Three Mature Wines (and some food)

A 1983 German Riesling, a 2014 NZ Riesling, a 2012 Rhône and a take-away restaurant meal

A neighbour was moving house and asked if I had any surplus wine packaging going spare; in return for a few cartons retrieved from the recycling, he proffered a bottle from the cellar, with the warning "It's a bit Madeirised, but hopefully OK".

I decided I had got the better end of the bargain and decided to put it up against another aged Riesling and some food from Alex Rushmer's Vanderlyle.

Opening the wine was surprisingly easy, if somewhat unconventional; applying the corkscrew, the cork slipped down the neck of the bottle irretrievably, so I pushed it all the way in then fetched a decanter-plus-tea-strainer and out it poured.

What else to pair with an aged Riesling but another aged Riesling?

Peter Ranscombe had recently tipped a 2014 Marlborough Riesling from Aldi and I'd been intrigued enough to buy a few bottles.

Freeman’s Bay Marlborough Riesling 2014 (£7.99, Aldi) sealed under screwcap, it has not evolved as much as a similarly priced and similarly aged Mosel Riesling from The Co-op.

Honeysuckle, citrus and a hint of petrol, zippy and fresh with lime marmalade and a slatey mineral thrill; falls away quickly but mineral-persistent on the finish. Thoroughly pleasant and off-the-beaten-track.

Deidesheimer Herrgottsacker Riesling Spatlese 1983 golden topaz in colour, or Earl Grey tea, with aromas of bruised apple, a touch of old leather and some cellar mustiness but nothing approaching diesel or kerosene.

On the palate, stone fruit and citrus with toasted brazil nut and cashew, sultanas, beurre noisette and savoury, caramelised butterscotch; sweet-sour, saline-mineral and long. A well-knitted, complex and harmonious mass of wonderful contradictions; starts sweet and finishes dry, mellow yet energetic, fruited but savoury, oxidised yet fresh.

Very Good.

Drink as an aperitif or match with lighter game or mushrooms.

Domaine de Fontbonau Cotes-du-Rhone 2012 (£12.99, Cambridge Wine Merchants) Alex had suggested a gutsy Malbec to go with his main course, a multi-stage, two-day chili, so I picked out this warming, mature red.

A bin-end, fire-sale wine that had been destined for the restaurant trade; I bought several cases of this, and also sent a bottle to Peak District-based PR Francesca Gaffey as part of Dan Kirby's twitter wineswap.

Mature Rhônes are somewhat unusual as they tend to be consumed young, but this is ripe yet savoury, intense and supple with very fine tannins.

The Food - Vanderlyle

Vanderlyle and MJP@TheShepherds are the Blur and Oasis of the Cambridge Dining Scene; Alex was a Masterchef finalist and Mark has held a Michelin Star.

Starter

Rapeseed oil focaccia with blackened salsa; tomatoes and roasted chili, with cardamom and fennel seeds. Warm the bread, dip into the salsa; more amuse bouche than starter but very well-made.

Main

Carlin Pea & Morita Pepper Chili

Aged Cheddar Mac 'n' Cheese

Braised Spring Greens

Spicy-savoury and rich; it took a few mouthfuls before we realised it was vegetarian (or at least meat-free); appropriately hearty and warming for a late-spring chill.

Dessert

Orange Poppyseed & Olive Oil Pudding Custard

More a light cake than a pudding, the most adept and elegant part of the meal.

With coffee

Vanderlyle "Black & White Biscuit"

A homemade Oreo - but so much better.

Footnotes: Deidesheim is a small, highly prestigious wine-growing village in Germany's Pfalz wine region. It is best known for its Riesling, which is by far the dominant variety here. Like other Pfalz wines, Riesling made here is fuller-bodied and richer than most other German Riesling, thanks to the region's relatively warm, dry climate.

Most Deidesheimer Rieslings are trocken (dry). Situated just a few miles north of Neustadt town, Deidesheim lies right at the heart of Pfalz's top vineyard area. The village and its vineyards sit at the foot of the Haardt mountain range, giving them a much-prized easterly aspect and sheltered position. This, combined with the rain shadow cast by the peaks above, makes for a warmer, brighter and drier macroclimate than those a few miles away.

Jancis Robinson says of the 2009 vintage of this wine:

Georg Mosbacher, Deidesheimer Hergottsacker Riesling Spätlese trocken 2009 Pfalz 17 Drink 2011-2014

100% Riesling from Weingut Georg Mosbacher, a family-owned estate with nearly 45 acres of vineyards in the picturesque wine village of Forst, in Germany's Pfalz region. Vines are planted on clay sand with a high percentage of stones. The grapes were hand-picked and fermented with temperature control at 18°C with selected yeast in stainless-steel tanks. Bottled in May 2010.

Winemaker Juergen Dueringer. TA 7.1 g/l, RS 3.1 g/l.

