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

Three Wine Men in Cambridge

The Three Wine Men event returns to Cambridge

Another year, another Three Wine Men Christmas tasting; this time round there were noticeably fewer local independents.

With just a three-hour slot and over 30 exhibitors in the hall, there was no chance to get round everyone. So I focused on local heroes and noteworthy wines.

Cambridge Distillery

Meeting both of these criteria was Cambridge Distillery whose gins are something of a revelation. Owner Will Lowe cites three points of difference from pretty much any other gin you might try: all botanicals are fresh and seasonal, all are distilled separately and then blended separately.

Will's house gin is the Cambridge Dry Gin - fragrant, floral and perfumey with juniper and menthol, a firm grip leading onto a round sweetness. Very Good.

A step up is the Cambridge Botanical Gardens Gin with flavourings picked from the Botanical Gardens just up the road from the distillery. With rosemary, lavender and apples descended from Newton's tree, this is a more nuanced and elegant gin. Very Good Indeed.

The Truffle Gin is flavoured with white truffles from alba and is intended as a digestif, a gin for whisky-lovers. The musky white truffle dominates the nose leading to more juniper on the palate. Very Good.

Thorne Wines

New kid on the local oenological block is Thorne Wines, run by James Thorne, formerly of Cambridge Wine Merchants.

The white Rioja Perica Olagasa Blanco 2017 is a complex, nutty, fresh, leesy spicy old-school Rioja. Good.

The red Perica Olagasa Reserva 2010 is fresh, youthful and still primary with bramble fruits and spice; mellow and harmonious.

Also good and tasted on a previous occasion is the Vondeling Chardonnay.

Thirsty

Wine merchants inevitably reflect the personalities of their founders; Thirsty's wines are iconoclastic and zeitgeisty. There was South African Southern French / Pinotage blend with juicy fresh berry fruit, a Southern French Chardonnay that was fresh with a southern warmth and an orange wine that was highly drinkable and pleasant rather than challenging.

Chateau Musar

A vertical of Lebanon's Musar showed how this amazing wine develops: the 2011 red, the current vintage, is complex, harmonious and meaty with dried red berries, spice and freshness and just the beginnings of some secondary woodsy undergrowth alongside dried red fruits. Very Good.

The 2000 is paler with more secondary aromas of sous bois and truffles, but the fruit is still good and it will continue to age. Very Good.

The 1998 is very pale and almost tawny port-esque, very harmonious and mellow. At a peak and my top of the three vintages on show. Very Good.

I had not known about the Musar White, but got a chance to try the 2009. Complex, with nuts and oaky spices, waxy and old school, it is a unique textured wine that somewhat defies definition but is in the same category as amontillado, vin jaune and white Rioja. Very Good.

New Zealand Wine

If you think New Zealand is just Sauvignon Blanc, then look away now.

Greywacke Chardonnay 2014 is a complex, elegant and ageworthy oaked Chardonnay; fresh citrus and orchard fruits, gently toasty oak. Substantial and deft. very Good.

Greywacke Pinot Noir 2014 fresh, delicate and crystalline with elegant red fruits; supple and harmonious. Very Good.

Sud de France

Quality, consistency and affordability were all high here - these were some really lovely wines.

Domaine Morin-Langron Etiquette Noir 2017 fresh, elegant and long Picpoul. Good.

Ch Canet 2017 waxy, spicy, warming southern white blend. Good.

Domaine de Cebene Felgaria 2015 pruney fruit, feral, mineral red blend; concentrated, supple and fresh. Very Long. Very Good.

Ch de Prieure des Mourgues Grande Reserve 2015 poised, focused, concentrated St Chinian red blend. Fine tannins and will age. Very Good.

Alpine Wines

Swiss wines can be lovely, but they are always expensive; if you set next-door Burgundy as a benchmark, then they are reasonable value.

Provins Petite Arvine Grand Metral 2016 fresh, lemony and elegant. Good.

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.

On Mature Bordeaux‏ (And Others)

It is rare these days that I taste a wine and don't review it - the odd bottle of dull plonk about which there is nothing to say, a textbook local wine on holiday costing a few euros.

