Liquid assets

Pick a variety, any variety...

2012-02-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

Grapevariety that is. There are a handful of internationally famous onesthat have managed to put down roots all over the wine world. Theseare the A listers of the wine world, but there are many hundreds ofother grape varieties which have every bit as much class, but whichhave stayed in their native lands, quietly helping to make unique andcharacterful wines.

Oneplace which can lay claim to having more such varieties than anywhereelse is Portugal.

Despitebeing firmly attached to its larger neighbour, Spain, it has adistinct linguistic, cultural and geographical identity, thanks toits relative isolation. In wine terms Portugal is like a dragonguarding a vast hoard of treasure in the form of myriad indigenousgrape varieties, most of which have never travelled abroad.

Twentyor more years ago you could be forgiven for wondering why theybothered, when many of the wines that Portugal produced appealed onlyto local tastes: reds typically had rasping acidity, astringenttannins and any fruit long since dried out due to long years ofbarrel ageing. However, luckily for today's drinkers they perseveredand, largely, did not succumb to the lure of the international jetset varieties.

Becauseover the intervening years Portugal has seen a revolution inwine-making and are now in the envious position of being able toapply modern techniques to their unique range of grape varieties.

Justhow many native grape varieties are there in Portugal? Not an easyquestion to answer. Some sources quote as many as 500 – thoughthis doesn't take account of the complex web of names, whereby thesame variety can have two or more names – but equally the same namecan be applied to what are, in fact different varieties. Some evengo so far as to change sex, such as the white variety, FernãoPires, which becomes Maria Gomes as it travels from south to north.

Here'san attempt to clock up more varieties than you might usually meet ina dozen bottles, in just three wines, though I'm recommending themfor their deliciousness:

Casade Mouraz 2010 - £9.95 from The Wine Society

Hereis a typical cocktail of indigenous varieties. First on the list isMalvasia fina, which is part of the vast family of grapes (some morein-laws than blood relatives) which go by this name. Malvasia insome form or other crops up again and again across the Iberianpeninsula, through France and Italy and on into Slovenia, Croatia andGreece. One of its most famous incarnations is as one of thevarieties that contributes to that great, underrated fortified wine,Madeira – in this country we have anglicised it to Malmsey.

One ofthe few things that people know about Malmsey is that someone oncedrowned in a butt of it. That someone was George Duke of Clarence, brother to Plantagenet King Edward IV and to the future Richard III. The drowning was no binge drinking-fuelled accident, but the methodof execution chosen by the Duke himself, having been condemned todeath for plotting against his brother Edward. If you wereartistocratic enough it was possible to avoid the unpleasantness ofhanging, drawing and quartering for such a crime – though of coursehe still died at the end of it. And it must have made familyChristmases a bit awkward.

Nextwe find Cerceal (pronounced sair-see-al) Branco. Our brush withMadeira might make you think Cerceal, must be a synonym for Sercial,another grape variety of the island. But apparently you'd be wrong,and it isn't. Encruzado is probably a new variety to you, butcontributes a certain leafy character. It's all rounded off withsome ageworthy Bical, which has the charming synonym Borrado dasMoscas, or fly droppings.

RedomaBranco 2010 - £17 from The Wine Society

Thisis from the stable of Dirk Niepoort, who has arguably done more thanany other winemaker to raise the profile of unfortified wines fromthe Port-producing Douro Valley.

Herewe clock up another five varieties in a single bottle: Rabigato(meaning cat's tail), Codega (aka Roupeiro in case you wondered) andthe fresh acidity of Arinto. Also in the mix is Gouveio, which is atype of Verdelho – but not the same variety as either Verdelho inAustralia or Verdejo in Spain. This variety is known as Godello inSpain. Still with me? Finally there's Viosinho, a traditionalvariety used in the making of white Port.

Thewine is made in the Burgundian style with fermentation and ageing inFrench oak barrels and casks – but the many-layered flavours whichunfold on the palate are uniquely Portuguese, thanks to thatcornucopia of varieties.

Montede Peceguina 2010 - £18.99 from Selfridges

Winelovers owe a lot to the Alentejo: the expansive, undulating plainsof southeast Portugal are home to the world's biggest cork oaksforests. Alentejo is also the country's New World of wine – herenative varieties happily rub along with their more famousinternational cousins.

Herewe have: Aragonês,better known outside Portugal as Tempranillo, Spain's major grapevariety, which is called Tinta Roriz in Douro and the north. Alicante Bouschet is generally viewed at best as a workhorse variety– unlike most black skinned grapes, it also has coloured flesh,contributing colour to otherwise weedy wines. Only in this corner ofPortugal does it seem to have found its niche and produces wines ofinky, dense fruit. Touriga Nacional is arguably the jewel inPortugal's crown as far as grape varieties go: it is the keystone ofmany Douro red wines, not to mention its finest Ports. Itcontributes dark, violet-scented fruit and a hint of spice. Syrahand Cabernet Sauvignon complete the picture.

Thisis the kind of wine that you can drink whatever your mood. Like afavourite armchair it will envelop you with its generous, juicy fruit– but it also has the backbone to stand up to food.

Well Imake that 14 varieties in just three wines – and believe me, thereare plenty more to go.

Malbec: reigniting an old flame

2012-02-03T01:00:00.000-08:00

Backin my days working at Oddbins, where, in return for a pitiful wage I(wo)manhandled cases of wine and occasionally sold a few bottles ofit, along with the packs of Marlboro Lights and cans of Foster's, Ifell in love.

Theobject of my affections was rather exotic: muscular, mouthwateringand full-bodied, with a touch of Gaucho swagger and great to sit downwith over a juicy steak. Aahh, Malbec (for it was he) swept into mylife and seduced me with his, or its, easy charm. Full-on juicyblack fruit, a whisp of tannin and a mouthwatering juicy freshnessmade it a great choice for food, but equally at home as a “DVDwine”. And, importantly for impecunious wine lovers, it was prettycheap.

Malbecstarted its life back in la belle France, its stronghold thebeautiful, hilly region of Cahors in the southwest of the country. Variously known as Cot, Auxerrois, and a string of other aliases (Ifear it may have had something of a long and colourful past), it wasalso grown in Bordeaux – there are still small amounts of it theretoday. Malbec took off for the New World some time during the 19^thcentury and made landfall in Argentina. There, in warmer, sunnierclimes, the variety blossomed and captured the hearts of the localpopulation, many of whom were Italian, French and Spanish immigrants,who brought their grape-growing, wine-making (and wine drinking)habits with them.

Backto my own vinous entanglement and here the story takes a sad turn. With hindsight it seems so obvious. I should of course have realisedthat I wasn't the only one who had succumbed to Malbec's easycharms. My cheap date had become the wine of choice for a certainbrand of skint wine lover, but in the process of becoming morepopular, as so often happens, it changed.

Buoyedby its newfound celebrity status, Argentine producers were no longersatisfied with the fresh, straightforward flavours of Malbec in theraw and succumbed to the lure of the winemaker's playthings: new oakbarrels and lots of them and “premium” super cuvées with more ofeverything – concentration, glossy oak, alcohol, stupidly heavybottles – and a correspondingly bigger price tag to match. Malbechad become a high maintenance WAG of a wine.

A fewyears back I tasted my way through a line-up of “premium” Malbecs– and what a depressing lot they were: they resembledshiny-haired, airbrushed models, surgically enhanced with silicone,pumped up with collagen and sporting a Botox-frozen expression –and they left me cold. Undoubtedly these were technically well madewines, but all that glossy new oak, those selected yeasts, theacidification and ultra-concentration had robbed them of their trueidentity. They could have been made from any grape variety, fromanywhere. My old flame had gone out, it seemed, never to be relit.

Recently,though, a chance meeting in London fanned the flames of that firstcrush. I rediscovered the excitement that Malbec had stirred in meall those years ago, when I tasted wines from Argentinian producerDoñaPaula. These Malbecs were fresh, lively, fruity – and oh sodrinkable. Maybe now is the time to welcome my old flame back intomy life with open arms – and a juicy steak maybe, or just stay inwith a DVD...whatever you fancy.