Great to see a supermarket bothering with top-quality Germans! Honeyed nose. Very broad peppery palate. Lovely well-balanced stuff that is already drinking well and is chock full of fruit but not sugar. Really good! 13% £16.99 Waitrose (8 stores)

Von Kesselstatt Riesling Kabinett, The Co-op

A delicious mature Mosel Riesling from The Co-op

They say life's too short for a German wine label.

All you need to know about this wine is that it's a mature Mosel Riesling.

What does that mean in practice?

Expect a dry, refreshing, deliciously drinkable citrus-sherbet flavour with some complex aged character and low-ish alcohol.

With German wines being somewhat unfashionable, I picked up several bottles of this mature Riesling for half-price. If, as a rule of thumb, you consider storage costs are £1 per bottle per year, then I paid for the storage and the actual liquid in the bottle was free.

Reichsgraf Von Kesselstatt Riesling Kabinett, 2014 Goldtroepfchen (£12, The Co-op) complex evolved nose of diesel with yellow stone fruits, honeysuckle and citrussy sherbet with lively acidity and a zippy finish.

Good.

Drink as an aperitif or sip in the garden.

In Praise of Wine Scores and Wine Education: The CWB Lidl-Off

Two Lidl wines selected by MW Richard Bampfield

Being an analytical sort of person, I rather like wine scores; done properly, they provide a transparent currency for quality. A 91-pointer is better than an 89-er? File under No shit, Sherlock.

Of course, the reality is not quite as simple as that. As W. Edwards Deming observed, “without data you’re just another person with an opinion”. Since wine scoring has no objective, universally-agreed, independently-verifiable test for quality, wine scorers are inevitably trading in no more than (informed) personal opinions based around a normative standard.

Nic Rezzouk of Manchester's Reserve Wines makes the observation of scoring, "agreement is generally broad and uneven. Even with the pros."

So, there are scores and there are scores.

In an imperfect world, then, the most reliable approach is someone with a demonstrably flawless palate and a consistency of scorer (i.e. the same person scoring). In the case of Lidl's Wine Tour range, you get both; all the wines in the range are rated by a single person and that person is Master of Wine, Richard Bampfield.

Taken in isolation, scores (like any data) are meaningless - what does it mean for a wine to score, say, 88 points? It is only when looking at trends or making comparisons (with other wines or with other data points), that scores become meaningful.

There are at least three immediate uses for a reliable, consistent set of wine scores:

Transparent Quality Index

A wine with higher score is better than a wine with a lower score; if this sounds obvious, remember that most wines do not carry a score. Then, have a think about how you decide what to buy when faced with a "wall of wine" at a supermarket.

If only there were some way of easily comparing the quality of the bottle contents, eh?

Value For Money ratio

In an ideal world, the more you pay for something, the better it would be. The real world does not work like this, of course, and you can find a £5.99 90-pointer next to a £10.99 89-er.

A better wine that is cheaper than a less-good wine; how does that work?

This is where softer factors like personal preference and fashion come into play: the 90-point wine turns out to be a tricky-selling off-dry German Riesling blend, while the more-expensive-but-less-good £10.99 wine is a popular, premium-region Bordeaux.

Palate education

If you want to learn what factors make a wine good, taste high-scorers and compare against lower-scoring wines to identify quality differences.

Having tried both the Bordeaux (2016 and 2017 vintages) and the Riesling (2018), I expected the Bordeaux to be the better-rated wine, whereas Richard gives it one mark less. I felt it had good fruit, good underpinnings and was well-structured. By contrast, I found the Riesling technically very well-made, harmonious and balanced but perhaps a little unassuming.

I dropped a note to Richard asking him how he had arrived at his conclusions and what I was missing.

He replied that he had marked the St Emilion down a little for being a bit chunky, not the classiest oak integration and lacking finesse - plenty of flavour, some structure but not the finest.

By contrast, he had marked the Riesling-Scheurebe up for its purity of aroma, subtle reflections of both grapes, excellent acid/fruit balance and pure drinkability.

Educating Rita

This is not the first time I have found myself underappreciating the delicate finesse of a white and being unduly forgiving of chunky tannins. I love inexpensive, characterful regional French reds, but have rarely got excited about more delicate wines such  as Condrieu or red Burgundy.

This realisation gives me pause for thought.

One of the key themes of the Willy Russell play Educating Rita is the tension between education and authenticity; does education make you a better person, or just more of a conformist with a set of identikit notions?

To put it in wine appreciation terms, the more you educate your palate, the more wines you don't like.

As an instinctive non-conformist, I have eschewed formal wine education, avoided the classics (mostly) and sought out left-field wines from Austria, Hungary and Romania, as well as a few more unusual countries.

To what extent do I want to make an effort to be less impressed with something I thought was good whilst getting more excited about something I thought was OK but nothing special?

I still haven't decided.

Education is a little like the evolution of a wine with age; certain things are gained, and others are lost. So we need to weigh up for ourselves whether what is to be gained will be greater than what is lost before embarking on the journey.