 

For me, the rigour of analysing a wine enough to be able to describe it in a tasting note is all part of the challenge of learning about wine.

 

Dull wines are those whose styles are too familiar - I crave novelty and variety. And when I find it, I want to share the experience.

 

For me, wines are to be considered and discussed as much as consumed; wine-tasting as an intellectual activity.

 

If that makes me a rather geeky and overly-analytical dinner party guest, I can't help myself; we invited round a group of wine loving friends to try some mature Bordeaux, none of which needed a review. But I feel the need to put down some thoughts anyway.

 

We started with a fresh, textbook Canard-Duchene fizz whilst the children played in the garden, before sitting down to begin the serious business of assessing some mature wines.

 

Petite Arvine 2012, Switzerland on first opening, simple and citrussy, but with just a bit of air, it becomes weightier with floral, beeswaxy sweet spice. Very pure and adept. Just like a Swiss watch. Good.

 

Stands up to and cuts through our starters of griddled vegetables, asparagus in pancetta and mayonnaise.

 

From here, we dived into Bordeaux of varying maturity. Assessing these is a different game altogether.

Note that these wines were mostly bought at auction as mixed cases with no provenance details, so quality is, inevitably, variable.
 

Ch d'Angludet, Margux 1967 - not quite the oldest thing in the room. The fruit is rosehips, the tannins fully resolved and what is left is the acidity and tertiary flavours of an aged sherry. If fruit is the youthful plumpness of a wine, the acidity is its bone-structure; this was sallow-cheeked, bony and past its peak but still focused and venerable.

 

Ch Branaire-Ducru, St Julien 1976 almost a decade younger, but not in such good shape - twice decanted, it was still cloudy. It is oxidized, the fruit is all gone, it is somewhere between a decades-old tawny and an oloroso. Interesting academically, but we don't go back for more.

 

La Reserve de Leoville-Barton, St Julien, 1990 good fruit, balance and elegance let down by a lack of substance. What's there is perfectly fine, but it's rather slight and disappointing. A textbook second wine, perhaps?

 

Ch Clerc Milon, Pauillac 1995 previously decanted, this still has some grip and clearly is not short of stuffing. As well as fruit and structure, there is a savoury minerality. Elegant and still muscular. Very Good.

 

Patache d'Aux, Medoc 2003 (magnum) I find this one easier to understand - not least because it's my own contribution. Good, mature, mid-level Medoc; from a hot year, it's at a peak now and won't improve further. But there's fruit, depth, balance and an harmonious texture. The only let-down is a slightly alcoholic finish.

 

For me, it's a solid Good - or 15-16 pointer if you prefer scores. Jancis gives it a 12, meaning borderline undrinkable.

 

La Reserve de Leoville-Barton, St Julien 2006 a very different wine - still youthful and primary. Harmonious, fresh and elegant.

 

Ararat brandy 5yo, Armenia we finish with an Armenian brandy. With just five year's aging it still has the exuberence of youth, but this is tempered with sweet vanilla-spice smoothness. A colorful, characterful diamond in the rough - not without a degree of sophistication, but not entirely polished.

 

Other related articles

On Wines of a Certain Age‏

Ready to Listen: Swiss Wines at Circle of Wine Writers‏

The Third Cambridge Tasting - Dinner at The Gonville

A Most Particular Taste: Haut-Brion 350 Years Celebration Dinner

Ready to Listen: Swiss Wines at Circle of Wine Writers‏

Alpine horns, Ferrero Rocher and other assorted Helvetic cliches at the ready for the Circle of Wine Writers' Christmas tasting of Swiss Wines at the Ambassador's residence

Over-rated and over-priced but not available over here was, for many years, my general impression of Swiss wines.

And whilst cliches are often grounded in some basic truth, there are also subtleties and complexities that elude sweeping generalisation.

The wines at this Swiss tasting were as elegantly unruffled, discreetly unassuming and expensively self-assured as a Zurich bank manager; and yet, despite a distinct family resemblance - an alpine freshness and purity - there was a sweeping variety of styles, grapes, ages and production methods.

With six wine regions, four languages and a mix of native and international grape varieties, Switzerland's oenological history dates back to pre-Roman times.