Malbecsto make the heart race:

DoñaPaula Estate Malbec 2010, Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina - £11.95from slurp.co.uk, also available at Argentine eateries Gaucho Grillin London and CAU in Guildford

Slightlyjammy black fruit aromas of cassis and juicy blackberry. Zingy fruiton the palate and a more savoury dimension with good freshness. Thetannins mean it will be better with food. This has spent 10 monthsin a mixture of new and older French oak barrels.

DoñaPaula El Alto Parcel 2010, Urgateche, Mendoza, Argentina – a newwine that's yet to hit the streets here

Leafy,herbal notes on the nose, along with attractive, lively fruit. Plenty of layers of flavour and good freshening acidity - hints ofBordeaux there, with lacy, dainty fruit. Gentle, well-balancedtannins on the finish. Incredibly drinkable.

LeCèdre,Châteaule Cèdre2007, Cahors, France - £29.95 from slurp.co.uk, also at les Caves dePyrène,Guildford

Backwhere it all began, in Cahors, southwest France. Malbec from herehas never lost its fresh appeal – though at this price, as you canimagine, there is plenty of concentration too, along with the forestfloor-tinged black fruit and more tannic backbone than you find inArgentina. A thoroughbred.

Why you should buy Champagne now

2012-01-20T01:14:00.000-08:00

Whyon earth am I writing about Champagne in January? The answer issimple – buy your bubbles now, resist the temptation to pop thecork straight away (easy to do at this time of year) and you'll findthat, come next Christmas, your Champagnes have improved in thebottle to give more pleasure.

Wetend to think of fizz as something that should be drunk as soon asthe bottle is properly chilled. After all, most of the bottles webuy are non-vintage, with no year of production on the label –they don't look like candidates for ageing. But, in the words ofJancis Robinson MW, “better-quality young sparkling wines withtheir high levels of acidity can often improve considerably with anadditional year or so in bottle”.

Whenwe think of Champagne, we tend to think of the big names, the Veuves,Taittingers and Moets. And this is one of the quirks of the region –nowhere else is so dominated by brands. In Burgundy, the nearestfine wine region to Champagne, terroir is king and the best bottleswill hail from an intricately delineated vineyard parcel. InChampagne, however, we seem happy to part with the best part of 40quid, knowing nothing more than that the grapes come from somewherewithin the growing area of 34,000 hectares (nearly 85,000 acres), aslong as the right name is on the label.

Thereason for this peculiar state of affairs is that Champagne isstructured like no other wine region in the world. 90% of the landis owned by growers, leaving only 10% for the Champagne houses. Many of these houses own no vineyards at all, relying entirely onagreements to buy grapes from the growers to meet their needs.

Arounda third of the 15,000 growers, incidentally, produce their ownChampagnes from their vineyards. These can be some of the mostindiviual and rewarding Champagnes to drink, as you can make a directlink between the terroir and the wine.

Champagnesare, of course, stylistically overwhelmingly similar: sparkling(predominantly) white wines, marked by high acidity, lightness ofbody and elegance. However, once you've tasted a few, it's hard notto develop favourites and, before you know it, you can get hooked onthe nuances of difference between producers and their various cuvées(blends).

Here,then, are some of my current favourites - recognizing that my nextfavourite may be one that I haven't tried yet.

MaillyGrand Cru Brut Reserve NV - £27.99 as part of a mixed case at TheWine Reserve in Cobham, this is also Berry Brothers' Champagne,£25.95 at bbr.com

Thisblend of 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay is made by thehigh-quality co-op of Mailly Grand Cru. Mailly is a village in thePinot Noir heartland of the northern Montagne de Reims south east ofthe city. All its vineyards are decreed Grand Cru, the top of thequality tree in Champagne, and all the growers in the co-opcontribute grapes only from these exalted sites.

Thehigh proportion of Pinot Noir makes this a great winter weightChampers, with the depth of flavour and backbone to stand up to evenquite rich foods.

BrunoPaillard Brut PremièreCuvée - £30.52 from Bibendum

Whereasmost Champagne houses fall over themselves to emphasize theirhistorical roots, Paillard is unashamedly modern. The house wasfounded in 1981 and its purpose built winery and “cellars” datesfrom 1990. With no tradition to follow, Bruno is free to createChampagnes in the style that he favours – luckily, this style hasalso found plenty of fans prepared to buy.

Thisis an odd recommendation in that I wouldn't advise you to drink thisChampagne any time soon. I was lucky enough to taste this “multivintage” (as opposed to non vintage) blend at differing times sinceit was disgorged. Disgorgement is when the ageing on the leesfinishes and the plug of dead yeast cells is expelled from the neckof the bottle and the final cork is put into the now fully sparklingwine, usually along with a small “dosage” of wine and sugar. Most Champagne houses will release wines within a few months ofdisgorgement, yet, as you might imagine, the suddenness of thisintervention and the addition of foreign elements has a profoundeffect on the wine's development which can take many months, evenyears, to play out.

BrunoPaillard recognizes this by printing the disgorgement date on allbottles of his Champagnes – the current available cuvée wasdisgorged during the first quarter of 2011. I much preferred thesame cuvée at six and even fourteen years since disgorgement – youmight have to exercise some patience to see if you agree with me!

BollingerGrande Année 2002 – widely available at around £75, including TheGuildford Wine Company in Shalford. The Wine Reserve in Cobham hasthe 2000 for an unbeatable £59.99 as part of a mixed case.

Bollinger,favourite of Patsy and Edina, James Bond and countless others is avery English Champagne – 40% of its production ends up here. Theyare are also proud to be part of an exclusive club of independentfamily-owned houses which also owns 60% of the vines needed to supplyits needs. 2002 was a great year for vintage fizz and the best (whenyou can find them) are drinking beautifully now. Mathieu Kauffman,Bollinger's cellar master, says that 2002 is the best year since 1996(I'll take his word for it). A blend of 60% Pinot Noir (for power,depth and backbone) and 40% Chardonnay (for elegance and finesse)that has been aged on its lees for 7/8 years (the law stipulates aminimum of 3 years for vintage Champagne). You could sip this on itsown, but it would be a shame to pass up its nutty, wild mushroom andhint of Christmas pudding (yes) flavours with food. Long-lasting andlively – try it with fish, lobster, scallops, even guinea fowl andpheasant.

Do you detox?

2012-01-06T01:38:00.000-08:00

Now isthe time that many of us, for the only time of the year, give somethought to our livers. We toy with the idea of “doing something”and think of giving it a thorough detox as an antidote to theexcesses of December.

TheBritish Liver Trust, a fount of knowledge, as you might imagine,informs me that the liver is our largest internal organ and plays avital role in keeping us alive, carrying out 500 different functions. It is the factory of the body, making proteins, blood clottingfactors and products to help with digestion and energy release. Yourbody uses it as a store for energy and iron; it also purifies theblood of bacteria, by-products of digestion, alcohol and drugs.

It isthis last function that interests us, for one month of the year atleast, as many of us undertake to lay off the booze in January. Theidea of becoming slimmer, shinier and healthier by giving the liver arest is undoubtedly attractive.

Thereare those who want to take things further by going on some kind ofdetox diet. Sipping water and lemon juice during meals in order toaid digestion and thereby support liver function is currently modish– though there's no scientific evidence to support it. Just aglass of water with meals is likely to be just as valuable.

Thereis some evidence that green tea, with its high levels ofantioxidants, can be helpful – if you can stand the taste of thestuff. Much more palatable to me is the finding that coffee can alsobe supportive of good liver function – guilt-free flat whiteplease.

However,the idea that we need to detox our liver at all is undermined by the BritishLiver Trust's finding that “there is no evidence that toxins buildup in the liver”. So it looks like we don't need to spend moremoney and energy on investing in the latest snake oil to ridourselves of the poisons that we've been busy ingesting for the pastfew weeks.

Nevertheless,we can't avoid the evidence that alcohol does damage our livers andwe drinkers could all benefit from giving our systems a few days offto recover.

But awhole month? Come on, January feels like the longest month already,without making it wine-free. Do our systems really need weeks torecover? The official line at the NHS is that even heavy drinkersshould be through withdrawal symptoms (let's hope we're not at thatstage) and be on the road to liver recovery within 3-5 days.

