Chateau Camplazens - Viognier from Languedoc

When you think of couples leaving behind the rat race to relocate to southern France and live the dream as wine-makers, images of rather smug ex-bankers or slick former marketing managers usually spring to mind.

Susan and Peter Close, a couple from the North of England who have always had a passion for good food and wine, somehow don't quite fit the stereotypical image - they are down-to-earth in an unpretentious sort of way and likable rather than glamorous.

I met Peter last year at the Fine Wine Fair in London where he was showing a range of his wines from Languedoc and was very proud of a Viognier from 30 year-old vines.

I made some apologies about not being a huge fan of Viognier, but Peter was very keen for me to try and so I did.

Viognier, to me, is something of a poor man's Chardonnay - it produces apricotty wines with Chardie's relative neutrality and affinity to oak, but somehow is generally never quite as good.

Peter's Viognier, from low-yielding vines, all hand-picked and aged in oak, was as good an example of a Viognier as I've had and technically well-made, but somehow rather underwhelming.

I was reminded of this tasting when I saw a recent post from Wine Doctor Chris Kissak reviewing a broad range of the Camplazens wines - he gives the 2008 Viognier a workman-like 14/20 and when we chatted, he explained he has rarely had an impressive Viognier from the Languedoc.

Viognier actually originates in the northern Rhône and is perhaps best known as the grape of Condrieu; it is something of a tricky grape to grow, being low-yielding and prone to mildew.

Adding further challenges, it also does not show its best until the vines are fully mature (15-20 years as a starting point) and needs to be picked at just the right level of ripeness.

A quick bit of research suggests there are two strains of Viognier - an an "Old World" strain, found in Condrieu, but also a "New World" strain which is found in the Languedoc and elsewhere, with the two strains producing distinctly different wines.
 
These two strains, identified by Remington Norman, may explain Chris' observation that Viognier from the Languedoc generally does not seem as good as that from Condrieu.

Links

Chateau Camplazens - http://www.camplazens.com/
 
Chris Kissak's reviews of Camplazens - http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/camplazens2011.shtml

Polz - Styrian Terroir: Elevation and Fossil Shells

For most people who know a little about Austria's wines, the first things that spring to mind these days are perhaps Grüner Veltliner and the Wachau.

However, in the south of the country, near the Slovenian border, warmed by Mediterranean breezes, is a region called Steiermark by the Austrians and Styria in English which produces highly distinctive wines of an altogether different style to not just anything else in Austria, but almost in the world.

The key to this lies in a number of specifically terroir-related factors; Styria's vineyards enjoy a generally Mediterranean climate but are at altitudes of several hundred metres, giving an average annual temperature of just 9°C - significantly lower than in the Wachau, Bordeaux or almost anywhere else with the same southerly latitude.

High altitudes give much cooler nights, resulting in a longer growing season and aromatic wines with a startlingly crisp yet rounded, linear acidity and a dense mouthfilling structure.

Polz dates its history back to 1912, but like so much of the Austrian wine industry, the late 1980s is effectively year zero; at that time, in the case of Polz, brothers Erich and Walter took over running of the winery from their parents and increased the vineyard size buying up some of the best sites in Styria.

At the Annual Tasting of Austrian Wines in London recently, Peter Keller, Export Manager for Polz, talked me through a range of wines that he had brought along to show.

We started with an entry-level Steirische Klassik Sauvignon Blanc; Steirische Klassik ("Styrian Classic") wines are generally lighter than those from the Wachau and are not aged for so long before release.

This current vintage Sauvignon, from vineyards between 300m and 400m, blended from different vineyard sites and fermented in stainless steel, was typical of this style - aromatic and light but well structured.

We then moved on to Polz's best-selling wine, named Therese and introduced in 2004. A Sauvignon grown at an altitude of 450m on schisty soils and intended to be the winery's most consistent wine, it was tightly structured with smoky flintstone aromas.

Finally came a couple of single-vineyard wines, starting with a Sauvignon from Hochgrassnitzberg - considered is the best grand cru on the estate, the special feature of this location is the shell limestone sub-soil.

The wine itself, aged in large barrels, was much richer and riper with more oxidisation but the same flinty smokiness.