I think the answer to the conundrum of why would you go out of your way to enjoy fewer wines is that wine enjoyment is not linear or fixed; the ability to enjoy a smaller number wines need not be worse than having no limits on your enjoyment.

Enjoyment is not a zero-sum game; a greater enjoyment of a smaller number of more expensive wines (the inevitable end result of wine education, I find) can be a more rewarding experience.

Gewürztraminer vs Riesling

An MW-study lesson in blind tasting with a Gewürztraminer from Cambridge Wine and a Riesling blend from Lidl 

Gewürztraminer and Riesling are both somewhat geeky wines and, in this country at least, a bit of a niche interest.

Both have a spiritual home in Germany, as well as Alsace (which is either a bit Germanic or an actual part of Germany, depending on which period of history you consider).

In the glass however, they are very different grapes; Gewürztraminer is typically rich and perfumed ("lychees and roses" is the standard descriptor) whereas Riesling is higher in acidity, lower in alcohol and develops a "dieselly" nose with age.

Gewürztraminer's key non-flavour characteristic is a fuller body with a waxy-oily exture, whilst Riesling's is a precise linearity to its acidic structure.

Of the two varieties, Riesling is probably the easier to find in the UK; the Riesling blend was selected by MW Richard Bampfield for Lidl.

Gewurztraminer Réserve, 2018, Cave Hunawihr (£14, Cambridge Wine Merchants) sweet spices, ripe yellow stone fruits, pineapple and passionfruit; supple and full with a rich, waxy-oily texture balanced by gentle acidity; off-dry with some residual sugar but finishes dry.

Good.

Match with rich Alsatian dishes, such as tarte flambee or liver pate.

Riesling Scheurebe Halbtrocken, Rheinhessen, 2018 (£5.99, Lidl)  citrussy and fresh with floral aromatics, yellow stone fruit, minerality and some herbaceous blackurrant leaf. Supremely elegant and well-balanced; finishes dry.

Good.

Drink as an aperitif or a garden sipper.

Top Selection Portfolio Tasting

A portfolio tasting of Top Selection's wines

Top Selection is not a great name for a wine merchant; it has something of a budget supermarket's premium own brand about it. Which is a pity because the wines themselves are superb.

From traditional classics, to emerging regions and some really off-piste wines, if you are prepared to start buying in low double-digits and move up from there, there is a huge breadth to explore.

I liked every wine I tried and scored all of them at least a Good, so here are my highlights:

- more Hungarian dry Furmint, especially Szepsy, and Heimann's red Kekfrankos

- Styrian Sauvignon from Tement; it is lovely to see these wines back in the UK, steely, precise and mineral, they are some of my favourite Sauvignons

- elegant Swiss wines; they're not cheap, they're not good value but they are unique, pure and sometimes so silent that it takes time to hear them

- Nathan Kendall New York whites; fresh and distinctive

- Anton Bauer Austrian Gruener, a long-time favourite, plus his Blaufraenkisch and superb sweet wines from Burgenland's Kracher

- Moroccan wines from Meknes; a first for me

- aged Italian wines are really quite amazing; Campaperi, Ca' la Bionda, Terenzi

- really outstanding Cahors wines from Lagrezette; at £80 the Paragon is pricy but still exceptional value for the quality

- Yves Cuilleron Condrieu; not cheap but lovely

- 100yo solera sherries from Bodegas Yuste

- Canadian aged ice cider is a thing; Leduc -Piedemonte 2011

- Frederiksdal Kirsebaervin's Danish cherry wine; complex and savoury from long fermentations

- German Riesling beer; a "personal project" blend of 1/3rd Riesling with 2/3rds beer to give fruit-pickers something refreshing after a long day in the vineyard

Schnaitmann Simonroth Lemberger 2016 - Virgin Wines

Lemberger - Germany's take on Central Europe's great red grape from Virgin Wines

They say life's too short for a German wine label; this one is not excessive, but still hardly snappy.

However, there's really just one word you need to know here and it does not even appear anywhere on the bottle; Blaufränkisch.

Blaufränkisch is central Europe's great red grape; dark-skinned and late-ripening, it has cherry and bramble fruit, spice and fine tannins. In cooler climates, it is delicate, elegant and Pinot-esque; in warmer regions it is fuller, with darker berry fruit, deeper colours and a minty Bordelais character.

Blaufränkisch has many names - Frankovka, Frankovka modrá, Franconia, Kékfrankos and Lemberger - and they all generally mean the same thing, Blue Frankish.

Germany already does brilliant Pinot, so great Blaufränkisch should come as no surprise.

Schnaitmann Simonroth Lemberger 2016 (£24.99, Virgin Wines) berry and cherry fruits with peppery spices, pencil shavings and cloves; soft, elegant and harmonious with very fine tannins. Savoury and fresh with a dense, muscular core.

Somewhat closed up on first opening, it improves with aeration, so don't be afraid to decant; will repay some cellaring.

Good.

Match with elegant Burgundian food such as escargots, beef bourguinon or Bresse chicken.