So afew days off is really all our systems need. Month-long abstinenceis much more to do with testing our will power and self-disciplinethan any proven health benefits. But there are other upsides: alcoholic drinks contain calories, so cut them out and you might findyou're slimmer and trimmer – as long as you don't swap the wine formore food!

Alcoholcauses dehydration (the root of many a hangover) so cutting it outshould result in better skin and overall healthiness. And there's nogetting away from the fact that drinking costs money – cutting outthe vino could also help with the wallet hangover of Christmas too.

Thetrouble is, it's easy to view a booze-free start to the year as adeposit in the good behaviour bank and to excuse excesses later inthe year with the comforting thought that you did spend a whole 4 ½weeks off the drink. But of course the body doesn't work that wayand what we really should all be doing is avoiding excess and keepingwithin sensible drinking limits – and a few wine-free days eachweek of the year should do the trick. Hmmm. I'll keep you posted onthat one.

2011 review: my best bits

2011-12-23T04:42:00.000-08:00

Ifyou're feverishly searching for last minute Christmas winerecommendations – and you really are cutting it fine – thenplease have a look at my previous two posts on this blog.

In thecaring sharing spirit of Christmas, I offer here just one nugget thatcould save your bacon. If you seek the perfect wine match forChristmas pudding, then look no further than Moscatel de Valencia, aridiculously under-priced dessert wine from Spain. Its luscioussweetness with an orange marmelade edge makes the pudding sing. Sainsburys' version is just £3.98 a bottle. If you're quick youmight just make it...

Thiscolumn is devoted to a review of the best bits of 2011. Here, in noparticular order, are my personal highlights of the year:

Tasting top class Aussie Rieslings courtesy of Jacob's Creek at “wine workshop and kitchen” 28-50 in London. The 2005 Steingarten Riesling was the highlight, but Jacob's Creek Riesling Reserve 2010 was pretty delicious too: fresh and lively (and limey), floral but dry – a great palate cleanser.
A Bollinger Grande Année masterclass, with chef de cave Mathieu Kaufmann, where I learned that I have expensive tastes when it comes to Champagne. Bollinger Grande Année Rose 1996 was my favourite, if you're reading this, Santa. Completely beguiling, luxurious stuff which, sadly, I can't afford.
Marcelo Retamel, Chilean winemaker (at the family-owned De Martino winery) and Iron Maiden fan, describing his return from the Dark Side of wine-making. Tasting the first vintage (another 1996) of his single vineyard Carmenère was a delicious reminder of how good wine can be when allowed to mature without the added glitz of selected yeasts, new oak and other winemaking frippery. Look out for the 2010 vintage of the Alto de Piedras Carmenère when it arrives at the Wine Society, which marks his return to the more natural style of winemaking that characterised that first vintage back in 1996.
I can't honestly remember what the exact bottle was, but drinking fizz in spring sunshine at our Royal Wedding street party felt both modern and traditional at the same time.
Meeting Chester Osborn, legendary Australian winemaker at d'Arenberg and infamous wearer of loud shirts, and his collection of wine-themed fluffy toys at a wine “speed tasting”. His Money Spider Roussanne 2009 was one of my favourites at the whistle-stop tasting.
Tasting Tio Pepe “en rama” at Bar Pepito in King's Cross (a must for sherry lovers) and then seeing how well it stood up to their excellent range of tapas. The summer weather may have been a let-down, but that day was a true taste of the Mediterranean. “En rama” is a special, full-flavoured, unfiltered bottling of Tio Pepe that sells out (mostly to those in the know in the wine trade) almost as soon as it hits these shores. The classic Tio Pepe, however, is widely available for around a tenner.
Getting to grips with the new face of Portugal's Vinho Verde at a fascinating tasting this summer. I learned that Vinho Verde is not green and doesn't have to be redolent of soluble aspirin – and it can also be red!
Buying an exotic-looking liqueur in France over the summer, only to find it was none other than that British Christmas stalwart, sloe gin. Equally nice served cold in the summer, I can helpfully tell you.
Spending three footsore days working at the London wine trade's annual fair in May – but my reward was to be responsible for encouraging visitors to taste a great selection of interesting, individual and delicious wines from Southwest France.
The taste of Graham's Malvedos 1958 single quinta port – still looking and tasting good at 50!
Tasting Zind-Humbrecht's Rangen de Thann Clos-Saint-Urbain Gewurztraminer 2009 at the first dedicated biodynamic wine tasting in London in November. Olivier Humbrecht (Master of Wine and PhD) has managed to create a perfect marriage of grape variety to terroir making for an unforgettable wine experience.
Seeing how Hunter Valley Semillon ages (well, it turns out) courtesy of a vertical tasting of Neil McGuigan's Bin 9000 Semillons back to 1997.
Drinking nothing but Champagne for 3 days (OK and some water) during my first study tour of the region.

Lifecould be worse! Wishing you a suitably merry time over the nextcouple of weeks. See you all in 2012.

God rest you merry, Gentlemen...and ladies - it's Christmas Part 2

2011-12-09T04:45:00.001-08:00

Lasttime I gave some recommended wines for all those occasions thatinvolve wine over the festive period – and if you missed it, youcan catch up here: http://yourliquidassets.blogspot.com/2011/11/christmas-2011-part-1-in-which-our.html. Now, however,the focus is on the big day itself.

Breakfast

Iwouldn't normally recommend wines to go with your cornflakes, but atChristmas the normal order is turned on its head. And I'm assumingthat breakfast is more of a brunch; later, more leisurely andcertainly more luxurious than normal. Straight fizz might seem toomuch of a shock to the system for most, but brave souls could easethemselves into the day with a glass of Prosecco – its clean, freshfruit and touch of sweetness is ideal.

Formany of us, though, Buck's Fizz has become a tradition. Please, DONOT buy the pre-mixed bottles. Buy the best orange juice you can (oreven squeeze your own) and combine (in whatever proportions youenjoy) with either Prosecco or Cava. The predominant taste will bethe orange juice, so go for budget bubbles.

Pre-lunch

We alllove Christmas dinner, but we wouldn't want to eat it every day. Let's face it, it's a bit of an endurance test for the body, sopre-lunch you need a wine to get the juices and the appetite going inorder to fortify for the feast ahead.

Champagneis the pre-prandial aperitif par excellence and now is a good time toproduce a really fancy bottle if you have one. Blanc de blancs (iemade from 100% Chardonnay) are a good choice, as they have plenty ofcrisp fruit and nervy, mouthwatering acidity.

JacquartBlanc de Blancs 2005 - Special introductory offer £26.99 at Sainsbury's, £38 from GreatWestern Wines

Lovelylight style, with fine acidity and long-lasting flavours of apple,flowers and white pepper.

If youserve smoked salmon at some point, then Champagne is of course aperfect companion. You could go for something with a bit more bodyhere.

BerryBrothers Own Label Champagne - £25.95 per bottle, down to £23.35 abottle if you buy 6, from bbr.com

Christmasmight not be the day to plonk a bottle emblazoned Tesco or Waitroseon the table (though personally I wouldn't mind). Berry Brothers'own label, though, is far more the thing. Produced entirely from topGrand Cru vineyards in the village of Mailly, this is a blend of 75%Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay, giving it more power and structurethan a Blanc de Blancs. Aromas of pear give way to a palate of spiceand crisp apple, with the length and structure to stand up to food. A great match for smoked salmon too.

Alternativesto fizz as aperitifs would be really top class Sauvignon Blanc, fromits heartland in the Loire Valley.

Châteaude Tracy Pouilly Fumé 2006 - £17.50 from The Wine Society

Nooak, just the unadorned grapes treated gently to give delicatelyperfumed fruit with persistent flavour.

SancerreLe MD de Bourgeois 2010 - £22.49 from Les Caves de Pyrène

Muchmore full-on and assertively fruity, but with great mineralintensity, this will certainly give the tastebuds a good wash andbrush up.

Lunch

Turkey,or whatever your chosen bird, is really not in the equation when itcomes to choosing a wine. Think of all the different flavours thatwe pile onto a single plate – stuffing, gravy, sprouts, roastpotatoes, sausage and bacon...I could go on. It really isn'tpossible to match them all, so you need to choose a wine that willnot be overwhelmed, but will not try to fight with all those flavourseither.

