Jackson Estate

Two ambitious wines from New Zealand's Jackson Estate

Grey Ghost Sauvignon Blanc (£18, Majestic, Ocado, Tesco) oaked Sauvignon is something unusual - especially from the New World, which specializes in crisp, modern aromatic styles produced in temperature controlled stainless steel.

 

This oaked Sauvignon is a mixture of modernity and tradition; pale straw yellow, with varietal Sauvignon aromatics plus some oatmealy-cashew, lime zest and toasty oak.

 

Sweet ripe pineapple, guava and citrus fruit with zesty freshness leads to a savoury, buttery, brazil-nut mid-palate with a long finish.

 

Complex and impressively constructed. Good.

 

Match with monkfish in a herb broth.

Vintage Widow Pinot Noir 2012 (£19.99, Majestic, Ocado, Tesco) Surprisingly dark for a Pinot, mostly toasty oak on the nose, rather smothering the Burgundian vegetal / farmyard underneath. Ripe black cherry fruit, sweet, oaky spice, tobacco leaf, mocha and freshness - good precision, texture and length.

A class act for certain, but a more androgynous style of Pinot than a willowy, waywardly naturally-beautiful Burgundian - a made-up, stomping, Bowie-esque Jean Genie.

Technically Very Good, but somehow lacks the ethereal elusiveness of a really compelling Pinot.

Match with duck or other dark game.

Provided for review.

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Image credit: http://banditblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/52590035108803a8858c9dfeea16fafd.jpg

Errazuriz Estate Series

A tasting of Four Estate Series wines from Chilean producer Errazuriz with colleagues

Chile is an oenological big blowsy tart-with-a-heart; with complex geology, no Phylloxera and a combination of altitude and cooling sea breezes, it should make great wines.

 

Yet if in practice all too often the results are unsophisticated attention-seekers, at least some producers, including Errazuriz, are starting to make more interestingly nuanced wines.

 

These four are somewhere between those two extremes - fault-free and expressive with occasional complexity, they are crowd-pleasers with some ambition.

 

Estate Series Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Aconcagua Valley, RRP £9.99, Waitrose, Majestic, Budgens, Morrisons, NISA; various independents.

Textbook generic New World SB, aromatic gooseberries, nettles and cut grass. Tropical fruits and fresh acidity. Light, uncomplicated, expressive.

Estate Series Unoaked Chardonnay 2012, Casablanca Valley RRP £9.99, Tesco, Bargain Booza, Fresh & Wild

Ripe tropical fruits, clean acidity and some textural complexity from wild yeast fermentation and lees aging. Granitic soils add a hint of minerality.

 

Estate Series Merlot 2013, Curico Valley RRP £9.99, Tesco, Majestic, Budgens, NISA, Booths, various independents

Expressive varietal nose of red fruits, coffee and spice with some toasty oak. Juicy and refreshing, uncomplicated.

 

Estate Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Maipo Valley RRP £9.99, Waitrose, Morrisons, Booths, various independents

Complex nose of cassis, oak and spice; supple palate with ripe bramble fruit, a touch of cool mint and vanilla. Good concentration and balanced freshness.

 

Long, ripe and plump - slightly drying tannins on the finish, but some food might fix this.

***

 

Sealed under screwcap, all these wines benefitted from some aeration. For me the most assured overall was the leesy, textured Chardonnay; the group's favourite was the Cab.

 

Provided for review.

 

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Polugar Vodka

Russia has made few friends and antagonised numerous others with its foreign policy in 2014, to the extent that it is now on the receiving end of a number of sanctions.

These Polugar vodkas invoke a Russian heritage but are actually made in Poland, so are presumably not affected.

 

They were banned by Russia's overbearing, rapacious, imperial ruler in the C19th, but have been rediscovered and restored by the Rodionov family based on historic research.

 

Current Russian legislation still does not permit these grain-based distillates to be made in the country.

 

Made from grain and spring water, they are purified using birch wood charcoal; they have a distinctly bready aroma and flavour that is more complex and less harsh than any vodka I have ever tried.

 

Previously, the nearest thing I'd had to a bread-based drink is the dark-brown, frothy, malty-bready, sweetish kvas.

