenacres, Wexford www.greenacres.ie

 

 

 

 

  Moric Blafränksich, Burgenland 2012

€23.99

 

This is one of my all-time favourite wines, one that I beg people to try before dismissing Austrian red wines. Made from the local Blaufränkisch grape by one the greatest producers in Austria, this is a deliciously    light piquant elegant wine with clean dark cherry and blueberry fruits. Try it with roast pork or chicken.

 

Stockists: On The Grapevine, Dalkey (www.onthegrapevine.ie); No. 1 Pery Square, Limerick; Market 57, Westport, Mayo; Cabot & Co. Westport, Mayo (www.cabotandco.com); Morton, Galway; McCambridges, Galway.

 

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TWO MORE SUMMER WINES

  Blauer Zweigelt 2013, Winzer Krems

€14.45

 

I didn’t have high hopes for this wine prior to tasting it, as inexpensive Austrian wine is frequently disappointing. However, I opened it last night and was very pleasantly surprised; lovely supple, lively, fresh, clean red  cherry and blueberry fruits. This would make for great summer drinking served cool. Sadly it was shipped to Ireland very recently so distribution isn’t great for the moment.

 

Stockists: Karwig Wines, Carrigaline www.karwigwines.ie

 

 

 

 

 The Exquisite Collection Picpoul de Pinet 2013

€9.99

 

I find wine tastings at both Lidl and Aldi tend to consist of a large number of very average unexciting wines with the occasional howler and a few wines that stand out as really good value. The Picpoul above is  one of the latter; fresh easy plump pear fruits, good acidity and a decent finish. Perfect for everyday drinking.

 

Stockists: Aldi

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Two Summer Classics

Two lighter fresher wines for this lovely warm sunny weather. Both are well-known names that are under-valued.

 Fleurie Domaine de la Madone 2012 €18.49

I love good Beaujolais but these days the best wines all seem to cost more than €20. I was therefore delighted to come across this delicious Fleurie at such a great price.  It has wonderful fresh aromas and concentrated but light juicy strawberry fruits, with a lip-smacking lingering finish. This is a light wine (13% alcohol and no tannins) so you could drink without food, but I would recommend it with anything porky, especially charcuterie, or chicken. I rarely drink wine during the day, but this would fit into that wonderful category of ‘luncheon wine’.

Stockists: Mitchell & Son, Glasthule, IFSC, www.mitchellandson.ie Andreson’s Foodhall, Glasnevin, Dublin 9.

Ch. du Coing de St. Fiacre 2011 Muscadet de Sèvre & Maine €15.35

Yes Muscadet! Those of a certain age will remember how fashionable Muscadet was back in the 1980’s, when it was served at every event. Sadly the quality went downhill and we moved on to Chardonnay and then Sauvignon Blanc. Good Muscadet is one of the most delicious wines, light in alcohol, crisp and dry, with subtle green fruits. I love its purity of flavour and ability to improve with every sip. Drink it as the locals would, with a large bowl of mussels or a plate of fresh Irish oysters. This is the perfect example; light plump green fruits shot through with a zesty lemony acidity.

Stockists: Dicey Reilly Ballyshannon; Redmonds, Ranelagh; Le Caveau, Kilkenny;

World Wide Wine Waterford; Mac Guinness, Dundalk; Baggot Street Wines; Corkscrew, Chatham St.; Fallon and Byrne, Exchequer St.; Listons, Camden St.

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Two Affordable Summer Wines

Joel Delaunay Sauvignon Blanc 2013

€11.99 down from €14.99 for the month of June

 

Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley tends to be a little lighter and less aromatic than those from New Zealand or Chile. This is not a bad thing in my book. This wine has subtle floral aromas and fresh zesty clean green fruits. Perfect to drink by itself or with salads and fish dishes, this is very gluggable summer drinking.

Stockist: O’Briens


 

Henri Norduc Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 Pays d’Oc

€11

I am not always a fan of Cabernet Sauvignon from the south of France; most of the time I prefer wines made from the more local Syrah, Grenache and Carignan. This however stood out in a line-up of inexpensive Cabernets from around the world. An attractive warm climate Cab with very tasty juicy ripe blackcurrant fruits and a lightly spicy finish. A real bargain at €11.

Stockists: Le Caveau, Kilkenny; Ballymaloe at Brown Thomas, Cork; The Corkscrew, Chatham St.

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ENGLISH FIZZ

English sparkling wine has been making headlines for a number of years now. Leaving aside the understandable national pride of some U.K. journalists (every country suffers from it) there are some seriously good English sparkling wines – at fairly serious prices too. The success, Irish winemaker Dermot Sugrue reckons, is partly down to low yields enforced by the climate. Limerick-born Sugrue makes a number of excellent sparkling wines for Wiston Estate on the South Downs and for his own label Sugrue Pierre (his wife is a Pierre). All of the wines are made from one or more of the classic Champagne grapes. For the recent Wine Geese tasting held in the Ballymaloe pop-up shop in Brown Thomas Cork, Dermot brought over the Wiston Rosé a delicious strawberry-scented dry wine that I would prefer to many a Champagne. We also tasted his delicious Sugrue Pierre sparkling dry white called ‘The Trouble with Dreams’. This is an impeccably made elegant balanced wine, with a wonderful purity of sophisticated pristine fruit, a toastiness that comes through once opened a few minutes, and a lip-smacking clean dry finish. The 2010 vintage (sadly sold out) garnered ninety-six points, the highest ever score for an English sparkling wine, in the latest edition of Decanter magazine. Let us hope some enterprising Irish importer manages to bag a few cases of Wiston or Sugure Pierre– they deserve a place on our shelves – possibly as the best Irish wine? Or does that honour go to Simon Tyrrell with his two excellent Côtes du Rhône? We also tasted these at the Brown Thomas tasting.

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The Cork Debate

I am becoming more than a little tired of the cork debate. Before the zealots from either side get started (and both sides can be very evangelical at times) I fully accept that corks are a very unreliable form of closure. It is deeply frustrating to spend a large sum of money on a bottle of wine, lay it down for a few years, only to discover the wine is faulty. That aside, when pleasant conversations about wine degenerate into heated discussions about corks and screwcaps, I tend to lose interest rapidly.

At a dinner party last week, I served two bottles of Cepparello 2006, Paulo di Marche’s subtle elegant Super-Tuscan Sangiovese. They had been given to me as a thank-you by a very generous friend. The sole difference between the two was one had been bottled under cork, the other screwcap or stelvin. David Gleave, M.D. of wine importer Liberty has persuaded some of his producers to change to screwcap for his U.K. clients although conservative Italy and other countries still demand cork. Our tasting was inconclusive. The screwcap version seemed slightly fresher – or was it my imagination? But both were super wines, subtle refined and mellow. We happily drank both.

However, Gleave’s point (and that of others too) was proven not by the Cepparello but by the wine I served with the starter; Cuvée Frédéric Emile 2002 from Trimbach.  This is one of my favourite wines. The first bottle was fine but a little shy and retiring. The second was superb; more developed with magnificent honey and nuts wrapped up in a fine core of acidity. Neither wine was corked or faulty. It was simply bottle variation. Had I only uncorked the first bottle I would have been a little disappointed, wondering why I had bought a case of this wine when I came across it at a tasting four years ago. A fairly conclusive argument for screwcap?

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