Think,also, about who is round the table. If you have a group of fine winelovers, then by all means dig out your treasured bottles of fine,aged claret or white Burgundy. But for most of us, we are inmulti-generational groups, some of whom might not touch wine for mostof the year. So choose something that will please a crowd and won'tfrighten the horses.

LeFaîte 2007 - £14.99 from Adnams Cellar and Kitchen (branch inRichmond)

Arrufiac,Petit Courbu, Petit and Gros Manseng – you don't need to have heardof the grape varieties to enjoy this unique white wine: big boldfruit, big-boned but with refreshing acidity.

DomaineRoche Audran Cuvée César 2009 - £12.58 from winenot.co.uk

Thesouthern Rhône is a great source of wines that are generous of fruitand body, with a food friendly whiff of herbs. This 100% Grenachewowed a group at a recent wine dinner and is certified (in a goodway) biodynamic.

BrouillyDomaine Durand “Pisse Vieille” 2010 - £8.95 from The WineSociety

It maybe shy about trumpeting it on the label, but this is a Beaujolais. Deliciously, juicily, red fruited stuff that will suit a multitude offood and palates. By the way, “vieille” means old and “pisse”means...well, what it sounds like. Don't let this put you off.

RiojaReserva – such as Cune Reserva 2006/7 - £11.95 from Waitrose

Thebarrel and bottle ageing that Rioja Reservas undergo lead to mellowwines which are versatile with food, so they are always good to haveto hand for Christmas.

Pudding

Yes,the marathon is not finished yet. If you opt for pudding, then youneed something to go with – or indeed instead of.

Stanton& Killeen Rutherglen Muscat - £12.40 for a half bottle fromslurp.co.uk

Australianliqueur muscat is just about the closest you can get to Christmaspudding in liquid form. Lusciously viscous with flavours of dates,raisins, caramel and spice, it can stand up to the richest, sweetestpudding.

Tawnyports also rub along nicely with the sweet spice of Christmaspudding, mince pies and the like. These are widely available, buttry and get hold of a 10 year old (or even better, 20 year old), asthese will have more mellow nuttiness. And you can keep going withit if anyone is still up for some stilton.

Goodluck! See you on the other side.

Christmas 2011, Part 1, in which our heroine imparts pearls of wisdom

2011-11-26T05:42:00.001-08:00

Theword Christmas can start to provoke a twitchy, sweaty palm reactionat this time of year.

If youare feeling slightly anxious about anything, the correct response isto make a list. There's nothing like ticking things off to make youfeel like progress is being made, even if it contains items that youwould normally do anyway. Get up – tick. Brush teeth – tick. That's two things done before you've got downstairs.

Herewithis a wine-themed list of my Top Tips to ensure a glitteringChristmas:

1. Get organised. Having some wine ordered and delivered early is ahuge weight off the mind. And if you're going away for Christmas orNew Year, you could even have the wine delivered to your destination,to avoid having to schlepp it there yourself. Don't forget to equipyourself with a glass of something delicious to have by your side asyou browse online.

2. Make a list of the different occasions that need wine (don't theyall?) and think about which wines to have on hand. Consider parties,big set piece meals, casual lunches, breakfast Buck's Fizz...

3. Always have a few bottles spare for guests who drop round. At thattime of year you might want to offer a glass of wine, fizz or sherryto visitors at any time of day from elevenses onwards.

4. Think fizz – nothing says celebration like the pop of a cork, soyou should never be without a chilled bottle in the fridge. Have arange of different sparklers to choose from – vintage Champagne isgreat to serve before (or with) a really special meal. But unlessyou're a Premiership footballer, you can't go buying it willy-nilly.

5. Remember to have fun - and don't be afraid to ask for help. If youare enjoying yourself, then your guests will too. But if they seeyou fretting over every tiny detail to ensure it's all just right, itwon't help them to relax and get into the swing of things. Christmasis not about turning your house into a restaurant with immaculatedishes emerging from the kitchen while your guests soak up thevintage claret. Who amongst us doesn't enjoy joining in in thekitchen, chopping some veg or mixing stuffing, especially if we'reoffered a lovely glass of something to sip while we're at it?

Mynext column will focus on drinks for the big day itself, but here I'mlooking at wines for all those other occasions.

Fizz

Don'toverlook Prosecco, Crémant, Cava and other budget options which aregreat for parties or more casual and relaxed affairs. And don't evenconsider putting Champagne in your Buck's Fizz – no-one will know! The half price Champagnes that sprout like mushrooms in the nation'ssupermarkets are generally not much to write home about – a lot hasbeen squeezed out of those grapes (literally) to produce a fizzy winewith Champagne on the label at that price. Try a bottle to see ifyou're happy with it before you go buying more. More often than notsupermarket own label Champagnes give better value. Or if yourbudget is tight, it will always be better to buy a better class ofCrémant or Cava, than the cheapest Champers.

MontMarcal Cava Brut Reserva - £9.99 at The Wine Reserve, Cobham

Thislooks and tastes the part – light, fresh and elegant.

White

LesHauts de Bergelle Blanc 2009, Saint Mont, France - £7.99, or £5.99when you buy two at Majestic

SouthwestFrance makes some fantastically characterful wines from its uniqueselection of grape varieties, here the memorable trio of Gros Manseng(yes, there is a Petit Manseng), Arrufiac and Petit Courbu (though noGrand Courbu that I know of exists). It has piercingly crispacidity, allied to pear and honey-tinged fruit and a hearty twist ofwhite pepper. Not an identikit wine which has plenty of interest forthe money.

BourgogneChardonnay Vieilles Vignes 2010, Nicolas Potel, Burgundy, France -£11.99, down to £7.99 when you buy two at Majestic

It's atruism that producer is more important than appellation in Burgundy –and here is proof. It's at the bottom of the quality pyramid as ahumble Bourgogne, but it has lovely fruit with hints of peach; thetexture has a slight mealiness and great freshness. Burgundy loverswill lap it up.

Rosé

Goneare the days when rosé went out with the first bonfire of Autumn. Now it's an all-year-round drink and at Christmas, go for somethingclassic.

RimauresqCru Classé 2010, Côtesde Provence, France - £11.99 from Taurus Wines, near Bramley

Norosé is more elegant, refined and food-friendly than a classicProvençalone – this has weight and presence despite its palest salmoncolour. The fruit is subtle, but there is a pronounced herbal andpepper character that makes it a surprisingly good match for a widerange of foods.

Red

Youneed wines that make good “house” wines – fun, easy-going withfood, but also happy to be sipped on their own.

LascarCarmenère 2010, Central Valley, Chile - £4.95 from The Wine Society

Thisticks all the boxes. A huge juicy mouthful of vibrant black fruitwith a strong whiff of smoke, redolent of bonfires. Great value formoney.

MajesticPeaks Pinot Noir, Central Otago, New Zealand - £10.99, down to £8.79when you buy two bottles at Majestic

Regularreaders will know of my passion for Pinot. This may not be top ofthe quality tree, but it has plenty of perfumed, more-ish red fruitwith a lick of spice that will happily go with cold meats and picklesand a classic episode of Only Fools and Horses.

DomaineCrêtdes Garanches 2010, AC Brouilly, Beaujolais - £11.70 from Les Cavesde Pyrène, Guildford

Juicy,raspberry and cranberry fruit, soft tannins – Beaujolais fits thebill for Christmas perfectly. No weird bubblegum flavours here –it's smooth, bright fruit all the way. A classy option for ham, coldmeats or a sociable glass with neighbours.

Sherry

ManzanillaLa Gitana, Spain – around £8 from Waitrose and Majestic

There'snothing like a crisp, bone dry sherry for perking one up andsharpening the appetite for yet another feast. Alexander Fleming,discoverer of penicillin, said that while “penicillin can cure thesick..sherry can bring the dead back to life.” For more on thecharms of sherry and matching it with food, can I respectfully directyou to my recentish blog post, “If it swims, serve a fino”, here:http://heatherdougherty.blogspot.com/2011/07/if-it-swims-serve-fino.html

You'llalso find more festive wine recommendations on the Heather Doughertyblog, which I haven't been able to fit in here.

Will you be an eagle - or Eddie the Eagle?