 

These are quite unique.

 

Single grain range

 

Wheat doughy-bready aroma; long, intense and warming, but lacks the bitterness of traditional vodka.

 

Single Malt Rye adds aromas of rye bread and meadow grass.

 

Classic Rye aromas of freshly-baked rye bread with a touch of sweetness and spice.

 

Infusions range

 

No. 1 Rye & Wheat doughy, with freshly-baked, home-made breadcrust; sweetness, warming finish.

 

No. 2 Garlic & Pepper pungent roasted garlic aromas; warming, lingering pepperiness.

 

No. 3 Caraway pronounced, complex sweetly spiced aromas and flavours of central-Asian-style caraway bread. This really brings back memories of living in the Soviet Union.

 

No. 4 Honey & Allspice sweet, floral honey and warming allspice. Unsurprisingly.

 

Match with traditional Slavic zakuski - rye bread, pickled cucumbers, kolbasa, boiled potatoes with butter and dill, preserved bell peppers and tomatoes.

Provided for review.

 

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Pure Chablis: The Tasting

Tasting notes from a horizontal tasting of Chablis vineyards organised by the BIVB and run by oenologist-turned-tour-guide Eric Szablowski of Au Coeur du Vin

After a tour of the vineyards of Chablis with Eric in his 2CV, it was my turn to do a bit of work with a tasting of 30-odd wines from Petit Chablis up to Grand Cru.

For the most part, the judges don't lie and the best wines were the Golds from the best classifications; the best wine overall was the Chablisienne Les Preuses.

For newcomers to Chablis, Petit Chablis is as good a place to start as any - these easy drinkers have the character of Chablis in a lighter, simpler form.

Petits Chablis 2012

Grown on different soils (portlandian, if you were wondering), Petit Chablis is a "junior" version of the real thing - an inexpensive entry-level wine for general drinking. These wines were light, sharp and pale, a good aperitif.

Domaine William Fevre white stone fruit, elegant and persistent
Jean Dauvissat pere et fils floral and rounded with white flowers
Domaine Servin floral, mineral and persistent
La Chablisienne flinty and precise, from Chablis' co-op
Domaine Charly Nicole sweet spice, ripeness, almost honeysuckle
Domaine Sebastien Dampt floral and rounded with beeswax and lime marmalade

Chablis 2012

The first of the "real" Chablis, these were richer and more golden-coloured.

Domaine de Chantemerle richer, more harmonious, balanced and integrated; good texture, assured.
Domaine Gautheron some honeysuckle, floral sweetness and zestiness; good texture
Domaine Jean Collet elegant, mineral; a zestiness develops
Domaine Vocoret et fils white flowers and sweet spices
Domaine Daniel Seguinot et Filles flinty, mineral precise and elegant
Domaine de la Motte precise with stray / hay notes

Chablis Premiers Crus rive droite 2012

Premiers Crus are, incongruously, the second rank of Chablis - these right-bankers were richer and more complex.

Domaine Pinson Freres, Mont de Milieu (Gold) complex honeysuckle and beeswax, rich and ripe orchard fruits. Good textured richness.
Domaine Garnier, Mont de Milieu (Silver) sweet ripe orchard fruits, honeysuckle, persistent finish
Simonet Febvre, Forchaute (Silver) sweet ripe orchard fruits, honeysuckle, zestiness, persistent finish
Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoit Droin, Montee de Tonnerre (Bronze) zesty and pungent, pronounced minerality; fresh with a persistent finish

Chablis Premiers Crus rive gauche 2012

Domaine Pinson Freres, Montmains (Gold) more power than elegance; ripeness and richness. Harmonious with a persistent finish.
Domaine de la Motte, Vau Ligneau (Gold) from a small, cool valley apart from Chablis, the wines can be rustic, but this is atypically elegant. Ripe focused sweet citrus, concentrated and mineral.
Claude Chevalier, Montmains (Silver) floral with orchard fruits and white flowers; elegant and mineral.
Domaine Daniel Dampt Cotes de Lechet (Silver) ripe citrus with mineral persistence.
Domaine Laroche, Les Jaudevey (Bronze) rich, honeyed, ripe citrus and orchard fruit

Chablis Grands Crus

So, we're finally there - this is the best of the best of Chablis; the top seven vineyards, all south-facing, all in a group on a slope overlooking the centre of Chablis.