Many wineries are family-run independents, reflecting the terroir and cultural traditions of landscapes that vary from alpine to Mediterranean.

Swiss wine writer Chandra Kurt says of her country's wines that they are of high quality, unique, pure and sometimes so silent that it takes time to hear them.

I was ready to listen.

Vaud
Domaine Blaise Duboux Plant Robaz 2011 blackberries, black cherries, complex fruit with some pepper and liquorice. Very Good.

Pierre-Luc Leyvraz Saint-Saphorin Grand Cru Brumaire 2012 black fruits, spices and well-balanced. Very Good

Cave Cidis Chardonnay B. Ravet "Le Vin Vivant" 2012 citrus, white flowers, sweet spice, fresh and delicate. Good.

Valais
Provins Valais Petite Arvine de Fully - Maitre de Chais Reserve Speciale 2012 floral, pink grapefruit, citrus; elegant and fresh with a deft touch of ripe fruit sweetness behind. Good.

Jean-Rene Germanier Mitis-Amigne de Vetroz (Reserve) 2009 amazing sticky, quince, honey and orange marmalade; deliciously sweet and rich, but elegant and fleet-footed with a lively acidity. Very Good.

Domaine des Muses Fendant "Tradition" 2012 fresh fruit and white flowers, fresh acidity, minerality and elegance. Good.

Domaine Grand'Cour Pinot Noir "P" 2010 raspberry, morello cherry, mocha; intense, harmonious and superbly balanced. Very Good.

Lakes Region
Domaine Chambleau Oeil-de-Perdrix 2012 PN rose; ripe mandarin peel, strawberries and citrus - soft, plump and ripe.

Swiss German Region
Ganterbein Wine Chardonnay 2011 citrus, grapefruit and mineral with toasted hazelnuts and sweet spice. Fresh, balanced, poised and deft. Very Good.

Ticino
Cantina Kopp Von Der Crone Visini Scala 2011 expressive red plums, coffee, bramble fruit and some sweet spice; elegant and velvety Bordeaux-style Merlot.

Brivio Vini Platinum 2005 black cherry and sour cherries, roasted notes, liquorice, dark chocolate and coffee. Fresh, balanced, complex and assured - and only just ready for drinking. Very Good.

Conclusions
The overall standard here was very high - well-judged, technically well-made wines with a purity and easy-drinking freshness.

With the wines from an entire and very diverse nation to discover, it is not easy to single out favourites, but a few wines stood out as particularly impressive:

Best white Gantenbein Chardonnay 2011
Best red Brivio Vini Platinum 2005
Best producer Jean-Rene Germanier

Importers
Gauntleys of Nottingham
Nick Dobson Wines
Douglas Harrison
Howard Ripley
Restaurant St Moritz

Other related articles
Virginia Wines
English Wines

Adank at Cambridge Tasting

Links

Swiss Wine Promotion - facebook, twitter
Circle of Wine Writers - website, twitter

Image credits: the pictures in this piece were taken by CWW member Stephen Morris.

"Wine Grapes" Seminar with Dr José Vouillamoz

A tasting of wines made from some of the world's rarest grapes with Dr José Vouillamoz, Ampelologist and co-author with Jancis Robinson MW and Julia Harding MW of the book "Wine Grapes", organised by the Circle of Wine Writers.

What does a wine made from one of the world's most obscure grape varieties taste like ?

Does the degree of obscurity of the grapes that go into the wine make it a better or less good wine ?

Are obscure grape varieties a symbol of diversity and heritage to be celebrated and preserved - or the oenological equivalent of dinosaurs or minor composers who merit no more than a footnote in history.

I am - still - undecided on these points; I want to see diversity and variety in wines, but I am not interested in obscurity for its own sake, wine tasting as a competitive, acquisitive, box-ticking exercise.

11 wines from 11 obscure and rare grape varieties.

The Whites

Versoaln 2009 - Castel Katzenungen, Sudtirol, Italy (Versaoln), 350yo vines, 350m2 acreage, can only be bought by the bottle at the winery: light sandy yellow, green apple and mineral nose; peachy and waxy, with ripe tropical fruit and some spiciness. Light with good acidity.

