I Meant Mencia

After my very positive experience with a Mencia from Bierzo wine last weekend with the A-Prentices, I thought it would be good to explore more, especially as we were catching up with The Chairman and P-Prince over the next few days and nights.  So off I went to the GG bottle store and picked up a couple at the more affordable end.  First up was the 2009 Decendientes Palacios ‘Petalos’ Bierzo from the masters of the region.  This is at the base end, and it was a pleasant Mediterranean red with fruit and savoury flavours.  It could have come from anywhere in the region, not showing fragrance nor fine elegance and acidity.  A nice drink nevertheless.  Then the 2005 Dominio de Tares ‘Cepas Viejas’ Bierzo.  Expecting plenty after the lovely 2006, as 2005 would be a better year.  But no, the galloping brett horses took charge, and the wine, though gutsy, had no varietal delicacy, but plenty of farmyard.  SWMBO was not amused!  I meant to show Mencia, and went away disappointed.

Thank goodness for the classics.  The start of the evening was marked by a 2010 Yves Cuilleron ‘La Petite Cote’ Condrieu.  Sure it’s not the big label, but very true to style, a faint touch of herbs to the exoticism, and lovely near-unctuous weight and texture.  Gorgeous, rich and weighty Viognier.  Everything it should have been.  Then served by The Gallopers, a 2006 Yalumba ‘Signature’ Cabernet/Shiraz from the Barossa.  A little more developed since last time, showing the soft savoury notes, and now the firm curranty Cabernet Sauvignon dominating over the peppery, spicy Shiraz.  Nice oaking too, allowing the fruit to speak, but enough there to let you know there’s plenty of it.  Delicious stuff, and a treat.  Then the big-one, a 2001 Penfolds Grange.  "Infanticide" cried ‘P-Prince’ and ‘The Chairman’.  Ripe, but not over the top.  Huge weight, but with elegance.  Density, but fluid and very drinkable.  Sure this was firm, primary and new American oaky, but it ticked all the boxes and was the first to be emptied.  And it was great with the hearty, meaty fare.  That’s what such wines are for, and not to be put on a pedestal.   

A Bit on the Mean Side

I love looking at older wines, but some vintages just don’t make old bones.  1977 for European table wine isn’t one to seek out.  I’m sure there’s lovely wines out there, but I haven’t seen too many, especially lately.  I know some were decent in a light, cool, and crisp way early on, but now with 35 years down the track they’re a bit on the mean side.

Lentil and Cookie opened a couple from their family cellar.  No point taking up room if they’re no good now?  A 1977 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf-du-Pape was brown and bricked out in colour, and quite tertiary with past the mushroom and undergrowth into earth and dirt.  Trying to be round and generous as Grenache and southern Rhone should be, but not enough gas in the tank.  It had the semblance of what it could have been, but really a little mean.  Less pleasing was the 1977 Ch. Beychevelle St Julien.  Always a medium weight and elegant wine, but now rather faded and skinny.  Acid sharpness and tartness.  Bitter greens and vegetables, with secondary and tertiary notes,  Definitely mean and lean, only as poor Cabernet Sauvignon can do so well.  To be fair, neither were dead and undrinkable.  But you didn’t want to drink them.  Now just curiosities.  

An Iberian Introduction

I’ve always been a bit of a safe-better when it comes to the wines of Spain and Portugal.  It’s the conservative upbringing in the wine education that occurs in this country, as far away as possible on this planet.  Rioja, Sherry, Port are the mainstays.  Heck, Ribera del Duero is the new kid on the block for me!  But seriously, the new and exciting wines are of real interest and I’ve been dipping my toes in the water more surely over the years.  There’s a huge divergence available.  There’s a host of cheap and cheerful newbies that are modern and unchallenging, but thoroughly slurpablr.  Then there’s the super-expensive ‘first-growth claret price’ modern super-premium wonders that seem ‘one-hit’ and difficult to decide to put some money into.  It’s tough to choose…