La Chablisienne, Les Preuses (Gold) Chablis' co-op, but starting to become a domaine with acquisitions of vineyards. This is rich, complex and harmonious, with sweet spice and well-integrated buttery oak.
Domaine William Fevre, Bougros Cotes de Bouguerots (Silver) flinty with pungent hints, ripe citrus and orchard fruits, long and persistent. Just not quite as concentrated or intense as the Gold.

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Three Alsace Wines

Three medal-winning wines from Alsace's Les Vignerons Recoltants de St Hippolyte

One of the many very pleasant things about a holiday in France is the opportunity to stock up on superior wines at everyday-drinking prices.

We bought these three medal-winning Alsace wines from the supermarket for around €5 each; with taxes and duties, something of equivalent quality in the UK would have cost £10+.

Riesling 2011 (Paris Gold) Sandy yellow, ripe peach and honeysuckle blossom; ripe peach fruit, fresh citrus, beeswax and minerality with a touch of white pepper on the finish. Ripe, clean and long. Good.

Pinot Gris 2012 (Paris Gold) Sweet ripe orchard fruit, sweet spices - rounded, assured and deft. Good.

Gewurztraminer 2012 (Colmar Gold) Ripe stone fruit, pineapple, beeswax and sweet warming spices with lychees and rose petals. Complex and assured. Good.

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Taylor's First Estate Reserve Port

Young reserve ruby port should be bursting with fruit, eucalyptus, sweetness and alcohol.

 

This Taylor's First Estate, a blend of reserve ports, has all that youthful exuberance, but also a hint of something more complex and aged; some leather and cigarbox on the nose, a savouriness on the palate and a mellowness about it.

 

Ripe dark berry fruits, cassis, eucalyptus, cooked mixed fruit and warming spice - sweetness, freshness and savoury persistence.

 

Like Christmas cake laced with cough mixture - in a good way. An excellent entry-level port.

 

Good.

 

A dessert in its own right, match with chocolate and cherry torte - or dark chocolate.

£12, widely available; provided for review.

 

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Domaine Ellevin, Chablis

 Domaine Ellevin in Chablis, part of Patrimoine des Terroirs

Chablis is not a big place, a modest market town with a riverside and various remnants of a mediaeval past.

 

The appellation of Chablis covers both the vineyards surrounding the town itself and those of 20 neighbouring villages. Just a few miles south, in the village of Chichée, is Domaine Ellevin.

 

We had contacted owner Alexandre Ellevin in advance and arranged to meet up on our way back from a holiday in southern France - Chablis being pretty much half way between the Rhone and Calais.

Working out of a converted garage, Alexandre has a small tasting area hung with maps and the various awards his wines have won over the years.

 

Beyond is a bottling line and storage area; he farms 16ha but supplies most of his wine to a negociant with no trouble selling the remainder himself - there was pretty much only current vintages available of his four wines.

Describing his choice, Alexandre explained that he has greater freedom with a negociant - the local co-op would take his grapes en masse, but would require his entire crop.

 

By contrast, a negociant, working through a courtier (middle-man), would agree a set price for a predetermined amount of finished wine which it would bottle and sell under its own label allowing Alexandre complete freedom to do whatever he likes with the remainder.

We tried all four wines; if the petit Chablis is a crisp, uncomplicated aperitif, the AOC Chablis has more complexity and underpinnings.

 

Most impressive, however, are his two Premiers Crus, from Vaucoupin and Vosgros. In the arcane nomenclature of Chablis, Premiers Crus are in the second rank of vineyards after the top seven Grands Crus.

 

Both wines have the taut, steely precision and intensity that is characteristic of top Chablis; the Vaucoupin showed a little more fruit and is just ready for drinking now whilst the Vosgros is still intensely mineral and needs longer in bottle to open up.

 

We bought as much as would fit into a car boot already groaning with holiday stuff and bottles from other wine regions we had visited. It was an easy choice - the two Premiers Crus are not only the best, but also ridiculously good value at under €10 each.

 

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