Here’s Something Honey

If pressed, SWMBO and I will admit our love in wine is for Riesling, especially German Riesling.  It’s that special balance of fruitiness with acidity and sugar.  Few other wine varieties come close.  Albarino is similar, but usually has more drive, and not quite the finesse and poise.  The other variety than springs to mind is Chenin Blanc; the fruitiness isn’t quite the same, and the acidity is more in charge.  However we have had examples as delicious as any Riesling in our experience.

So when Gordy and Pia were in town, we went to a lovely eatery with a specially curated wine list by a resident MW.  Gordy and Pia knew exactly what they wanted, and knew it would tickle our fancy,  It was the 2016 Mullineux ‘Kloof Street’ Chenin Blanc from Swartland in South Africa.  It’s not the Mullineux’s top tier by any means, but the wines are very accessible as this was.  Simply, it was deliciously honied, as Riesling can be, but had that white stonefruit and floral edge in flavour that Chenin Blanc has.  The acidity was poised but not cutting.  A treat to drink, and surprisingly dry technically at 3.4 g/L, but the fruit richness makes it exotic and rich.  It’s not Riesling, but close in many ways.  I must admit that it’s pushed my image of Chenin Blanc up a notch, especially at this affordable level.  I’ve always had respect for the sweeter Loire Chenins that are called ‘honey monsters’.  This Mullineux is a ‘honey child’.  

Something to Crow About

Every once in a while you come across some spectacular wine.  In this case, I was totally bowled over by three 2013 Gimblett Gravels Hawke’s Bay reds that come from Squawking Magpie.  Gavin Yortt’s the proprietor, and he was a pioneering grapegrower in the Gravels, o knows the properties of the district and the soils.  He has Jenny Dobson as his winemaker, who is one of the great winemakers and consultants in Hawke’s Bay, operating out of the Sacred Hill facilities.

A little while ago, I came across the Squawking Magpie ‘SQM’ reds from 2013.  They were very special, and quite spectacular in their own right.  I mistakenly though these were the best from Gavin in what he describes as a perfect vintage.  But I was wrong, as he has the Squawking Magpie ‘Platinum’ series of 2013 Gimblett Gravels Reds up his sleeve, and he’s just announced they are available.  There are only 300 bottles of each of a ‘Merlot’ with some Cabernet in the blend, a ‘Cabernets’ with some Malbec in the blend, and a 100% Syrah.

These are simply stunning.  On opening, all three were taut and brooding, or like coiled springs, just waiting to come out.  Even drinking them straight away, the pleasure is great, but the potential even greater.  If you leave the bottles, opened, with some of the wine taken out (SWMBO and drank it), they unfold and develop incredibly.  The Merlot becomes immensely earthy and tobacco flavoured with plums.  Great structure that means the wine will see out a decade with the complexity it already shows.  The Cabernets is my star.  Unrivalled linearity and wonderful varietal clarity, with enormous structure and potential.  Very refined, of course.  This has a couple of decades ahead of it.  Then the explosive Syrah with volume and layers of black fruits, spices and minerals.  Again wonderfully structured and 10-15 years easily.  We shared these, that 24 hour period later, with the Bassinet Babes, and they too were astounded.  The wines are not cheap, at $100.00 per bottle, but worth every bit of it.  These Magpies are something to Crow about.

Sparkling Future

With the Sparkling Wine category expanding, we are seeing deluxe Champagne soar to new heights in pricing and designer packaging.  The backlash, of course is that wine consumers will pay what they can afford to pay, and the rise of local method wines to fill the gap is one of the outcomes.  The big winner around the world is Prosecco from Veneto in Italy.  And maybe Cava will join the ranks of increasing popularity if they can get their unique flavours to become more accepted.

However it’s Prosecco’s turn to take the limelight now.  Made from the Glera grape, which seems to thrive and produce the best balance and character around Treviso, the wine is made economically by the Charmat method with secondary fermentation in vat rather than in bottle, and the input of autolysis is not particularly desired.  The wine sits at 11.0% alc. and with the same figure on average for residual sugar.  I haven’t seen any vintage Prosecco here and the non-vintage concept makes it appear more uniform.  The wine is easy, affordable and not challenging.  Perfect for most occasions.  The future for Prosecco continues to be bright and sparkling.

But one must not be lulled into a false sense of security that all is good and even, for like all wines, they can vary, and distinctly so.  Some are drier, other sweeter.  Some have greater character and balance.  In essence, some are better than others.  This came through in a small tasting of four wines.  The NV Casa Bianca Prosecco Brut was soft, up-front with simple fruit flavours and a bit short.  But still pleasant.  The NV Divici Prosecco  was more taut and elegant, quite mouthwatering due to its phenolics.  A finer wine and a bit more classy by a slender margin.  I did like the NV Masottina Prosecco Brut which was more sweet-fruited with freshness, and lovely elegance and length.  The NV Sacchetto Prosecco Extra Dry was another good one for me, with more purity and lovely mouthwatering vibrancy.  All different and all offering something for all people.  You’ve just got to choose what works for you.

A Little Gem

It’s ironic that being of Chinese descent, I have tried very few Chinese wines.  Sure there’s been enough liqueurs and spirits that have not been quite that clean or somewhat coarse, and then the flavours are as if they are from another planet.  Well, to be correct, they are from another country.