The final wine, a Traminer from Grassnitzberg, was a mixture or Gewurztraminer and Gelber Traminer.

The key aromas of the better-known Gewurztraminer are perfumey lychees and rose petals, resulting in a love-it-or-loathe-it wine.

This wine, however, expressed primarily its terroir with a linear structure and long, crisp minerally finish and only restrained characteristic floral hints of lychees on the palate.


The wines are imported into the UK by Clark Foyster.
The Wines

Sauvignon Blanc, Steirische Klassik, 2010, 12%
Sauvignon Blanc, "Therese", 2009, 13%
Sauvignon Blanc Hochgrassnitzberg, 2008, 13%
Traminer, Grassnitzberg, 2008, 13.5%

Links

Polz - http://www.polz.co.at/

Clark Foyster Wines - http://www.clarkfoysterwines.co.uk/

Styria's Tement - a New Spiritual Home for Sauvignon

Austria's Tement winery

Styria, in the south of Austria near the Slovenian border, might be considered at first glance as an oenological one-trick pony, since its single "house style" of wines is piercingly crisp and aromatic whites - especially Sauvignon.

Moreover, there is not a lot of variation from vintage to vintage as the region is reliably warmed by southern air streams from the Mediterranean.

However, whatever the region lacks in breadth of styles, it more than makes up for in terms of quality and distinctiveness; Styrian wines are intense, superbly structured and immediately recognisable.

This is largely due to local terroir, as the vineyards are exposed to sunlight and warm air yet also at altitudes of several hundred metres leading to large diurnal fluctuations in temperature which lengthens the growing season and results in wines that are steely and crisp yet also aromatic and full.

And whilst there is a strong, generic Styrian style, there are also, as I found when tasting the wines of Tement at the Annual Tasting of Austrian Wines in London recently, subtle, nuanced differences between vineyard sites.

Michael Thurner, a Wine MBA and president of Austria's Fine Brands, a trade grouping of eight Austrian wine producers, showed me a range of Tement's wines.

Tement, one of the great names in Styria and one of  my regular favourites when I lived in Austria, is based in Berghausen within sight of the Slovenian border and on a narrow plateau of pre-historic fossilised coral-reef formed around 20 million years ago.

We started with a Steirische Klassik Gelber Muskateller - part of the Muscat family, Gelber Muskateller is a grape I usually avoid, but here the resulting wine was crisp, piercing and concentrated with the classic Muscat floral "grapiness" expressed more as auxiliary overtones than dominating aromas.

The Steirische Klassik Sauvignon Blanc had a similarly linear structure and was aromatic but steely rather than lush.

"Steirische Klassik" (Styrian Classic) is the label for Tement's entry-level wines - blended across vineyards, they are fresh and fruity with lots of typical varietal character, fairly light in alcohol and generally matured in stainless steel tanks.

The more serious wines, from single-vineyard sites where differences of terroir can be expressed, are matured in oak.

All Styrian wines, being crisper and fresher in style than wines from the Wachau, are released much earlier in the year following vintage and so whilst the Wachau producers were showing nothing more recent than 2009, the Styrian producers had mainly new-vintage 2010s to show.

A Sauvignon Blanc from Grassnitzberg, a valley into which cool air flows, was richer with minty, smoky and even some vegetal aromas.

Geography does not, of course, recognise political boundaries and the vineyards of nearby northern Slovenia just over the border are on the same terroir as Styria with theoretically the same potential.

Recent history, however, has not been as kind to Slovenia as it has to Austria and whilst Slovenian wines may seem more like a novelty act than a serious contender, that won't be the case for much longer based on the Sauvignon Blanc Fosilni Breg (again a reference to the fossil-rich soil) which in quality terms is indistinguishable from the wines made on the northern side of the border.

The final wine was again a Sauvignon, this time from Zieregg - smokey, flinty and rich, this for me was as good as, but completely different from, anything I have had from the Loire, Bordeaux, New Zealand or anywhere else with claims to be a spiritual home of Sauvignon.