Rudesheimer Berg - Schlossberg Orleans 2011, Georg Bruer, Rheingau, Germany (Orleans Gelb) one parent is Gouais Blanc, making it related to Chardonnay, Riesling and Furmint; was considered extinct in the 1920s, but now made by two wineries. Golden sandy yellow, floral and marzipan aromas, very high acidity initially, leading to salinity and minerality with some yellow stone fruit. Persistence and a touch of almond bitterness on the finish.

Lafnetscha 2011 - Chanton Kellerei, Visp, Switzerland (Lafnetscha) first mentioned in 1627, the name is apparently a local dialect for "don't drink too early", a reference to its high acidity. Parents are Humagne and Completer. 1.5ha grown, 4 producers. Fermented in stainless steel, medium straw colour, floral nose with almonds and green apples, high acidity and dense structure; white pear fruit and some sweet spice.

Grk 2011 - Branimir Cebalo, Korcula, Croatia (Grk) around 50ha, 2,400 bottles only, a difficult vine to cultivate. Deep golden sandy, aromatic, toasty nose; melon, honey and toastiness with some orange peel aromas. Fresh acidity.

Kolorko 2010 - Pasaeli Hoskoy, Turkey (Kolorko) almost nothing known about this grape's history, origins or acreage, but in decline since the 1960s; Pasaeli is the only known producer. Barrel fermented, then aged in glass demijohns. Golden sandy yellow, with volatile aromas of nail polish. Prominent sharpness, on the palate, quite challenging, with bitter lemon and pink grapefruit; zesty, bitter finish.

Vigna del Lume 2012 - Antonio Mazzella, Ischia, Italy (Biancolella) related to another local grape on this island, San Lunardo, only 6,000 bottles produced, a touch of late harvest. Medium golden straw, tropical fruit and sweet spice, pineapple and honeysuckle with some dried apricot. Well-balanced with a persistent finish.

The Reds

Negre de San Colonia 2010 - Vins Toni Gelabert, Mallorca, Spain (Callet) 134ha grown, Callet means "black" in the local dialect, spends 13m in French and American oak - a favourite of Wine Grapes co-author Julia Harding MW, apparently. Dark purple, sweet oaky spice, vanilla and coconut, red fruits and tobacco on the palate; fresh acidity, supple tannins and a long finish.

Karasi 2011 - Zorah Wines, Rind, Armenia (Areni) almost nothing is known about this grape, but it is the most-cultivated in the area.

Winemaker Zorik introduced the wine and explained that Rind has evidence of winemaking back to 4,000 BC. He mentioned the loss of winemaking culture as the Soviets insisted on Armenia producing brandy.

20,000 bottles are produced, ungrafted vines, fermentation in stainless steel with ageing in French and American oak. Dark purple with truffles, mushrooms and cigar; some yeasty pungency and dark fruit. Mid-palate of blackberries and vanilla custard, grippy firmness with orange zest bitterness on the finish.

Jancis Robinson calls this a "gypsy wine" and gives it 17 points.

Gelsaia DOCG Piave Manalotte 2009 - Az. Agr Cecchetto, Veneto, Italy (Raboso Piave) Raboso means "acidic", or perhaps "tannic". 1,100ha and 7,000 bottles produced. Around 20% of the grapes are dried for 35 days, ripasso-style; ageing in a mix of new and used barrels. Almost opaque, complex nose of rich, dark dried mixed fruit and tobacco. Sweet ripe fruit, it feels big and grippy, full-bodied with ripe, red-tea tannins. Grippy finish with some liquorice aromas.

The Orange Wines

A term coined in 2004 for wines fermented in amphoras / kvevri / karasi etc.

Gringet Amphore 2010 - Domaine Belluard, Haute-Savoie, France (Gringet) nothing known about this grape, except that it is not Savagnin, as some have said. 15ha, fermented in amphoras with 2 months' skin contact using indigenous yeasts, 1,200 bottles. A slightly cloudy pale orange colour, sweetly pungent and spicy nose. Floral orange blossom and jasmine, lanolin texture, tannins and minerality, with some aniseed and persistence on the finish.