2011-11-13T09:43:00.001-08:00

Thewhiff of Catherine wheels, rockets and bonfires in the night air hasfaded. Children have long since consumed their body weight inHallowe'en (trick or) treats. The last hurrahs of Autumn have passedand now we stand at the top of a precipitous slope, like an alpineski jumper, nervously adjusting our goggles as we contemplate thatimpossibly steep and slippery descent which leads inexorablyto...Christmas.

We allhope for a steady run as we hop on to the festive ski jump: crowded,stuffy shops successfully negotiated, presents bought, no-oneforgotten, meals planned, wrapping paper remembered. If we get itall right it will culminate in a graceful landing on the big dayitself, having overcome the seemingly impossible.

That'sthe dream. The nightmare is a wobbly start to our descent: onlineordering deadlines missed, the things you wanted sold out, or maybeyou haven't got any good ideas to start with; somehow, ordering theturkey slipped your mind.....

Thenightmare result is less like an eagle soaring effortlessly throughthe sky, and more like Eddie the Eagle.

Eddie,lest you have forgotten, was a British downhill skier who had failedto qualify for the British Olympic ski-ing team. He alighted on theclever tactic of switching to ski jumping, where he was assured ofqualification, as there were no other British competitors.

Eddiethereby found himself representing his country at the 1988 WinterOlympics in Calgary, but was woefully under-financed andunder-prepared - at one point financing himself as a part-timeplasterer while training in Finland. Matters were not helped by thefact that he suffered from such poor sight that he needed to wearglasses to jump – which fogged up in the cold conditions. Dubbed“Mr Magoo”, he resembled, not an eagle, but something more akinto a penguin which had been launched unexpectedly into the air, andthen crash-landed and scrambled onto the ice. Eddie denied that hewas scared of heights – but he did admit to being scared ofjumping.

Despitethis unpromising start, Eddie, undaunted, won international acclaimfor his pluck and determination to compete. Unfortunately that wasall he won, as he came last in both of the ski jump events – andthus the legend of Eddie the Eagle was born.

I maynot have much to offer to help you with the myriad of organisationaltasks that need to be accomplished between now and the end ofDecember – but in matters vinous I can be of assistance. Over thenext couple of columns I'll be making specific recommendations onwhich wines to have on hand for the variety of social occasions thatthe festive season brings, along with my top tips for a glitteringChristmas.

So asfar as what on earth to buy for the spouse who has everything, orthat sourpuss in-law who never seems happy, no matter how much moneyand effort you expend – I'll have to leave you to your own devices. However, if you can start by welcoming all your guests with a glassof something cold and sparkling and flashing a winning smile, thenany other imperfections will surely be forgiven. Just don't forgetto order the turkey.

In themeantime, here are some wines deserving of your attention. Thisweek's wine recommendations are not specifically Christmassy, but aredesigned to soothe and delight over the colder, longer eveningsbetween now and December.

BordièreNord Marsanne Viognier 2010 - £6.99 (or buy 2 for £5.99 each) atMajestic

Marsanneand Viognier are traditional grapes of the RhôneValley, but have been transplanted here to the warmer Languedoc bythe mercurial Alain Grignon. This is a great value winter weightwhite with bags of unoaked tropical-tinged peachy fruit, combinedwith a herbal twist courtesy of the Marsanne. Full-tasting andwarming – great as a party wine, but the trace of herbal bitternessmakes it food-friendly too.

DomainesSchlumberger Riesling Grand Cru Saering 2007 - £18.95 fromslurp.co.uk

I'mnot going to beat around the bush. It's time wine drinkers got overtheir unfounded fears of Riesling, and especially of Riesling inthese tall “flute” shape bottles. This is a fantastic wine fromAlsace, in northeastern France, and it's DRY. Winemakers who cangrow it love Riesling, the wine trade loves Riesling, I love Riesling– please put a stop to all my banging on and try some!

This sprightly wine haslots of lime with a hint of peach and even a little orange rind onthe nose. The palate is dry, with a lip-smacking mineral tang andthe limey flavours really linger. It's quite weighty and with acitrus pith bitterness too – really should be had with food and itwas great with a chicken risotto. Very good and totally, deliciouslymoreish.

M&SCrozes-Hermitage 2008 - £10.99 from M&S

This 100% Syrah fromthe northern Rhône valley is made for M&S by the quality-mindedCave de Tain Co-operative and is exactly the kind of red wine youwant to relax with at this time of year. The nose has loads of blackfruit, along with some herbs and spices. The palate has more of thatlovely brambly fruit with a real black pepper kick. Have it with awinter casserole – or just by the fire, with slippers.

Wines that look good at fifty

2011-10-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

Howmany wines will happily last for over 50 years? You might think ofthe best Bordeaux classed growths, possibly the very top of Sauternesand really top class dessert wines.

If Iadd a qualifier – how many wines thatyou can buy for under £30will happily last for over 50 years – and out go Bordeaux andSauternes for sure. Now you need to turn to those great stalwarts oflongevity: Sherry, Madeira – and Port.

Beforeyou get too excited, that bottle of Cockburn's Special Reserve orWarre's Warrior that you snapped up for under a tenner last Christmasbut never got round to drinking, is not going to last that long. Those ruby ports are designed for early drinking and are not going toimprove in the bottle. It is the great vintage Ports from the majorshippers like Taylor's, Dow's or Graham's which are renowned fortheir ageing ability, measured in decades rather than years.

It wasthe English aristocracy's habit to lay down a “pipe” (a portbarrel, containing 55 dozen bottles) of vintage port from the birthyear of their sons, so that their offspring would have sufficient topass round after dinner from their 21^stbirthday on for most, if not all, of their adult life. With drinkinghabits like that, it comes as a surprise that the English aristocracyhaven't pickled themselves into extinction.

If youfancy taking up where they left off, albeit on a more modest scale, abottle of top quality vintage port will set you back upwards ofaround £60. So what happened to the £30 I drew you in with at thebeginning? I'm getting to that.

Theport houses decide whether a particular year will be “declared” avintage, based on the quality of the wines made. In theory eachproducer makes their decision individually, but in practice there arecertain years which most agree that the quality is high and therewill be a “general declaration”.

Weatherconditions in the Douro Valley, where Port is made, are notoriouslyharsh, with cold winters and blistering hot summers. The risk ofdrought is ever present and rain at harvest can be disastrous forquality. It is certainly not a foregone conclusion that great winecan be made each year.

Additionally,from a commercial perspective it would devalue the vintage Port brandif a house were to declare a vintage every single year. In the pastdecade the years 2000, 2003 and 2007 have all been declared. Thismeans that there is no Taylor's 2004 vintage Port, for example, itdoes not exist.

Whichis where bargain-hunting vintage Port lovers come in. In those nondeclared years, port houses will still make a style of vintage Portknown as single quinta. A quinta is simply the Portuguese word forfarm and refers to a particular vineyard. To those in the know,names such as Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas, Graham's Quinta dosMalvedos and Warre's Quinta do Bomfim are bywords for high qualityvintage Port, without, perhaps the huge staying power of the very topvintages.

In adeclared year, these quintas will be responsible for providing keycomponents of a house's vintage Port. In non declared years, theyare bottled under the name of the Quinta and can be yours forsomewhere under £30.

One hell of a tea trolley

Thegenerally accepted wisdom on single quintas is that they are ready todrink earlier than their straight vintage counterparts, and will notage much beyond 10-15 years. Based on a tasting of Symington familysingle quinta Ports going back to 1950, however, this might notnecessarily be the case.

TheSymingtons are one of those Anglo-Portuguese port families who remainstaunchly English, despite spending all their working lives in theDouro Valley. The family has been producing port for fivegenerations and is responsible for some of the biggest names in theport business: Graham's, Cockburn's, Dow's and Warre's.

TheGraham's Quinta dos Malvedos 1950 might be more of an interestingexperience than a classically enjoyable glass of Port, with itshauntingly ethereal floral perfume and hint of balsamic vinegar andeven stout (as in Guinness) flavours.

TheMalvedos 1958, however, would make an elegent ending to any meal. Itis still sweet and richly flavoured with caramel and nuts, thestructure has endured and the finish is incredibly long. How many ofus would like to aspire to be in such fine form at 54 years of age!