Twelfth Night Wines for Christmas from Virgin

Three subversive wines for Christmas wines from Virgin - and two superior standards

My general rule-of-thumb at Christmas is not to try anything too different - keep to stuff you like and maybe spend a bit more on a slightly better version; Bordeaux from a smarter appellation and a superior vintage, say, or Grand Cru Chablis rather than Petit Chablis.

But what's the point of Christmas if you can't break a few rule and have some fun? So here are three wines from Virgin that, like Twelfth Night when everything gets turned upside down and all the rules are reversed, will both subvert your expectations and entertain in equal measure

Chiarli Medaglie Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro DOC 2018 (£11.99) get the party started with some red fizz. Lambrusco has a bit of historic baggage in this country, but done properly this light sparkling red from Emilia Romagna matches brilliantly with local parma ham, parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar. Or just serve it lightly chilled as a pick-me-up.

Schnaitmann Simonroth Lemberger 2016 (£24.99) Lemberger, aka Blaufraenkisch, is the great black grape of central Europe and shows great versatility. In milder climates, it is cherry-fruited and elegant, a lighter, fresher yet serious red that rivals Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo. As with this wine from southern Germany, warmer temperatures bring something more akin to Bordeaux with deeper colour, plumper fruit and more tannins.

Solevari Reserve Feteasca Neagra 2017 (£12.99) Romania makes wonderful wines from international varieties, but Feteasca Neagra is its signature red variety - plump, supple and spicily dark-fruited, it matches brilliantly with steak or rare roast beef. Serve as an alternative to a Rhone or a northern Italian red.

And if you want to keep it straightforward and conventional, here are two superior classic wines:

De Martino Niebla Casablanca Sauvignon Blanc 2019 (£13.99) De Martino is one of the pioneering wineries of Chile, making subtle, nuanced wines in an elegant food-friendly European style. This is a single vineyard Sauvignon from the cool, foggy Casablanca Valley. Drink this with smoked salmon on Boxing Day.

Heranca Late Bottled Vintage Port 2012 (£14.99) with figgy, raisiny flavours and a warming sweetness, port is synonymous with Christmas. Best served with mince pies, a crackling fire and the Queen's Speech, LBV is a vintage port that is aged in barrel for several years and is ready to drink without further aging. If you manage not to finish it off all at once, drink it on Boxing day with a plate of cheeses or a chocolate-and-cherry torte.

Christmas Afternoon Tea At The Old Bridge Huntingdon

Afternoon tea at the Old Bridge in Huntingdon

Once every few years, we make the short trek up to Huntingdon from Cambridge and visit The Old Bridge, owned and run by MW John Hoskins.

Whilst other places wax and wane, the standard at The Old Bridge never seems to vary. The food is always well-made, the wines excellent chosen and the ambiance varies by seating area.

The most traditional part is the pubby bar, the edgiest is the wine shop with stripped floors and an oenomatic machine dispensing wines in taster, small and medium sizes.

A bit like London buses, I had occasion to visit The Old Bridge twice on either side of the same weekend. First to catch up with a contact and then for Afternoon Tea with colleagues.

For the catch-up, we sat in the Wine Shop and tasted our way through a few whites and reds whilst comparing notes on business issues.

The 2017 ‘Wild Ferment’ Assyrtiko from Gaia's Santorini was mineral, linear and precise; the 2015 Chardonnay from Richard Kershaw in Elgin, South Africa was adept and complex.

Moving on to the reds, a 2015 Lemberger from Simonroth, Schnaitmann in Württemberg, Germany was bright, juicy and cherry fruited. The only bum note was a 2013 Cab Franc from Seneca Lake, by Red Hook Winery in Finger Lakes, USA. This was the most expensive of the wines and for me the least impressive.

A few days later saw a return visit for afternoon tea - a couple in the party opted for a glass of Prosecco while I returned to the wine shop for another hit of the Assyrtiko.

We started a choice of  tea or coffee  and were then served delicious finger sandwiches (smoked salmon and cream cheese; spicy chicken Egg mayonnaise; Beef, watercress and horseradish), scones with Jersey cream, strawberry jam and butter plus three mini cakes.

Henkell Trocken Sekt

German fizz: a sekt from Henkell

Champagne this is not.

I have yet to find an alternative to a good Champagne; other fizzes are often perfectly adequate as alternatives, but are still defined by their relationship to Champagne.

This sekt is very different to Champagne, yet equally enjoyable; more fruit forward, it is more of an elegant table wine with bubbles.

Henkell Trocken NV floral with yellow stone fruit, citrus and a fine mousse. Substantial, crisp and refreshing with a mineral finish. Good underpinnings and no rough edges. Will improve with age.

Good.

Drink as an aperitif; a great match with fish and chips or curries.

Von Der Leyen Bernkasteler Kurfürstlay Riesling Kabinett 2016

A light, delicate and drinkable Mosel Riesling

This review is rather pointless - if you already like the delicate, racy fruit-and-minerality of Mosel Rieslings, you don't need me to convince you.