Kisi 2011 - Pheasant's Tears, Georgia (Kisi) 50ha, nothing known about the grape, 3,500 bottles made by American John Wurdeman. Fermented in kvevri, 100% natural wine, 6 months' skin contact. Bright golden orange, the colour of brandy; floral aromas with camomile, straw and herbs. Musky, smokey palate, chewy tannins and dried apricots. "Not for the fainthearted" was José's description of this wine.

Conclusions

The Orange wines were the most unusual and interesting here, but that comes more from production method than grape variety.

The Whites were generally pleasant and well-made, but as wines, I felt they generally lacked any compelling individuality.

The Reds then seemed to have the most innately characterful personalities and made virtues of their idiosyncracies, whilst also being recognisably contemporary wines.

Fans of obscure grape varieties may wish to check out this blog devoted to the oenologically unusual, Fringe Wine.

Jim Budd's photos of the event are here.

Other related articles
On Wine Grapes
De Martino at Circle of Wine Writers
Virginia Wine at Circle of Wine Writers
English Wine at Circle of Wine Writers
Greek Wines at Circle of Wine Writers: part 1 and part 2

Links
Circle of Wine Writers - website, twitter
José Vouillamoz - twitter

Adank at The Cambridge Tasting‏

I kicked off The Cambridge Tasting with six wines from Swiss producer Adank.

I had met Patrick Adank whose father makes the wines in German-speaking eastern Switzerland in Cambridge last year with fellow Cambridge wine blogger, Davy Kurniawan.

Based in the village of Fläsch on the border with Liechtenstein and in the foothills of the alps, Patrick had explained how they make international white varieties and mostly Pinot Noir for the reds.

With the snow falling outside and the heating in Downing College turned up to "institutional" levels, we had chilled the whites simply by popping them outside.

The most-planted Swiss white variety is the relatively-obscure Chasselas, but we had the international Sauvignon and a Chardonnay to try.

Both were, I thought, well-made and very interesting - with good fruit expression, textural interest and sense of individuality, blending modern and traditional.

Both were also liked by fellow Oddbins blogger, Paola Tich who is not generally a fan of generic Sauvignon and clunky Chardies.

The Pinots were not well-liked by two of the more experienced tasters in the room who felt they lacked fruit and "stuffing".

I found myself in the slightly odd position of speaking up for them (I somehow have not yet learnt to love Pinot); I approached them in terms of their acidity first, which I found to be quite good, as was the persistence.

I wondered whether the dislike stemmed from the fact that they fell outside of a standard PN pigeon-hole and, whilst not completely faultless, were perhaps as much "different" as "bad".

I spoke afterwards with late-arriver Matt Boucher who is a fan of German wines and he rather liked them, but noted that there was something of substance lacking on the mid-palate.

Some of the naysayers also suggested that the style was perhaps deliberately old school and rustic.

At the end of the tasting, I collected up all the leftovers and took them home. The Adank reds I thought improved with some air and showed more fruit - even after several days - so perhaps they did not show their best straight out of the bottle.

The final red, a Syrah, was light and pale - rather like a slightly darker version of the Pinots. I was unsure what to make of it at the tasting, but later I decided I rather liked its gentle, elegant softness.

2011 Fläscher Sauvignon Blanc pungent, aromatic, herbaceous nose; mineral, creamy texture. Long palate and good persistence.

2011 Fläscher Chardonnay ripe fruit, creamy buttery texture. Nicely-judged oaking, toasty. Feels elegant and very well-integrated.

2011 Fläscher Pinot Noir ripe cherry fruit and vanilla, touch of smokey spice, pleasant acidity.

2010 Fläscher Pinot Noir Auslese cherry and red berry fruit, a touch stalky with thinness on the mid-palate, but long acidity and reasonable persistence on the finish. A touch of spice develops but rather lacks complexity.

There were complaints at the time of this one being "hot, alcoholic and harsh" and "lacking fruit"; there is perhaps an element truth in all of those observations, but I don't feel that, taken alone, they adequately summarise the wine. And I think it improved significantly with aeration.

2008 Fläscher Pinot Noir Barrique the most complex of the PNs here. Again, not liked and described as a bit tired and lacking fruit.