Unlessyou have some of these wines already stashed away, I'm afraid youwon't get the chance to try them, as literally just a few bottlesremain. The currently available vintage for most single quintas is1999, though you'll find a peppering of other years too. Here are myrecommended ones to search out:

Graham'sQuinta dos Malvedos 1999 - £30.56 (case price) from Imbibros nearGodalming

Thisis beautifully perfumed, incredibly rich and sweet. There areflavours and aromas of pipe tobacco and sweet spiced cherry. Malvedos is famous for producing opulent, sweet ports and thiscertainly fits that profile. The sweetness would make it a greatmatch for desserts – sticky toffee pudding or crème brûlée couldbe naughty but nice.

Dow'sQuinta do Bomfim 1999 - £26.50 from Tesco, £26.96 (case price)Imbibros

Barelyfive miles from Malvedos, but a world away from it in style, Bomfimis renowned for its drier, more tannic and austere style. This oneis rather more “winey” and with a less spirity nose than theMalvedos with lovely leafy notes. It is lighter bodied with morelifted aromas. Great on its own, but this would make a wonderful tofinish a meal along with some nuts – and maybe a cigar, if that'syour thing.

Cavadinha1996 - £30 from Waitrose, £29.66 (case price) from Imbibros

Cavadinhaproduces wines that have a distinctive and attractive floralcharacter on the nose. The palate has plenty of sweet, figgy fruit,with a savoury undertow and a nicely elegant finish.

"You'd have to be an idiot not to make great wine in 2011."

Finally,a word to the wise. Paul Symington is seriously excited about thequality of the just completed harvest and says that “You'd have tobe an idiot not to make great wine in 2011.” Will this be thefirst vintage declaration of the new decade? You heard it herefirst.

Cavadinha 2011 - vintage in the making?

You can follow the progress of the 2011 ports in the making and get lots of in-depth information about the Symingtons via their blog, http://malvedos.wordpress.com/

Stop the (wine) world, I want to get off

2011-10-14T04:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wish the wine world would just stop for a bit, so that I can catch up. It seems every time I look, there's a new wine region in Spain, a handful of grape varieties from Italy that I've never heard of, and a whole new grape-growing valley in Chile. Is there a never-ending supply of these things?

This latest yearning for a pause button on the wine world was prompted by a Chilean wine which hails from the Choapa Valley. Choapa? Choapa???

It's enough to make you hanker after the simplicity and stability of classic regions like...Burgundy. On the surface, it's all so straightforward: white wines are all Chardonnay, reds are Pinot Noir; the vineyard area has been minutely graded and differentiated over centuries and new bits do not spring up overnight like so many mushrooms; there is a strict hierarchy of quality, with generic Bourgogne at the bottom, going through village level, then Premier Cru and finally the pinnacle of Grand Cru.

Except it's not quite as simple as that....

Here's an illustration: Clos de Vougeot is a single walled vineyard in Burgundy's Côte de Nuits that is all classed as Grand Cru, hence it commands pretty astronomical prices. But it's big: 50 hectares (125 acres) of vineyard is enclosed within the walls, sub-divided between many growers (the average plot size is around 0.2 of a hectare).

The far-sighted Cistercian monks who decided to rip out the French beans, tomatoes and apple trees in favour of grape vines, would have made wine blended from the entire plot. Nowadays those monks are long-gone and each grower must try to wring the best quality possible from their few rows of vines.

The slopes at the middle and top of the Clos are generally agreed to make better wines than the plots on the flatter, damper ground at the bottom. And, let's be realistic, not all winemakers are created equal. Hence two equally eyewateringly expensive bottles of Grand Cru Clos de Vougeot may contain wine that varies considerably in terms of drinking pleasure. Caveat emptor!

So, to return to Chile, there they are at the other end of the wine adventure to Burgundy and most of the Old World. They are constantly exploring new territories within their long, thin string-bean of a country to see where grapes will flourish and which varieties best express the terroir. In vinous terms, Chile is a gigantic wine laboratory and, it must be said, the results are deliciously drinkable.

Chile, unlike any other major wine producing nation, does not have a long tradition of wine drinking. Up until recent years, grapes were grown primarily for distillation to make pisco – basis for the pisco sour cocktail. There were small winemaking concerns, based primarily in the Maipo Valley, close to the consumers and transport links of capital city, Santiago.

Over the years, Chile's winemakers have spread their wings and wineries to further flung and ever cooler regions, which would have initially been dismissed as too cold to ripen grapes – especially for such heat-loving varieties as Syrah (aka Shiraz).

This week's recommendations – Chile rather than Burgundy.

De Martino Legado Syrah 2010 - £10.49 from Caves de Pyrene (Artington, near Guildford)

The wine that prompted this column: from the Choapa Valley, which, I now know, is north of Santiago, roughly half-way between the Aconcagua and Limari Valleys. Chile is a long, narrow strip of land that flanks the Andes, but it is especially thin at this point, where the vines here are exposed to the cooling air of both the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

Having initially made their name with well-crafted, reliably gluggable Merlots, then taking up Carmenère as their signature red grape, Chileans are now showing the wine world that they are also pretty nifty when it comes to Syrah. Really, do they have to be so good at everything they do? The answer seems to be yes.

The fact that they choose to label the wine Syrah, rather than its New World synonym, Shiraz, tells you that in terms of style this is much closer to the peppery, herbal, cooler-climate Northern Rhone versions than the exuberantly fruity Australian ones. This has a definite tannic structure and an almost Old World restraint to the black-pepper tinged berry fruit.

Matetic Vineyards Corralillo Syrah 2009, San Antonio - £85.80 for a case of 6 from Armit, £15.95 from Sipp London

Matetic have had a real cachet about them and their wines since they burst onto the Chilean wine scene in 1999. The other Syrah made by Matetic, labelled simply Syrah, is undoubtedly a fine wine, but the price has gone up to a frankly ridiculous £37 a bottle. This little brother, Corallilo, however, still offers class in a glass at a much more reasonable price and has got better with each vintage I've tasted. Satisfyingly savoury, but with bumptious juicy fruit and great balance, this is also organic and biodynamic.

Maycas del Limari Quebrada Seca Chardonnay 2008, Limari - £18.95 from slurp.co.uk, £24.95 from Berry Bros (bbr.com)

Limari is yet another recently exploited wine region where you'll find deliciously fresh, juicy red wines – and this altogether very sophisticated Chardonnay.

If you know someone who has an expensive white Burgundy habit, but who struggles to afford to keep it going, then do them a favour and point them in the direction of this wine.

I was lucky enough to taste this wine with the man who makes it, Marcelo Papa, the man responsible for the phenomenally popular Casillero del Diablo wines. It combines the ripeness of fruit and mealy nuttiness of Meursault with the poise and linearity of Chablis. It's a truly lovely wine and incredibly moreish.

I say Argentina, you say....?

2011-10-04T01:21:00.000-07:00

Some way down the list, after maybe tango and Maradona's hand of God I'm guessing, as you're reading a wine blog, Malbec might make an appearance.

Despite hailing from France originally, Argentina has single-mindedly focused on making Malbec its vinous calling card. It successfully combines a modern, fruity and food-friendly style of red wine that chimes with Argentina's rugged image as a land of steak-eating, horse-riding gauchos.

But man (and woman) cannot live on red wine alone. There are times when a glass of something cold and white is what's required and in those situations, Argentina's wine industry would like us to embrace the charms of the Torrontes grape.

Torrontes is a unique grape to Argentina. In style it's light and fresh, with a distinct floral, grapey aroma – though the palate is always dry. If you like Gewurztraminer from either Alsace or, increasingly, Chile, you'll probably like Torrontes – especially if you find the French versions sometimes a little too sweet.

Also, dare I say it, all you Sauvignon Blanc lovers out there – think about giving Torrontes a try. It has the same full-on aromatic kick on the nose, leading onto a palate with good acidity, so stylistically it is in the same territory.

When I first came across Torrontes a few years back, too many of the wines I tried had rather over-floral aromatics, making them redolent of Old Spice aftershave, then a slightly bitter, sometimes sweaty flavour on the palate. Whatever the winemaking issues were then, they seem to have been resolved and most Torrontes nowadays is a pure pleasure to drink.