If you don't, a single review is unlikely to have you swapping over from your glass of Sauvignon or Pinot Grigio.

Light, delicate and floral, this is a perfect summer sipper for a heatwave.

Von Der Leyen Bernkasteler Kurfürstlay Riesling Kabinett 2016 floral, citrus and ripe yellow fruits with beeswax, minerality and zip; light, deft and elegant. Will age.

Good.

Best for sipping in the garden on a hot day; match with light fish dishes.

Peter Mertes Erden Dornfelder Trocken 2014, Mosel

A Dornfelder from the Mosel

Think of Germany's Mosel Valley and racy, slatey Rieslings spring to mind. Red Mosels are rather more unusual and all the more interesting for it.

I can count on the fingers of one hand the Dornfelders I have had - this is by far the best.

Ripe, black cherry fruit, oaky spice and excellent underpinnings; fresh and savoury with fine tannins.

Good.

Match with  salami or darker game.

Johann Wolf Pinot Gris 2016

A German Pinot Gris from Virgin Wines

They say life's too short for a German wine label; fortunately, this Pinot Gris is much easier to decipher.

With a simple, New-World style label and a dry finish, it is deliciously well-made; ripe, balanced and very easy to enjoy.

Johann Wolf Pinot Gris 2016 (£10.99) ripe yellow stone fruit and sweet spices with freshness and minerality.

Good.

Drink as an aperitif, with fish or white meat.

Three Wine Men in Cambridge

Three Wine Men event in Cambridge

The Three Wine Men are - in vintage order - Oz Clarke, Tim Atkin MW and Olly Smith. Their line-up for this event inclued a mixture of producers, retailers and local-to-Cambridge merchants.

I got around as many as I could and noted down my top wines.

Wines of California
"Big and bold" is the hallmark of California - my top wine was the Edna Valley Pinot Noir 2015 (£14.99, Majestic); well-made, typical Pinot with cherries and earthiness, relatively low alcohol (for California).

There were bigger, better and more complex wines on show - if high-alcohol and high prices are your thing, try Carlisle Wines Zinfandel "Papera Ranch 2013" (£39.50, Noel Young).

Bordeaux
By contrast, the Bordeaux wines showed much more Old World structure; I liked all the wines here from the complex dry white Graves (M. de Malle 2013) to the precise, mineral  rosé (M de Mangot 2016).

If you want to experience the improving effects of age on a wine for the price of a current vintage, then try the 2002 Peyrabon from Cambridge Wine Merchants.

Top wine, however, was the complex and deft Sauternes Pineau Du Rey 2012 (£11.99, Laithwaite's).

Villa Maria
New Zealand's Villa Maria have made a name as a reliable producer of well-made wines with New World fruit and kiwi freshness. In their Cellar Selection range, a varietal Sauvignon Gris 2016 (£14.05) and Clifford Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2016 (£15.55) both impressed.

But my top wine was the layered, complex, substantial and extremely sophisticated Keltern Chardonnay 2016 (£19.50).

New Zealand
Best wine here was the amazing and somewhat legendary Greywacke Pinot Noir 2014 (£32.99, The Wine Society), a lovely, elegant Burgundian Pinot with cherries and spice.

At the other end of the price scale, Peter Yealands Sauvignon Blanc 2017 (£8.99, Co-op, Sainsbury's) is a well-made kiwi SB that really overdelivers for the price.

Alpine Wines
I've long wanted to check out Alpine Wines' range; there were two stand-out wines here:

Cicero Pinot Noir Alte Reben 2012, Graubuenden, Switzerland (£26.40) pale, almost rosé-coloured; red-fruits and farmyard, delicate yet with a structured and muscular core.

Heidi Schroeck Suesse Loewen Spaetlese 2012, Burgenland, Austria (£16.80) complex roasted stone fruits, light and incredibly fresh, almost dry on the finish.

Sud de France Top 100
Languedoc is a great source of well-made characterful wines; some sub-regions, such as St Chinian, are now beginning to establish their own local identity.

Cave de Roquebrun, Le Grange des Combes 2015, AOC St Chinian (£10 - £12.49, Majestic) floral, almost like perfumed soap, with crushed red fruits and smoke. Long and supple.

Local heroes
Cambridge Wine Merchants had an excellent white-label vintage port from 1983, whilst north-of-the-river Thirsty had two deliciously zippy-citrussy Mosel Rieslings on tap, Meierer and Mikeller.

France This Is Not

Two German wines

MOZART: (to Joseph) It's highly moral, Majesty. It's full of proper German virtues. I swear it. Absolutely!

JOSEPH Well, I'm glad to hear that.

SALIERI Excuse me, Sire, but what do you think these could be? Being a foreigner, I would love to learn.

JOSEPH Cattivo again, Court Composer. Well, tell him, Mozart. Name us a German virtue.

MOZART Love, Sire!

SALIERI Ah, love! Well of course in Italy we know nothing about that.