So with my background and history, it was a surprise to find the 2015 Gem Winery ‘2^nd Ningxia Winemaker’s Challenge’ Cabernet Sauvignon a really delightful wine.  The wine is the result of a challenge, sponsored by the government.  60 winemakers from 23 countries were invited to make a Cabernet Sauvignon from a 3 ha block of fruit from a larger vineyard, situated in Ningxia, in the foothills of the Helan mountains between inner and outer Mongolia.  It’s Gobi Desert country.  The aim was to promote the region and exchange ideas and experience between all parties. 

This wine, from the 2015 Gem Winery was made by Leo Ricardez.  The owner of Gem Winery actually hadn’t built her winery yet, so she rented space at another.  10,000 bottles were made, 5,000 going to the winery, 3,000 to the organisers of the competition and 2,000 to the winemaker.  This wine is distinctly Cabernet Sauvignon with blackcurrants, cassis and a touch of leaf.  Plenty of body, rounded and accessible with softer tannins and integrated acidity.  As I said, a really nice drink.  A wee gem, actually.  

With the investment in wine in China by all sorts of groups and businesses, I will keep an open mind to what I see.  I know winemakers who spend time there, and report exciting things.  The global wine press is enthusiastic, positive and supportive.  There will be many more gems come to light in the future.        

Left Hand-Right Hand, Left Brain-Right Brain

Paddy Borthwick, winemaker at Gladstone in the Wairarapa has created an interesting experiment.  He has a ‘left Hand’ and a ‘Right Hand’ Pinot Noir, the LH made by his (former) assistant winemaker, and the RH made by him.  Essentially the two wines come from the same stock, but personal selections of barrels, based on their personal differences.  Paddy considers Braden to have a logical and precise approach to life and winemaking, whereas he is more intuitive and impulsive.  The wines over several vintages have shown some consistencies.  The LH wines are indeed precise and tight, quite firm and linear.  The RH wines more flowing, ethereal, and perfumed.  There’s a more orderly nature to the LH wine, whereas the RH wine can be wider ranging.  Having just tasted the 2014 Paddy Borthwick ‘Left Hand’ and ‘Right Hand’ Wairarapa Pinot Noirs, there are conclusions to be made.  If there’s one thing to take from this, it is that winemaker signature is an important factor in wine.

Interestingly, the LH and RH wine styles and their reasons behind them are a little at odds to what is known or believed in.  LH people are deemed more artistic and emotive, whereas RH are more structured and orderly.  There is also the matter of the handedness and brain hemisphere swapped around, the Right brain working on emotions and the Left brain on cognitive process.  It’s all so confusing!

Above Ones Weight

There is a natural order in wine.  Some are better than others.  Most wine producers work to this, so that the best fruit and greatest care goes into the top label.  Those not quite to style or without the best qualities go into a second, or even third label.  If it can’t make the grade at all, it is sold off, or just dumped. 

However some wines just don’t behave, and often a second wine can punch above its weight.  We see this in wine judging competitions, where a secondary label gets the gold medal, and the premium wine is rated lower.  These good-performing wines just get the balance right and can be truly delicious.  They can be so pleasing, though not necessarily the most complex, so they must get a good medal and be recognised for its quality and style.

One such wine did it for SWMBO and I recently.  It was the 2016 Pencarrow Martinborough Pinot Noir.  Of course its bigger sibling, the Palliser Estate wine is bigger, richer, more structured, more complex and more ageworthy.  But the sweet fruitiness, richness, perfect extraction and freshness made the Pencarrow just simply adorable and irresistible to drink.  So we drank it!

Pretty Pink and Pale

There is a current fad around the world to see the pretty and pale, but dry and thirst-quenching rosé wine of Provence and Southern France as the ultimate in the style.  If your rosé has a deeper or darker colour, and shows aromas and flavours of real fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, pomegranate and quince, and they have a little lifted confectionary character, then the wine doesn’t fit in with what is trendy.  And that’s a shame, as for most consumer, myself included, I like a bit of diversity.  There are times and foods that work better with a rosé with more flavour and/or structure.  The key thing is that the wines are mouth-watering and thirst-quenching in the final analysis.  However, the current predisposition for pale and pink is strong, and one must be aware of what they entail and offer.  They do have  a range of personalities and quality, so one must still be careful in choosing the right one.

It was a treat to have four southern French rosé wine come my way.  They were authentic, but were not the most famous or esteemed.  But they delivered exactly as they should have.  Some a little more than other, and others a little less.  The 2016 Chemin des Sables Mediterranee Rosé was light in flavour, vibrant and fresh, but a little too phenolic and grippy for great balance.  But still, it did the job.  I was taken more by the 2016 Plaisir’osé Var Rosé, more fragrant and fruity, and with very good acidity and textural balance.  Maybe it’s my New World palate, but this modern style appealed to me the most.  Then can what I’d regard as the most ‘authentic’, showing the character and interest that Provencale rosé can deliver.  The 2016 Henri Gaillard Cotes de Provence Rosé had elegance and concentration, lovely freshness and fruit, but also with a touch of non-perfect complexity in flavour. This had interest.  Again, it might be my New World stereotyping playing its part.  And finally the 2016 J. L. Quinson Cotes de Provence Rosé, harmonious and delicate, maybe a little light in character, but in no way offering any offence.

These were all true-to-style, but quite amazingly so different – in a subtle way of course.  Diversity and variety is the spice of life, and our perspectives of rosé should encompass that too, beyond just pale, pretty and pink.