That combination of flowery aromas and a refreshingly crisp and dry palate makes Torrontes a shoo-in when choosing a glass to have as a palate-cleansing aperitif. But can it cut the mustard when you move onto the main course?

Dear readers, I have undertaken some food and Torrontes matching research on your behalf, guided by Master of Wine and ex-Good Food Magazine Associate Editor, Sarah Jane Evans. The results were perhaps a surprise – at least they were to me.

Argentina is renowned for its love for steaks, the bigger the better. And I wouldn't suggest you try glugging Torrontes with that. However, their other great love is seafood, especially when made as a ceviche, where the fish is “cooked” in a combination of lemon or lime juice, herbs, spices and olive oil. As you can imagine, this is a pretty intense flavour combination and Torrontes stands up to the citrus sharpness impeccably.

However, I'm guessing that prawn ceviche isn't a regular on the Autumn weekday menu in these here parts. But what about that great midweek standard, an English-as-a-middle-order-batting-collapse fish pie?

I was intrigued to find that a couple of the 100% Torrontes wines recommended below coped admirably. I had worried that the quite rich creaminess of the potato and fish would make the wine taste skinny and smell like cheap perfume – but not at all. Somehow the weight of fruit in the wine, combined with a slightly salty-mineral tang, served to enhance both the food and the wine.

Personally I've never been much of a fish pie fan – too much like anaemic nursery food pap. However, with a glass of chilled Torrontes on the side, perhaps I'll learn to love it.

Recommended Torrontes wines

La Riojana Tilimuqui Single Vineyard Fairtrade Torrontes 2011 - £6.99 at Waitrose

It's also organic. Too often, the Fairtrade label (or indeed the word organic) on a wine is no guarantee of quality in the bottle. Generally such wines languish at the cheaper end of the market (why? Don't we all think it worth paying more, not less, for ethically produced food and drink?) and offer neither enough concentration nor varietal character.

This one, however, is knockout value for money. The nose is reminiscent of Muscat – grapey, with a hint of tangerine peel. The palate, though, has more toned-down aromatics, with that lovely tangy minerality which helps to give weight and presence in the mouth, leading onto a long finish. Great with fish pie and pretty good with chorizo, so it's a good choice to have with some pre-dinner nibbles.

La Riojana Fairtrade Torrontes Chardonnay 2011 – currently £4.99 at The Co-operative

From the same producer, La Riojana, so named as they make their wines in the Argentine region of La Rioja – as you can imagine, this name gets the European Appellation Contrôlée authorities a little exercised.

If you don't want to scare the horses and would like a gentle introduction to Torrontes, then spending a fiver on this 60/40 Torrontes Chardonnay blend should be relatively painless. It still has aromas reminiscent of peaches and flowers, but the more assertive aromatics are toned down and softened by the more anonymous Chardonnay. The palate is smooth, fresh and ripe, with a slight spiciness – and it coped really well with the prawn ceviche. It would make a great party white.

Susana Balbo Zohar Torrontes 2010/11 - £11.99 single bottle price at The Vineking (branches in Reigate and Weybridge), down to £10.79 as part of a mixed case of 6; £10.99 a bottle from Hennings Wine Merchants (branches in Petworth, Pulborough and Goring-on-Sea)

Susana Balbo is one of the best winemakers in Argentina and all her wines are worth a try. This wine, though, struck me as the most food-friendly from the selection. It breezed through the prawn ceviche, stood up to the fish pie and got along swimmingly with smoked duck.

It had more weight and presence than the other two wines, with a sense of richness, despite being completely dry. The trademark floral aromatics combine with a lick of salty tang and a kick of spice on the palate. Altogether it's a class act.

The vines don't bite - but the iguana might

2011-09-19T02:02:00.001-07:00

I've visited a fair few vineyards in my time, but a winery with a menagerie attached was a new one on me.

At Plumpton College, tucked into a fold of the South Downs just below Ditchling, you can study vine-growing and wine-making in their brand spanking new Wine Study Centre. On your way to the vineyard though, you might find yourself distracted by Tony the Hawk, or Elgar and Egor the owls, or even Iggy the Iguana (that name I may have made up, but it's the obvious choice) who are all residents in the adjoining Animal Care Centre.

As the English and Welsh wine industry grows ever larger, with around 400 vineyards currently in production, there is a burgeoning demand for a homegrown solution to training tomorrow's wine-makers and Plumpton College is meeting the need.

Wine production has been taught here since 1988, when they started out with just a few rows of vines and some demi-johns to ferment the resulting juice in. Things have moved on in the intervening years and now around 150 students are here at any one time, learning hands-on how to train, prune, spray and tend the vines; then how to ferment, rack, pump over, fine, filter age and bottle the final wines. Not to mention learning how to drive and manoeuvre a tractor, a vital skill for anyone looking to be of any help in a vineyard.

Unlike the product of most diploma courses – wads of paper, files and bumf which gather dust over the years before finally succumbing to the recycling bin – Plumpton students' labours have a very tangible, nay drinkable, result. Each year Plumton produces 15,000 bottles of wine which are all available to buy. I tried four of them on my visit and was impressed by the fact that all were not just drinkable, but of a commercial standard. Their biggest customer is a seafood restaurant in nearby Brighton.

And you can try them too, to judge for yourselves whether the future of English winemaking is in good hands. Waitrose stocks two of Plumpton's wines: their sparkling white and rosé.

Plumpton Estate, “The Dean” Brut NV - £18.99 at waitrosewine.com

Plumpton Estate, “The Dean” Blush Brut NV - £18.99 at waitrosewine.com

As with most pink fizz, this is made by adding a small amount of red wine, made from Plumpton's own pinot noir grapes, to their regular white sparkling wine. Although non vintage, this is based on the 2008 vintage. The colour is a pale smoked salmon rather than pink and it has an invitingly creamy nose. It might be maturing faster than it ought to, but it's a great pleasure to drink now with plenty of sherbetty acidity and an elegant finish that leaves you wanting another sip.

As well as teaching the next generation of UK (and Indian and Scandinavian) winemakers, Plumpton is also setting up a Research Centre, which will help to support the UK winemaking industry by undertaking scientific research into areas that mean little or nothing to wine drinkers, but are of intense interest to winemakers. I learned, for example, that English chardonnay must (juice) destined for sparkling wine has much greater “foamability” than its French counterpart in Champagne. Who knew?

Plumpton College is generally not open for casual visitors, but you can find out about their various courses for those interested in learning about the practical and business side of wine on their website: www.plumpton.ac.uk. But be careful, you could find yourself getting distracted by the wildlife...

A few miles up the A23 from the college is Bolney Estate, an English wine success story, whose winemaker, Sam Linton, is herself a graduate of Plumpton. Bolney, then known as Bookers Vineyard, began making wine back in 1972, from just 3 acres of vines. Now they have over 39 acres under vine and plan to produce over 200,000 bottles of wine in 2012.

Sam, daughter of the owner and founder Rodney, has a gift for making delicious red wines – always tricky in our really too-cool climate – and consistently makes one of the country's best pinot noirs. Her sparkling wines are pretty good too.

Here are my favourites from the range:

Cuvée Rosé 2008 - £23.99 from Bolney

100% pinot noir traditional (ie same as Champagne) method sparkling wine. There's a lovely leafy and floral lift to the strawberries and cream nose and the palate has plenty of juicy red fruit.

Cuvée Noir 2009 - £19.99 from Bolney

You might have come across rather thick, treacly sparkling red shiraz before. This is a red wine and it is sparkling, but the Bolney wine is altogether a different beast from those Australian heavyweights, made from Dornfelder grapes. It manages to combine light, juicy frivolity with more serious wine characters and has a delicious hint of cocoa bitterness on the finish which makes it food friendly – great for barbecues, says Sam.

Waitrose also stock Bolney's Dark Harvest red blend, which is a very accomplished English wine. It's a soft and spicy, slightly earthy mouthful of blackberryish fruit. £8.99 at waitrosewine.com

To sample and buy the full range of Bolney Estate wines, you'll need to take a trip down the A23 to the vineyard, where they run tours and tastings every day except Sunday. Find out more via their website on: www.bolneywineestate.co.uk.

Vinho Verde: not just white and certainly not green

2011-09-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

We allthink we know what to expect from Vinho Verde. It's a white winefrom northern Portugal that is bracing in its acidity, very lightbodied and usually with a hint of soluble aspirin spritz about it.