- "Amadeus", Peter Shaffer (1979)

France is to wine what the Beatles are to pop music - its influence is so varied and all-pervasive that it is the de facto reference point for many wines; Sauvignon, Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah / Shiraz, Chardonnay (and plenty of others) all call France their spiritual home.

A summer holiday in Germany led to us bringing back a range of local wines that owe no debt to France in their style - on this occasion, a light, refreshing Mosel Riesling and an oaky, pumped-up Pinot.

Von der Leyen Bernkasteler Kurfürstlay Riesling Kabinett 2016 Light, just 8.5%, with zippy, lemony sherbet, fresh green apple, gooseberries and pear. Lively, fresh and mineral.

Good.

Drink as an aperitif or with the lightest of starters.

Affentaler Spaetburgunder Rotwein Auslese Trocken 2014 they say life's too short for a German wine lable, but some of the details here are telling; it's a later-harvested (auslese) Pinot Noir (spaetburgunder) fermented to dryness (trocken).

Fuller than a Burgundy, this is a Pinot that has been down the gym and pumped its way up to 14% - with sweet, ripe dark cherries, wild berries and some classic Pinot "vegetal" aromas; supple texture and oaky spice cut through with an elegant freshness.

Good.

Drink with classic Pinot fare - darker game such as venison or duck.

Lost In the Supermarket - German Wine

A random-ish selection of German wines - from the supermarket

I'm all lost in the supermarket
- Lost in the Supermarket, The Clash (1979)

On holiday in the southern Black Forest and needing a few wines for the week, I was faced with a wall of different German wines that I had absolutely no knowledge of - I could make sense of grapes, alcohol levels and prices, but nothing more.

So, I did what perhaps most people do in the circumstances and chose based solely on whether I liked the labels.

Actually, that's not quite true - I did reject one Spaetburgunder (aka Pinot Noir) for its 14% alcohol level, suspecting it may prove to be overcooked, and selected instead a 12.5% example.

All were bought in Edeka, a collection of co-operatives making up Germany's largest supermarket chain, in Bad Säckingen and priced at around €5-7, the equivalent of around £12 retail in the UK after allowing for duty, taxes and additional mark-ups.

In short, all of them were very enjoyable indeed - clean and precise, expressive and well-made, generally with a light-freshness. Perfect as sippers, they also matched with out holiday food (think wurst and spätzle with sauerkraut) I could routinely drink wines like this and never get bored.

Wuttemberg Terra S Weissburgunder 2015 floral and citrussy with elderflower, lemongrass, orchard fruits, zippy lime and sweet spices. Fresh, mineral and long (12.5%)

Merdinger Attilafelsen Spaetburgunder, Baden 2015 pale and cherry fruited with oaky, peppery spice; fine, firm tannins. Fresh, deft and elegant. (13%)

Wuttemberg Besigheimer Lemberger, 2016 dark cherry and red berry fruit with raspberry leaf and spice. Fresh, clean and pure; elegant and light.(10.5%)

Oberkircher Riesling Kabinett 2015 aromatic, zippy lime marmalade and kerosene with ripe lemon, pineapple and peach; pleasantly piercing acidity; flinty and mineral with white pepper.

Baden Markgraeflerland Spaetburgunder 2015 (12.5%) red and black cherry fruit, fresh and mineral with good underpinnings and a seasoning of oaky spice. Like Audrey Tatou taking you out for whisky and cigars.

Loeb 2015 Riesling Primeurs

A tasting of Loeb's 2015 Rieslings - and a couple of museum pieces

2015 was a good year for German Rieslings, with Loeb's press release describing it as exceptional.

On the basis of the wines I tried, I can't disagree - even if it's true that life's too short for a German wine label.

Altenkirch
Cuvee Boogie crisp, fresh, precise, floral and mineral. A lovely easy drinker. Good.

Willi Haag
Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Spaetlese fresh, vibrant sherbet-ey, zippy and full. Very Good.

Dr H Thanisch-Sofia Thanish
Berncasteler Doctor Kabinett rich, ripe succulent honeysuckle with candied pineapple fruit and sweet spices; long and very adept. Very Good.

Daniel Vollenweider
Wolfergoldgrube Kabinett rich, ripe fresh with complex dried pineapple, minerality and sweet spice. Very Good.

There was also a couple of older wines to show what these young beauties will mature into.

Sybille Kuntz
Dreistern Riesling Gold Kapsel 2003 kerosene nose, rich and honeyed, cry complex and adept. Very Good.
Riesling Scharz 2007 younger, fresher, more floral and spicy. Very Good.

Other related articles
Aged Mosel Rieslings at Cambridge Wine Merchants
2012 Loeb Mosel En Primeur Tasting

The Water in Mallorca - Tanners Wines

Two Mallorcan wines from Tanners - plus a teutonic guest

I don't want to holiday in the sun
- Holidays in the Sun, The Sex Pistols (1977)

If the water in mah-JOR-cah don' taste like wot it oughta, then get your laughing gear around the wine; it might even refresh the parts other beverages don't reach. And, as anyone who has visited this Balearic island will know, it is really half-German most of the time.

