Out with the old

My wine merchant sent me a copy of their 1909 price list today. It was fascinating, not only to look at the prices, which were surprisingly high, but also the order and tastes of our fellow wine lovers back then. This particular wine merchant, Berry Brothers and Rudd, were established in the 17th Century so I expect they have been more interesting records at their disposal. the first thing that struck me was that Sherry and Port were the first three pages, compared with today's list (also provided) that starts with their own label wines. I am sure that this reflects the commercial drivers of today's and yesterdays business but I am sure the tastes of Edward VII had a big impact on what people were buying in those days. What also struck me was that the big names were all there, Yquem, Lafite, Mouton Rothschild, Margaux, Pol Roger, Clicquot, Mumm, Krug, Bollinger, Romanee Conti etc. The Germans had 2 pages but nothing from Rhone, Italy, Spain, North America, South America, South Africa, Australia or New Zealand. Clearly in a mere 100 years our tastes have changed and wine distribution has gone global (I am sure they were making wine in these countries then, just not exporting them).

Its a great piece of marketing and a fascinating snapshot of social history, well done BBR!

Justerini and Brooks

I walked past one of my favourite shop windows in London yesterday. Justerini and Brooks have been trading since 1749 and are of course well known all round the world for their J&B Rare Whisky. Their window is particularly impressive at the moment as it features the smells and tastes of Italian Red wines. Under posters listing the key grape varieties are massive glasses with the contents of the smells and tastes described. Huge glasses with Tobacco, licorice, gunpowder and all manner of products that evoke the true essence of these fantastic grapes. If you are in London it is well worth a trip to St James Street, not only does J&B have a shop front here but a few doors down on the left is the fantastic Berry Brothers and Rudd. I have to confess to buying my en premieur wine from here, its such a treat and their cellars are amazing (book in advance to look around). Enjoy.

Italy produces some amazing dessert wines

Its official. I was fortunate enough to be taken to one of the best Italian restaurants in London recently and was shocked at the range of dessert wines available. Admittedly my knowledge was previously limited to a couple of regions in France, Ice wine from Austria and some rather indifferent syrupy wine from Australia. The range and complexity of some of the Italian sweet wines is outstanding, this restaurant alone has over 14 to choose from. Three from Sicily, four from Veneto and a range from around the rest of the country. Light, floral, sweet and non cloying I had a delicious I Capitelli Passito Bianco from Anselmi and it was outstandingly good. Try it, its well worth the effort and for those who are interested the restaurant was Locanda Locatelli.

Its all Greek to me

I've just come back from a short trip to Athens. Now the Greeks are not especially recognised for their wine and so it was with some trepidation that I thought I would try some of their local Reds to see how they were doing. Choosing one to try from labels that look like spiders have crawled all over them was hard but I did recognise Cabernet Sauvignon on a couple and being a creature of habit headed straight for what I like.

I am delighted to report that they were not bad at all. Like the french they tend to be nationalistic about their choices so it was impossible to get anything other than Greek wine but I am glad that the standard has improved way beyond my previous visit nearly 20 years ago. The reds were robust, fruity and very similar to South America in taste and style. Apparently there are over 300 indigenous grape varieties in Greece of which about 60 are used today.

My advice would be to give them a go, if you can find any. My local branch of Oddbins does have one or two so if you are fed up with the usual suspects then impress your friends with something different. The best selection I have found is through mail order at Yamas Wines so if you are feeling brave give it a try, you might surprise yourself...

Good Wines under £10

I’m always on the look out for good value wines under a tenner (or under £30 in restaurants) that nobody else is drinking and at the moment I seem to be obsessed with Spanish Tempranillo grape red wines that are not Rioja. Tesco’s wine club do a good range of very drinkable wines that fall into this category with names you cannot pronounce but just look for the grape variety on the label and you will be fine.

I recently had two excellent white wines by the glass in restaurants for less than £9 a glass. I know it’s above my limit but wines by the glass in most restaurants are limited in choice so these are worth a mention. The first was a Viognier/Semillon mix from the Barossa Valley in Australia, a 2006 Grant Burge Zerk. Yes I know the name is horrendous but it was exquisite. A slightly flinty taste on the palette it had a lovely creamy texture without the usual bucket loads of wood shavings you expect from Ozzie wine. It gets better after two or three mouthfuls and then it’s gone (why does wine taste better after the first mouthful???) leaving you with a yearning for another glass then another then another...

The second was from Italy, a Flors Di Uis 2005 Vie Di Romans from the Friuli region. A superb visceral quality wine with honeyed overtones that sits beautifully in the mouth and is the perfect accompaniment to the excellent food at my local French restaurant Le Cafe Anglais in Bayswater. If you get a chance to get over to Whiteley’s just to have a glass of this stuff at the bar it is well worth the trip.

Does Gewurztraminer really go with Curry?

I had a curry last night. Nothing new or exciting about that but I wanted to test a well trodden path that no wine goes with a Curry except a Gewurztraminer from Alsace.

To be fair it is hard to marry up any wine with a curry. Let's be honest curry should be accompanied by a Cobra or Kingfisher lager, not wine. But I've read so often, by so called experts, that the one to try is a nice spicy rich and fruity Gewurz which apparently cuts through the food and delivers in spades.

What absolute TOSH. Now okay my fellow diner and I had been drinking a very indifferent Pino Grigio (yes I know it's crap) before our meal so it was such a massive contrast before we had even eaten our first poppadom. The harsh nettle like PG vs the sweet creamy Gewurz was always going to jar but we battled through.

The food came, from the best indian restaurant in Bristol I might add and it was fantastic. The wine, although fairly priced, just did not make the grade. Too sweet, too fruity, no spice and frankly a complete waste of time.