Wellyou and I both know that this would be a very short article if thatwere the case. I would simply usher you onto the next page with a“Move along people, nothing to see here...”

Thereforeit will come as no surprise whatsoever that there is more to VinhoVerde than something that resembles lightly alcoholic, slightly flatmineral water.

For astart, Vinho Verde can be red (or rosé, or indeed sparkling). Thename refers to the region, rather than describing the wine. So it'sthe vast expanse of verdant, not to say rain-soaked, vineyards inthis chunk of northwest Portugal which are green, rather than any ofthe wines which emanate from them.

Thevine in its natural state originally evolved to scramble up trees,and in Vinho Verde vines were traditionally allowed to grow this way,either twining through branches or along wires strung between thetrees. This makes pruning the vines and picking the grapes atime-consuming – and even dangerous – process. You certainlyneed a head for heights. And a very long ladder.

Mostvines nowadays are more commonly trained along wires at a morepicker-friendly height, so the vineyards look much like any otheracross the world. The wines themselves, however, maintain adelightful individuality, with a style all of their own. Not leastamong their charms is a tendency to low alcohol – many of thesewines are just 11 or 11.5% - perfect for a lunchtime glass.

Traditionalstyles of Vinho Verde

Quintada Aveleda 2010 - £7.25 from www.drinkfinder.co.uk

Aclassic mix of traditional varieties make up this textbook example ofwhite Vinho Verde: Loureiro, Trajadura and Alvarinho. It has amineral, iodine nose, redolent of the sea. There is a definitespritz on the palate and very crisp acidity, but plenty of flavourtoo and a touch of soluble aspirin on the finish. Very fresh, veryindividual.

Quintada Lixa 2010 - £8.99 from www.averys.com

In asimilar vein to the Aveleda, though it has a softer feel in themouth. There is less driving acidity and rather more fruit, makingfor a gentler and less uncompromising wine.

Modernstyles

Quintade Gomariz 2010 - £9.99 (mixed case price) from The Wine Reserve inCobham

Ratherthan blending, this producer makes several wines, each made from asingle traditional variety. The Wine Reserve stocks their Loureiro,which has an intensely floral scent, verging on violets. The palatehas Vinho Verde's hallmark crisp acidity, citrussy fruit - and only11.5% alcohol. While you're there, you might be talked into tryingthe Gomariz rosé and red, which they also stock.

If youget the chance, look out this producer's single varietal Avesso, avariety that you'll rarely see unblended. The nose is bracing, likea breath of sea air. The palate has a lovely weight of rich, citrusfruit, with a hint of citrus pith bitterness too.

Quintado Soalheiro 2010 - £13.95 from The Wine Society

Fourteenquid for a Vinho Verde? Here's a quick lesson in wine geography andhow to spot a bargain. Just across Portugal's northern border is theSpanish region of Galicia, which is renowned for its white wines madefrom the Albariño grape. Famously a seafood wine par excellence,you'll be lucky to find a good one for under £15 in this country.

Thesame variety, back in Portugal, is known as Alvarinho and is afamiliar grape in many a Vinho Verde blend. Some producers are nowwanting to highlight the star qualities of the variety by making apure Alvarinho Vinho Verde – but pound for pound, you get a lotmore quality for your money on the Portuguese side of the border.

TheSoalheiro has a pure, mineral nose. The palate is quite weighty andthere is not even a hint of spritz. What impresses most is that itmanages to strike a wonderful balance between the abundant ripe fruitand lip-smacking freshness, making for a serious, yet lively wine: abeguiling combination.

Fordaredevils

Afros2010 - £8.82 from Les Caves de Pyrène, Guildford

A redVinho Verde (I did promise they existed) which will certainly piquethe interest of adventurous wine lovers. It's an uncompromising sortof wine, which has to be experienced – though I can't promise thatmost people will enjoy it. The dark-fleshed Vinhãograpes make for an intensely-coloured, deep purple-to-ruby wine.There's an initial big hit of full-on, sour fruit, the tannins arelow, but there is something very green and grippy at the back of thepalate. Tight acidity provides the structure and a slightlyunexpected (but pleasant) perfume emerges on the finish. You mightnot be surprised to know that this wine is biodynamic. Caves dePyrène also stock Afros' rather more mainstream white Vinho Verde.

Doesn'tsound like your cup of tea? Come on, it's only a bottle of wine andwouldn't life be boring if they all tasted the same?

Some people don't wear clothes

2011-08-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

Do you wear clothes? Some people don't, you know.

No, they get up in the morning and pull on (never simply put on) pieces (not mere clothes) from their day-to-evening capsule wardrobes. A tee in this season's brights might be paired with a must-have nude midi (the mind boggles). These ladies (for it is they) may slick their lips with some high shine gloss and re-coat their nails in Chanel's mimosa nail polish (yellow vomit-coloured in case you don't know it) before running out the door to their high-powered jobs. And where do they work? The fashion industry – specifically the world of fashion journalism.

It all sounds exhausting. And all those vaguely fetishistic words to do with clothes make me shudder. Why can't they just say skirt and t-shirt like the rest of us?

But are we in the wine trade just as guilty of fetishizing our subject matter too? Do we risk putting off averagely-interested wine drinkers with our talk of silky tannins which dance across the palate, clothed in filigree acidity, clasped to the chest of a dance partner of brooding power?

And before you say anything, I know I know, mea culpa. I too find it hard to avoid some of those rather fanciful metaphorical descriptions for wine. Life would be dull indeed if we had to stick to just the technical details of a wine to describe it.

Here's an example, based on the wine I'm sipping as I write this: this red wine is a medium intensity ruby in colour, with medium body, balanced acidity and tannin. The black fruit character is pronounced and alcohol is 14.5%. Are you driven to go out and buy some to try on the strength of that description? I'm guessing not. And yet this could accurately describe many of the perfectly delicious bottles of red wine available in your local supermarket or wine merchant.

The trouble is, it doesn't tell you anything that might help you to decide to try one bottle rather than any other. Ultimately the language we use to describe wine is an attempt to convey a sense of what it actually feels like to drink it, rather than just a nuts and bolts description of its constituent parts. Wine is not (at least in most cases) merely alcoholic Ribena.

So, in the end, I should exhibit some fellow feeling and cut those fashion writers some slack. Forgive them their habits of wearing pieces instead of clothes, as you forgive me my talk of precious liquids instead of just wine. In the end they're just trying to relieve the boredom of having to describe yet another pair of trousers.

But (whisper it) I can't help feeling that clothes are just clothes.

It may have escaped your notice that the Glorious Twelfth and with it the official start of the grouse shooting season is upon us. So, having bagged your game bird after a day's shooting on the grouse moor (or a quick trip to the butcher's), which wines will make a suitable accompaniment?

Cuvée Chasseur 2010, £4.29 from Waitrose

At the budget end of the scale is this appropriately-named French wine, which translates roughly as “hunter's lot”. This is the kind of wine that has been Australia's bread and butter for the last 15 years: a simple, very easy drinking blend that has bags of sweet sour cherry and black fruit with barely a hint of tannin. Unlike most bargain Aussie reds, however, this has just 12% alcohol, making for a much more food-friendly and versatile drink.

Pinot noir is perhaps THE grape to seek out for game – its soft tannins and juicy red fruit will meld harmoniously with game fowl without leaving a mouthpuckering dryness.

The Society Exhibition Martinborough Pinot Noir 2009, £12.95 at The Wine Society

This is made for The Wine Society by Craggy Range, whose name is a byword for quality wines in New Zealand. Martinborough, right at the southern tip of the North Island, is a pinot noir enclave which faces the sauvignon blanc stronghold of Marlborough across the narrow Cook Strait which separates the two islands.

This is fairly light-coloured, as is most pinot noir, but has no shortage of chunky, spice-tinged fruit allied to earthy flavours which mirror the savouriness of game. The mouthfeel (wine fetishism alert) is silky and the finish, like Celine Dion's love, will go on....and on.

If you like this style, also look out for Craggy Range's more opulent Te Muna Road Martinborough Pinot Noir 2008, £19.99 from Taurus Wines in Bramley.