Susana (sempre ...)

These come, like most Mallorcan wines, from the centre of the island around Binissalem. Both are modern, clean and fresh with flavour and character at a reasonable price.

The label features an intriguing panel of black-and-white shots, including one of an athletic young lady in no more than her knickerbockers.

Blanc 2014 (£10.95) blended from the local Prensal Blanc and Chardonnay; citrussy, mineral and saline - fresh and rich; pure and clean.

Very adept and elegant. Good; a very versatile wine, serve as an aperitif, match with light starters or chicken dishes.

Roble 2013 (£10.95) local Manto Negro blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; red and black cherry fruit with a hedonistic woodsy leatheriness. Juicy and fresh; supple, long and saline.

Good; match with duck, tuna steak or a ribeye.

Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett, Hain, Mosel 2013 (£12.60) expressive-yet-elegant, with ripe yellow fruits, good freshness and concentration.

Good; match with pork-and-herb terrine or tuna tartare.

All three wines are reduced for purchases of 6 or more bottles until July 27th, 2015.

Other related articles
Tanners - part 1, part 2

Three Wines From Tanners

Three wines from Tanners

The best businesses combine heritage with innovation; Tanners, a family-owned independent wine merchant run by 4th-generation Tanner, James, dates back to 1842, but feels unpretentiously contemporary.

The company specialises in sourcing good value, every-day drinkers from regions like Southern France and is happy to be considered a traditionalist, but in the best sense of the word.

Marketing Manager Hannah Schwarzer explained to me: "We look to be at the forefront of establishing new, dynamic wine regions and led the vanguard in championing the Douro.

We have have also been merrily promoting the joys of sherry for decades, through that category’s boom and bust times (hopefully coming back round to boom!) and we have a great German range which sets us apart from most.

They sent me a case of their wines to review - here are the first three:

Mariscal Manzanilla Sherry (£8.70) gutsy and expressive tangy Manzanilla made by Hidalgo - a textbook Manzanilla with bags of salty personality. Great value.

Match with the usual tapas; jamon, bread and oil, manchego cheese and shellfish.

Tanners Merlot, IGP d'Oc 2013 (£7.50) lifted damson and raspberry fruit, easy-drinking juicy freshness with a gentle lick of oak. Good value.

An easy drinker that does not need food, but will stand up to herby sausages, salamis or even, slightly chilled, picnic food.

Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese Nr13 Grey Slate, Hain, Mosel 2011 (£16.70) golden sandy yellow, aromas of roasted peach skins, ripe citrus and some cellar mustiness. Sweet ripe peaches and apricots, baked apples with spice and fresh, zesty acidity; the incense, beeswax and old leather books of a high mass.

Complex and harmonious with the benefit of a few year's age - will improve further. Really lovely indeed - Very Good.

 

We matched it very successfully with Austrian tafelspitz followed by mature hard cheeses.

 

Conclusions

So far, it's three out of three for Tanner's - well-made, characterful, inexpensive wines below £10 and a real stunner of a Mosel Riesling; all fairly priced.

Fans of German stickies will be pleased to learn that the current Summer Sale list includes some unusually large discounts on sweeter German Rieslings - full details here: http://www.tanners-wines.co.uk/top-offers/summer-sale.html

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2012 Loeb Mosel En Primeur Tasting‏

A review of the Mosel En Primeur Tasting‏ with OW Loeb

It is said that life's too short for German wine labels. With their impenetrably labyrinthine names and hidden symbols (multiple stars and gold or extra-long foil closures) to indicate subtle nuances, they have a byzantine theological complexity of sacred knowledge known only to initiated insiders.

Welcome, then, to the Da Vinci Code of wines.

With around 60 wines lined up to sample and not enough time to try them all, I asked Jancis Robinson writer Julia Harding MW what I should try. Her view was that 2012 is a good vintage and consistency is generally high and gave me a few names whose wines had especially impressed.

All wines are varietal Riesling; code is Mosel (M), Saar (S), Ruwer (R).

Prices, unless stated otherwise, are for a case of 12 In Bond, so excluding VAT (20%) and duty (£22.81 per full 9 litre).

Dry

Sybille Kuntz Kabinett Trocken (M) £72 (6) fresh, mineral, floral, precise.

Sybille Kuntz Spaetlese Trocken (M) £96 (6) floral and perfumed, spicy and exotic yet fresh.

Qba & Kabinett

Schloss Lieser Qba (M) £85 fresh, mineral, lively-buzzy and pure

Schloss Lieser Kabinett (M) £95 richer, spicier, fuller and riper

Maximin Gruenhaeuser Bruderberg, von Schubert (R) £102 zesty lime nose, lime marmalade palate with ripeness and minerality

Wolfer Goldgrube Kabinett, Daniel Vollenweider (M) £108 rich, spicy; exotic, citrus and lime zest, peach texture. Very Good.

Rausch Kabinett, Forstmeister Geltz Zilliken (S) £120 ripe and zippy. Good.