So to conclude, my advice the next time you are going out for an English, oops sorry, an Indian is to forget the wine.... drink beer and you won't regret it.

Spanish Wine Rocks

I recently came back from the Spanish Islands and had the chance to reacquaint myself with the Timpranillo grape. Huge robust Reds, excellent with Paella and Tapas, which seemed so perfect even in the hotter climes of the Med. The Spanish are very passionate about this grape. The wine from the grape they rate as highly as anything from Barolo, Bordeaux or Southern Australia. It's easy to get hold of, mainly found in Rioja and Navarra so look out for Marques de Caceres, Marques de Riscal and Vina Ardanza, all excellent.

The real surprise though was a lovely white wine produced by the massive Torres company called Vina Esmeralda. Readily available from Oddbins it retails at a mere £6.99 and is an excellent example of a Moscatel and Gewurztraminer mix producing a wine that is very easy to drink, very fruity with a slight hint of spice from the Gewurz. Try it one of these warm evenings, chilled and in a clean glass it is a very welcome change from the numerous Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs in this price range.

The French are selling out!

Has anyone else noticed the increase in varietal labelling from the french recently. I first noticed it in a bar in Spalding of all places. Louis Jadot no less! Their bog standard Bourgogne Rouge was clearly labelled Pinot Noir. I was mortified, how could such a well known shipper stoop to such levels and follow New World. What ever happened to people using their brains, and learning about this fine subject. But then I thought, no let's give the on trade the benefit of the doubt, maybe it is just to make life easier for the bar tenders who get constant request from customers along the lines of grape variety rather than a request for their finest red burgundy.

Yesterday I was in an off licence in London and Baron Phillipe de Rothschild had done the same, Oh My God! Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon etc etc. Clearly the world is going mad. Why are the french dumbing down, surely it is up to the New World to up skill their customers and differentiate their products by producer?

Not only am I disappointed at this turn of events but I for one will NOT be buying any french wine that cheapens itself by putting the grape variety on the label. Am I alone and out of touch???

BTW a for a great website that is well informed and really useful the click here.

German Wine

I tried some German wine recently. A big mistake. I know this sounds harsh but its been a good 10 years or more since I last had a go and sadly not much has changed. Okay, I was trying a range of Riesling's from different countries so I felt compelled to include one from the Pfalz region. I will blame Jancis Robinson. I was watching and old series of hers wine tasting around the world and she just happened to mention that she was a big fan of the Riesling grape. Now I am a big fan of Jancis so in for a penny... Off to Waitrose and quickly I found bottles from Australia , New Zealand and the US. Their German section consisted of about 2 wines which did not bode well.

I picked a snazzy label, not the traditional German label with more words than Mein Kampf for me! The Naked Grape, I kid you not, was a real dissappointment. All of my age old prejudices came flooding back and Jancis was public enemy number one. Sweet, sickly, lacking in finesse, structure and frankly any bite. What a shame. It might take me another 10 years before I try again but I do agree something with Jancis, the Oz Kiwi and Yank Reislings were outstanding.

Mouton Rothschild and Prince Charles

I’ve recently been trying to buy wine labels from the famous vineyard of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. For those of you not in the know the labels are famous in themselves in that since 1941 the chateau has featured paintings from artists as famous as Picasso, Braque, Chagall, Miro, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol and a whole lot more. The latest painter to be featured is none other than our own Prince Charles. Now forgive me for being unpatriotic but since when has Prince Charles been in the same league as Picasso and Chagall??? I cannot remember any of his paintings selling for in excess of £10million at Sotheby’s but then what do I know? Maybe the chaps at Mouton Rothschild are once again ahead of the game and know something that we don’t know. He chose a watercolour of pine trees at Cap d’Antibes on the Cote d’Azur. It’s a bit dull but I’m no expert and frankly the contents of the bottle are far more interesting to me than the label. My collection is building, although it is not as easy as I thought to collect old labels, but I will include the 2004 when I can get hold of one. I just don’t want to miss out and if I am really honest, a part of me is secretly proud to have or future monarch featured on such a King amongst wines. Let’s face it, it does give the wine a certain regal accreditation and its much better than a pen portrait of Carla Bruni in the buff by President Sarkozy don’t you think?

Medal Winners or Price?

How much are we influenced by awards as opposed to price when it comes to buying wine? Take a look at any supermarket shelf and which areas are emptied first? It always strikes me that small percentages off the price or 'sales' seem to clear the shelves, irrespective of the quality of the wine, its country of origin or grape variety. People love a bargain and seem totally influenced by this over an award winning bottle standing next to the bottle on sale. So why do growers bother? Is this a valid secondary consideration when it comes to choice? Should it really be secondary?

My own personal view is that a great deal of effort goes into these awards and competitions. I am sure the growers and shippers are massively interested in the outcome because they can probably charge a bit more for the wine to the wholesalers and retailers. But as far as the end consumer is concerned it upsets me that this flies out the window if a major retailer decides to simply run a promotion on a wine or range of wines and people buy on perceived savings.

I will continue to buy on quality and choose the odd award winner from time to time, maybe there is more that the merchants and growers can do to change buying habits based upon quality. Let's hope so for all our sakes.

Cru Bourgeois

What is happening in Bordeaux? I am confused. Is the 2003 classification of Cru Bourgeois going to last? I heard that it had been abolished only 4 years after its inception. Frankly I am very confused. I liked the old classification, the wines were reliable and affordable and a great guide to amateur wine connoisseurs all over the world. I want them to go back to where they were and stop being driven by commercial motivators. These are the best wines in the world, under threat from the Americas, Eastern Europe and Australasia. I wish the french would sort themselves out and concentrate on what they do best, producing fantastic wines.