Thank goodness there’s plenty of middle ground appearing and I had a little Iberian introduction with two reds.  The 2008 Filipa Pato ‘Lokal’ ‘Silex’ Bairrada is a good way to showcase Touriga Nacional out of the port bottle and a little away from the Port region, good to see in a table wine format.  It’s still not too far from port in style, with its ripeness, though well-dry.  Black as, and densely packed, it was a firm beast and with plenty of bitter chocolate and animal stuff going on underneath.  One of the A-Prentices loved it, the other hated it.  I took my time to decide.  Magnificent and impressive.  Real Touriga Nacional, though there’s 15% Alfrocheiro Preto.  Supple for its size.  But that brett just grew and grew.  In the end, it was a 'no thanks'.  The 2006 Dominio de Tare ‘Cepas Viejas’ Bierzo was a stunning rendition of the exciting Mencia grape.  Sitting between Burgundy and Rhone stylistically, but richer and with great red perfumes and sweet succulence to die for.  Acidity kept this in the land of the finely structured, and the tannins in perfect proportion too.  Immensely drinkable, I’ll be seeking more Mencia, which makes north-west Spain so interesting….       

Cool, Calm and Collected

What wines do you serve to a man who not only tastes widely, but grows weird and wonderful himself?  The V-Man is an adventurous sort in wine for sure, and few would take the gamble on the odd plants that he and E-V have in their back garden.  Yet these two are very happy in their space with what they have got, and are really quite cool, calm and collected about it all, growing the grapes, making the wines and selling them, such work quite frightening to others.

The upshot is that SWMBO and I put out a couple of wines from the Sudtirol region, something a little different, yet not too unfamiliar.  The white was a 2009 Peter Pliger ‘Kuenhof’ Eisacktaler Veltliner, 100% Gruner Veltliner, fermented to 13.5% alc. and dry.  Pilger is a fan of the Rieslings of the Mosel, and maybe this might be similar?  But no, this was not the case.  The wine was not clearly Gruner at first, being a little flinty reductive, but with that white floral and minerally north-east Italian feel, and pretty decent acid and alcohol cut.  I was thinking austere, but as it gained some air time, it developed richness and texture.  No grip, but driven core and mouthfeel with real weight and power.  With the food, fatty duck, prawns and salty beef dishes, it went remarkably well.  The V-Man was particularly happy with this, as he has a little Gruner Veltliner at home and could see another expression of it.  The home of the variety is of course, just over the border…

I thought the red we dug out might also be one that would go well with the range of Asian food we had in front of us.  Georg Ramoser’s 2009 Weingut Untermoserfof St Magdalener Klassisch Sudtirol.  Made from the Vernatsch variety with a little Lagrein, this was surprisingly light in colour and weight, though the label said 13.0% alc.  Quite a ‘pretty’ wine with light cherry aromas and flavours and rather on the less-constituted side in the mouth, the extraction quite modest.  Lovely to drink on its own actually, the food tended to come out stronger.  The gentleness is certainly appealing, however.  These two Sudtirol wines from a cool growing area were indeed quite settled in their styles, calm and collected with their expression, and no forced nature from trying too hard.  Drinking them put us in that mood too.  

Pinot Noir Plateau

The Little Aussie Battler was celebrating a Big Birthday.  She and the Drama Queen arranged a fine dining experience with Hot Heather and Dolby Dudley, and SWMBO and I were lucky to be part of the party.  The Champers, white wine and dessert oloroso were everything they should have been, the dinner was superb, and the staff and service more than what you could ever expect.
 

But it was the Pinot Noir that shone through.  The Battler has a thing for Ata Rangi, with connections all round, and she provided a 2003 Ata Rangi Martinborough Pinot Noir.  A good vintage in quality terms, small and concentrated berries with really good ripeness too.  But nearly a decade down the track, what could you expect?  Some of the 2003s from the district aren’t looking that smart now.  There are some that really still look they can go further.  This is one of those!  Dark ruby colour still, with no brick dominance, thus exuded ripe, primary dark red berry fruit flavours with those hints of savouries that Martinborough have.  But no excessive secondary undergrowth, forest-floor or fungal stuff.  Nice vitality from the acid, and softened tannins.  Very silky too.  This had a little opulence with it.  Absolutely delicious and hard not to indulge.  This was just entering the prime of its drinking life – its plateau, just like The Little Aussie Battler.