2010 Fläscher Syrah translucent in the glass like the PNs, definitely not Rhône-esque.

Delicate fruits on the nose, some sous bois; spice and dark berry on the palate. Soft, gentle Pinot-esque texture, long on the palate with good acidity. Again, a touch of stalky astringency, especially on the finish, but otherwise quite elegant in style.

This was considered "fragrant but lacking complexity" which, again, I feel is not wholly representative.

Other related articles
Adank Pinot Noir Barrique 2010
Adank review by Vinoremus
The Cambridge Tasting
The Cambridge Tasting reviewed by Aoife Maxwell

Links
Adank - website, twitter

Adank Pinot Noir Barrique 2010 - Fläsch, Switzerland

It is a general truism of Swiss wine that it is expensive and little seen outside of the country.

A more nuanced view is that around two thirds of the country's vineyards are in western, Francophone Switzerland, with most of the remainder in the Italian-speaking south.

The eastern corner of the country, bordering Liechtenstein, Austria and Germany via Bodensee / Lake Constance is, however, home to around 500ha of vineyards, most of which is Pinot Noir the remainder mainly Chardonnay. To put the size into context, it is comparable with Nuits-St-Georges.

The area styles itself Little Burgundy and is due east from that part of France, albeit at a much greater altitude - just over 500m, which puts it amongst the higher vineyards in Europe.

The region nestles in the foothills of the Swiss Alps - aside from altitude, key quality factors are:

- the soils; mostly a mixture of chalk and slate with some alluvial
- the river Rhine, which provides clay and salinity to the soils
- the southerly autumnal wind which extends the growing season and brings full ripeness to the grapes; grapes are generally picked in mid-late October
- the grapes themselves: the Burgundian Pinot clones are early ripening with small berries, whilst the Swiss clones are more disease resistant

At the Adank winery, based in Fläsch, viticulture is not fully organic as chemical fungicides are occasionally needed, but there is a general "respect for nature" approach with organic fertilisers, hand picking and no heavy machinery.

I met with Patrick Adank whose father planted the vineyard around 35 years ago and who still runs the winery - Patrick is studying oenology at Geisenheim and had come to Cambridge for a short English-language course.

Also there was PhD student and college buyer Davy Kurniawan whom I'd invited along as well.

Patrick explained to us that the winery produces just 35,000 - 40,000 bottles a year, a tiny production, and unsurprisingly even their entry-level wine is not cheap. Sales are mostly to restaurants, regional wine merchants and private customers, with small amounts exported to Austria and Germany.

Most of their wines are red and prices compare reasonably with Pinot from Burgundy and New Zealand (albeit before UK taxes and mark-ups).

The entry-level Pinot Noir is fermented in stainless steel with around 30% aged in oak and sells for around CHF 19.

The mid-level Pinot Noir Auslese ("selected") is aged 100% in old oak and sells for CHF 25, whilst the flagship Pinot Noir Barrique is barrel fermented, 30% with stems and aged for around 10 months in French oak, 50% new and is CHF 33 (around £20)

Perhaps its my finance background, but I rather like consistency and if getting bitten by the Pinot bug means falling in love with its elusive and unreliable nature, then I am so far (at least partially) immune; my car is a sensible German model and I like the fact that it starts every time I put the keys in - I would never swap it for an Italian supercar that requires frequent calls to the AA.

So, I am perhaps not the best judge of Pinot, but in any case, here are my thoughts.

Adank Fläscher Pinot Noir Barrique 2010

In the glass, bright yet quite dark for a Pinot, which I attribute to the effects of altitude.

On the nose, there is pleasant oak, toasty spice and mushroominess.

The palate shows lots of pure fruit expression - plum and raspberry. It feels clean, precise and elegant. The texture is soft with a long palate.

The finish is gentle and pleasant - overall, extremely elegant and balanced.

Definitely not Burgundian - no truffley earthiness here. Rather, as Davy observed, the style here is more New Zealand, and specifically Central Otago - technically well-made with good fruit expression.

Here's Davy's review of the wine - and I do like his description of it as pretty: http://vinoremus.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/weingut-hansruedi-adank.html

Links

Adank - http://www.adank-weine.ch/