The Wines

Gelber Muskateller, Steirische Klassik, 2010, 12%
Sauvignon Blanc, Steirische Klassik, 2010, 12.5%
Sauvignon Blanc, Grassnitzberg, 2010, 13%
Sauvignon Blanc Fosilni Breg, 2009, 12.5%
Sauvignon Blanc Zieregg, 2008, 13%

Links

Tement - http://www.tement.at/

Austria's Fine Brands - http://www.austriasfinebrands.com/

The Wachau's Elusive Knoll

For me, the Knoll stand at the recent Annual Tasting of Austrian Wines in London was both the highlight and the greatest disappointment of the event.

Knoll wines are among Austria's greatest in the same way that Cambridge University is among the UK's best - i.e. there is only a relatively small number of other contenders for the title.

However, search for Knoll on the Internet and all you will find is a restaurant website with a vague reference to some wines in a manner that seems to suggest they are something of a minor sideline.

Knoll, then, is somewhat publicity shy - even to the point of not actually turning up in for the Annual Tasting of Austrian Wines in London to present their own wines; that task was left to a neighbouring winemaker who, quite sensibly, had rather more to say about his own wines.

And there's the disappointment - after much anticipation, even though I got to try the range, I did not get to speak to anyone from the winery itself or even discuss the wines at any length.

Unprepared for this, I ended up working through the wines rather more quickly than I had really hoped and with little opportunity to talk about each individual wine.

View of Loiben

And so I had to rely on the little general information I already knew about Knoll's wines - based in Loiben, the vineyards are located at the warmer eastern end of the Wachau allowing wines more opportunity to achieve Smaragd levels of ripeness during a growing season lengthened by cool air rolling off the Waldviertal hills at night; the estate is run by Emmerichs II and III, neither of whom likes overpowered, exuberant wines, preferring tight concentration.

When I first tried Knoll's wines many years ago, a little overchilled in restaurants in Vienna, I was impressed - but struggled to see why they were considered so much better than other wines from the Wachau costing less than half as much.

I then read somewhere that even at five years, they are still quite young and decided to put away the few bottles I had to mature quietly and have not touched them since.

Wachau Rieslings and Grüner Veltliners at any level usually show great clarity, focused structure, precision and balance; there is concentration, wonderful mouthfilling acidity and, especially in the Smaragds, a fleshy richness and long finish.

Although I was not able to note down detailed impressions of the wines (another disappointment) as we somewhat cantered through them, what struck me particularly was the insistent mineral length and superb finish of all of them.

Air currents affecting the Wachau

We started with two Rieslings from different vintages from Pfaffenberg, a site in Kremstal just outside the Wachau and therefore not eligible for the Wachau-only Steinfeder / Federspiel / Smaragd classifications of ripeness.

This was marked as a Kabinett, denoting a fully ripe but dry and light style. In simple terms, 2009 was a moderately warm year with 2008 being much warmer and this showed in the wines with the 2008 feeling bigger and fleshier.

Next came three Smaragd wines all from 2009 - two Grüner Veltliners from different vineyards and finally a Riesling.

All Knoll's Smaragd wines are aged in old oak until the September following the vintage which gives them additional richness, depth and complexity.

I could only wonder how I had not previously noticed this, as these wines were still generally relatively young (mainly 2009s); I can only think that, by now being a couple of hours into the event, the wines had had a chance to gain some air and open up a little.

I also bumped into Jancis Robinson at the event - she was focusing on Austria's reds, having reviewed Knoll's wines on her site already some years ago, and for more details on Knoll you could do much worse than look at her review (see here).

The wines are imported by Richards Walford in the UK.

The Wines

Riesling, Pfaffenberg Kabinett, 2009 12.5%
Riesling, Pfaffenberg Kabinett, 2008, 12.5%
Grüner Veltliner, Kreutles Smaragd, 2009, 13.5%
Grüner Veltliner, Loibenberg Smaragd 2009, 13.5%
Riesling, Loibenberg Smaragd, 2009, 13.5%

Links

Knoll - http://www.loibnerhof.at/

Richards Walford - http://www.r-w.co.uk/

Jancis Robinson's 2011 article on Austrian reds (Purple Pages) - http://www.jancisrobinson.com/tasting_articles/ta20110216.html

Jancis Robinson's 2006 article on Knoll - http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/wineweek060221.html

On Texture and Structure - Why Flavour Isn't Everything

If we ignore wines that are either boring or unpleasant and consider only those that are to a greater or lesser degree enjoyable, it seems to me that a key distinction to be made is between flavour and texture / structure.