Spaetlese

Neiderberg Helden Spaetlese, Schloss Lieser (M) £65 (6) fresh citrus, zippy acidity and ripeness with some white pepper

Wolfer Goldgrube Spaetlese, Daniel Wollenweider (M) £75 (6) zippy and limey with ripe lime marmalade

Kroever Steffensberg Spaetlese, Daniel Wollenweider (M) £75 (6) citrus and mineral nose, peachy and weighty with fresh acidity, long. Very Good.

Rausch Spaetlese, Forstmeister Geltz Zillliken (S) £92 (6) peachy, apricotty and elegant, fresh and zippy, good structure

Auslese

Rausch Auslese Forstmeister Geltz Zilliken (S) £160 (6) ripe with roasted peaches, freshness and honeyed bitterness and complexity. Good.

Eiswein

Schwarzhofberger Eiswein, von Hoevel (M) £294 (6 halves) floral, fresh and peachy, rich and ripe.

Eitelsbacher Karthaeuserhofberg Eiswein, Christoph Tyrell (R) £795 / £395 (6 / 6 halves) richer, fuller and more complex - quite incredible. Very Good Indeed.

Recommended Wine
As Julia noted, both quality and consistency are high here, but if you were to limit yourself to just one wine, it should be Daniel Wollenweider's Wolfer Goldgruber Kabinett at £108 for 12 bottles.

Other related articles
Loeb Mosel Masterclass
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Links
Loeb - website

Loeb Mosel Masterclass

A masterclass of Mosel Rieslings with Brough Gurney-Randall of Loeb

An enthusiasm for Riesling is said to be the sign of a true wine geek - and whilst Pinot is expensively unreliable and top Bordeaux commands astronomical prices, unfashionable German Riesling can offer world-class, age-worthy wines at relative bargain prices.

Mosel Rieslings have a unique combination of sweet-sharpness, deftness and purity with subtle variation from vineyard to vineyard and year to year.

Light and approachable yet elegantly sophisticated, they can age for years or decades and only get more interesting with time.

In musical terms, they are the Josef Haydn of the wine world - classical, elegant, refined and nuanced, yet always easy on the ear.

 

2009 Sybille Kuntz Dry Estate Riesling (Mosel) £13.72 fresh, mineral with white pepper aromas, lively and crisp with a dry, mineral finish

2009 Schloss Lieser Feinherb Thomas Haag (Mosel) £13.02 very pale, dieselly nose, crisp and mineral but with balanced citrus and apricot fruit

2008 Maximin Gruenhaeuser Abtsberg Kabinett (Ruwer) £18.02 sandy pale straw, flinty minerality, ripe tropical citrus, dried pineapple pieces, weighty yet fresh

2009 Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett JJ Pruem (Mosel) £20.02 pale in the glass, yet weighty on the palate; oily texture with freshness, pure and elegant, balanced and poised. Good.

2010 Rausch Kabinett Forstmeister Zilliken (Saar) £19.92 golden yellow, dieselly nose, lots of ripe citrus, with a honeyed, peachy texture.

2010 Scharzhofberger Spaetlese Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt (Saar) £19.92 sandy yellow, flinty mineral nose, lively buzzy citrus acidity and intensity, spice and perfumey white flowers. Good.

2007 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spaetlese, JJ Pruem (Mosel) £30.12 pale yellow, mineral nose, ripe apricot and peach cut through with fresh acidity, long and complex palate with a mineral persistence. Elegance more than power.

2006 Wolfer Goldgrube Spaetlese, Daniel Vollenweider (Mosel) n/a dark sandy yellow, minerally diesel nose, full of ripe zingy sweet citrus, but fades too soon.

2004 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese, JJ Pruem (Mosel) £35.02 pale in the glass, complex petrolly nose with citrus, mineral and, unusually, a hint of neoprene. Has a well-balanced richness held in check by crisp freshness - vivaceous with good length. Good.

2003 Kanzemer Hoerecker Auslese Von Hoevel (Saar) £28.62 from a hot dry vintage, a darker yellow and from a warmer year; more aged character on the nose. Tropical citrus and very rich on the palate, waxy, peachy marzipan texture and honeyed character.

1999 Eitelsbacher Karthaeuserhofberg No22 C Tyrell (Ruwer) £37.62 from a good, warm vintage, sandy yellow, complex aged nose, weighty on the palate with lively fresh lemon and pineapple fruit, good concentration and balance, surprisingly youthful still. Very Good.

Recommended wine

Given that prices here start at almost £15, we are immediately above everyday wine territory.

Yet the step-up in quality and complexity for the older wines makes the more expensive wines the better bargains - especially for the impatient or those with no storage facilities.

My top wine was the one from the last millennium - the 1999 Eitelsbacher Karthaeuserhofberg for its aged complexity.

Other related articles
Mosel Tasting at Cambridge Wine Merchants
Kirchengut Wolf in the Mosel Valley

Links
Loeb - website