Flavour is basically what a wine tastes of (more accurately, what it smells of) - the aromas you get on the nose and palate. Cab, for example, generally tastes of blackcurrant, eucalyptus and pencil shavings, Syrah (or Shiraz) usually tastes of prunes and plums, amongst other things.

Essentially, flavour is all about the fruit in the wine and how approachable it is - a wine with lots of complex aromas on the nose and palate will be quite interesting in that respect.

Flavour is rather a New World concept - it's what makes a wine crowd-pleasing, and the riper the grapes the more volume of flavour there will be.

Texture

But flavour isn't everything; it only gets you so far and beyond that, there is texture (mainly for reds) and structure (mainly for whites) to consider.

Compared to flavour, texture and structure are more elusive concepts, harder to describe, and there simply is not have the same vocabulary for them as exists for flavour.

One might speculate endlessly as to the reasons for this greater vocabulary for flavours compared to texture, but my guess is flavour was a better indicator to our hunter-gather ancestors of whether a food was suitable for eating or not; by contrast considerations of texture were something of a luxury and therefore we have not developed the same faculties and hence vocabulary for describing texture.

Structure

In simple terms, texture and structure are how the wine feels in your mouth.

Wines with good texture and structure will also generally have good length - that is, how long you can taste or sense the wine after swallowing or spitting.

To explain by way of examples, texture / structure is the same as what makes a BMW a more enjoyable car to drive than a Ford and why I still like listening to a Mozart symphony long after I have got bored of a chirpy pop song.

An entry-level BMW may have fewer toys and less poke than an equivalent-priced Ford, but it is a better-engineered car. Just as a Mozart symphony is more subtle and complex than a radio-friendly unit shifter.

Texture and structure may not generally be the first things that strike you about a wine - unless you happen to be 1) a professional whose job it is to look out for these things, 2) a serious enthusiast or 3) an old-schooler, brought up on textured wines before the rise of fruit-driven, New World wines.

Flavour, then, is a little bit like what initially attracts you to someone in a bar; texture and structure are why you remain married to them.

When I look back to the first wines I really liked - entry-level French reds bought in France and Austrian whites - they appealed to me largely because of the interesting flavours.

And yet they also scored highly for texture, even though I perhaps did not fully realise it at the time.

Compared to the wines I had bought in the UK, they were approachable, balanced, technically well-made, full of flavour, but also structured and mouthfilling - all for generally under €10 a bottle, what more could a novice wine enthusiast on a budget want ?

A few years ago, I decided to give up the high-travel job that allowed me to visit Austria and France regularly and as a result, had to start buying wine like most normal people in this country, i.e. via local wine merchants and the odd Internet retailer.

It proved instructive, as some retailers seem to focus exclusively on flavour, with a simple "more-of-everything-is-better" approach, whilst others are more even-handed, offering wines with balance, restraint and fruit plus texture and structure.

I asked two MWs about their thoughts on this area - Philip Goodband explained that "when I taste at the IWSC and other competitions the wines with great texture....not to be confused with extraction... shine through!" whilst Debra Meiburg added "Texture is a make-or-break. The tannic structure is key".

For myself, I find I now place rather more emphasis (but not all) on texture and structure compared to flavour; finding a wine with great texture, structure and flavour - now that is something really special.

Links

Philip Goodband - http://www.philipgoodband.com/

Debra Meiburg - http://debramasterofwine.com/

Premium Estates of Austria; wines from Sattlerhof and Loimer‏

At the Annual Tasting of Austrian Wines, I tried wines from two different producers, both members of Premium Estates of Austria and chatted to MD Andreas Wickhoff.

Styrian producer Sattlerhof is based in the south of the country near the Slovenian border where the vineyards are at altitudes of several hundred metres, reliably warmed by southerly air streams, but chilly overnight, leading to a long growing season.

I already knew Sattlerhof's wines reasonably well as they are served in a number of Vienna's better restaurants, and on this occasion they were showing a Morillon and a Sauvignon.

Morillon, the Styrian synonym for Chardonnay, is always unoaked and often makes for a good aperitif; this one was typical of the region, being light and crisp with refreshing acidity and good structure.

However, I thought the Steirische Klassik Sauvignon was a more interesting wine with lots of herbaceous character, good linear acidity and a crisp yet balanced finish.

Moving on to the Loimer wines from Lower Austria (confusingly in the north of the country), I asked Andreas to suggest one that was showing well at the time.

I know Loimer only by reputation and the wine Andreas picked was a Grüner Veltliner made from 15-20 year old vines.

Fermented 50% in stainless steel and 50% in old oak, it had lots of varietal character with aromas of celery, white pepper and puy lentils and a smokiness on the finish.

Andreas explained that the idea behind Premium Estates of Austria is to group together a number of high-quality producers from different regions within Austria to promote their wines jointly and thereby share costs.

It costs the same to get one person to a trade show in London regardless of how many wines they show, so if, as here, two producers club together, the cost to each is only half.

This idea of a producer's marketing group is not new and in fact is gaining popularity.

Given that wine is generally an artisan product made in limited quantities (if we put aside New World conglomerates), the challenge for smaller wineries is how to maintain individuality on the "product-side" whilst enjoying the benefits of acting like a large company on the "business-side".

If the usual tricks of increasing volume or quality are not an option - if you already have as much suitable land as there is readily available and the wines are already well-made - then sharing marketing and business development costs with other producers is the logical next step.

These sort of groups, then, provide an opportunity to tap into some marketing expertise without having to bear the full-time cost and also to gain some of the business benefits of economies of scale.

It also makes financial sense for the consumer, as it means more of the ultimate selling price is represented by the cost of what's in the bottle and less goes on business admin.

Premium Estates of Austria was established in 2004 and represents 6 producers of Austrian wines and related produce.

Both producers' wines are imported into the UK by Liberty Wines.

The Wines

Morillon Steirische Klassik, 2009 Suedsteiermark, Sattlerhof (12.5%)

Sauvignon Blanc, Steirische Klassik, 2010, Suedsteiermark, Sattlerhof (12.5%)

Grüner Veltliner, Terrasseb, 2009, Lower Austria Loimer, £13.95

Links

Video of Premium Estates of Austria  -

Sattlerhof - http://www.sattlerhof.at/

Loimer - http://www.loimer.at/

Premium Estates of Austria - http://www.premiumestates.at/

Liberty Wines - http://www.libertywine.co.uk/

Three Prager Wines

When I used to visit Vienna regularly on business, Prager were some of my favourite wines to have in one of the city's new wave of modern international restaurants.

The winery, run by Toni and Ilse Bodenstein, is based in the pretty village of Weissenkirchen, mid-way up the Wachau between the eastern end (warmed by southerly air currents from the Pannonian plain) and the cooler western end, but still manages to produce mainly Smaragd wines - the highest level of ripeness. It is also one of the great names in the Wachau.

I tried three Prager wines at the recent Annual Tasting of Austrian Wines in London; the most interesting comparison was of two Grüner Veltliners - both Smaragd, both from the same south-facing Achtleiten vineyard and year, 2009, but one from relatively youthful 50 year-old vines whilst the other was from 80 year-old vines.

Prager's wines at any level are pure, precise minerally and intense with concentration and focus - the younger of the two was ripe, grapefruity and mineral, but the older "stockkultur" vines had produced a richer, riper and more intense wine.

"Stockkultur" vines

The word "Stockkultur" refers to the way the vines are trained, a single vine with four shoots which increases the density of planting.

The final wine, a Riesling Steinriegel, was also ripe, minerally and intense.

Austria does not really do any "bargain-basement" wines - limited vineyard area and the relatively high costs of production make it impractical from the wines to be produced in mass-market quantities.

However, at the top end, the wines are world class, but not yet priced accordingly; this is the area where Prager operates - with only a few entry-level wines priced below about €20 - so although the wines are not in the everyday price bracket, they do represent something of a bargain.

They wines were presented by Field, Morris & Verdin.

The Wines

Grüner Veltliner Achtleiten 2009
Grüner Veltliner Achtleiten 2009 "Stokkultur"
Riesling Steinriegel 2009

Links

Prager - http://www.weingutprager.at/

Field, Morris & Verdin - http://www.fmvwines.com/