Wine of the Month - June

Congratulations
And jubilations
I want the world to know I'm happy as can be
"Congratulations" Cliff Richard (1968)

June is a month of multiple celebrations - the Diamond Jubilee, an extra day off work. Plus Wine of the Month is one year old.

And who knows, after the wettest drought on record, the current heatwave might even last over the extended Bank Holiday weekend, so those street parties won't be a wash-out.

So, feeling all jubilatory, our Cambridge-based wine merchants have decided to push the boat out a bit with a patriotic, celebratory theme.

Carter's Sparkling Brut Vintage 2009 - £19.95, Joseph Barnes Wines

You can't get more patriotic and celebratory than English fizz - and this is a superb example by any standards.

Made from a blend of Orion & Chardonnay grapes using the traditional Champenoise method, this is from a 3ha vineyard in Boxted near Colchester, known as Carter's Farm.

Sipped in the garden on a summer's eve, in the glass this is the colour of an early sunset.

On pouring, it foams enthusiastically with a fine mousse - initially light and fresh, after an hour or so, it opens up to show ripe orchard fruits on the palate, a savoury leesiness, food-friendly acidity and a persistent, yeasty finish.

With complexity, finesse, good length and balance, this is a really good bottle of vintage fizz.

Joseph Perrier Brut NV Cuvée Royale NV - £28.95 Cambridge Wine Merchants

Made from a roughly equal blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, this Joseph Perrier Cuvee Royale is aged for three years in the winery's Roman-era cellars.

It foams enthusiastically on pouring and is bright with a pale golden tint in the glass.

The nose is distinctly fruity, whilst the palate shows ripe orchard fruits and leesiness; there is crisp-apple acidity, aromas of brioche and a fine mousse.

Long on the palate, it has a persistent, savoury finish and has all the balanced, elegant and complex finesse you would expect of a wine that counts at least two British monarchs amongst its supporters.

Andrea Faccio Moscato d'Asti - £6.99 (half bottle) Bacchanalia

Moscato d'Asti is a low alcohol, semi-sweet frizzante with flavours of ripe peach, apricot, galia melon and a touch of sherbert.

If you are having an afternoon tea and need something celebratory to cover all bases (sweetness and fizz) without breaking the bank, this could be your perfect solution.

It comes in a half-bottle, but packs in plenty of ripe-fruit flavour, and is refreshing enough to drink at a garden party.

Denbies Vineyard Select Chalk Ridge Rosé 2011 - £10.99, Noel Young Wines

This English rosé is made with Rondo, Dornfelder and Pinot Noir. Unfortunately at the time of going to press, there were no stocks available for review, but it is due into Noel's shop in time for the bank holiday weekend.

Noel describes it as vivid pink in colour, full of tangy cherry, strawberries and cream. Vibrant and just off-dry making it a great BBQ street party wine.

Recommended Wine

With such a range of styles and prices, there is no overall winner this month - just for great wines for street parties and celebrations. Jubilee-tastic.

Links

Bacchanalia - http://www.winegod.co.uk/
Cambridge Wine Merchants - http://www.cambridgewine.co.uk/
Joseph Barnes Wines - http://www.josephbarneswines.com/
Noel Young Wines - http://www.nywines.co.uk/

Image credits - Jubilee Bunting http://www.salcombetrading.co.uk/artisan/weaver/jubilee-bunting-crowns/c-pow0002/

Cake - http://floor-to-ceiling-books.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/1-year-old-today.html

Bar Pepito - King's Cross

For almost a decade now, I have passed through King's Cross twice daily; ongoing re-building work to the various tube station entrances has been something of a theme, but in the last few weeks, the make-over of the station itself has revealed new walkways, a plaza with juxtaposed period and modern styling and the opening up of the original glass roof and frontispiece.

All in all, it makes the 90 or so seconds I spend walking across the concourse that little bit more pleasant, but outside the confines of the station, King's Cross is still more of a place you pass through - or depart from - than a destination in its own right.

Turn left out of the station and the side-street to The Guardian's offices leads you past a row of presentable-enough coffee chains but there is little here to make the heart beat faster.

Except, perhaps, for Bar Pepito - a broom cupboard of a sherry bar tucked well away from the inner ring road in a little courtyard.

From the outside, you are most definitely in a soulless part of mid-town London, but stepping across the threashold takes you into a rustic Andalusian bodega.

Much like The End of The World, the infamous Sherry Revival is heralded by believers and mocked by deriders in equal measure, but in practice it is just as elusive and irrelevant as the apocalypse itself.

I first went to Pepito's early last year after seeing the twitter buzz around its launch. After struggling merely to find the website, making a booking proved impossible and it took a visit in person to realise why; with just five up-turned barrels for tables, it only takes around a dozen people sitting on bar stools for the place to feel at capacity and anyone else wishing to join the party needs either to stand or sit outside.

All of this gives Pepito's a lively, edgy feel that is miles away from sherry's stereotypical homeland of vicars and maiden aunts.

Choices for food and drinks are simple and limited but of uniformly good quality - the best of all worlds in my book. The sherries, like the wines, are mostly from Gonzalez Byass and available in all the major styles with generally just a cheaper and more expensive option.

The wine list is well-made, crowd-pleasing, food-friendly modern Spanish and the food is mainly meats and cheeses with sundry other tapas - plus a couple of dessert options.

So far, so textbook; but for me, what makes it special - other than the convenient location for my train home - is the focus, attention to detail and consistent quality of, well ... everything really.

You won't get the foamed vegetables of the now-defunct El Bulli, but there's also no three-year waiting list - and with no reservations, there's also no table-turning either.

It is perhaps the perfect advertisement for sherry - simple, well-prepared food served unpretentiously in a lively atmosphere.

I've made several visits to Pepito's since it opened for post-work catch-ups with friends and we typically start with a bottle of crisp, pungent Tio Pepe fino and a mixed plate of meat and cheese - rather like a rock star who eventually ditches the eye-catching outfits for a cleaner, simpler look, I find keeping things simple, classic and well-made is my preference these days.

With no overt fruit characteristics and an elegant linear acidity, fino or manzanilla sherry perfectly cuts through the richness of salami, cheese and bread dipped in oil.

It is however, very much a food wine and makes no sense on its own except as an aperitif, so avoid the schoolboy error of ordering a second bottle once the food is finished and instead move onto something a little more complex and rounded, either from the list of table wines or one of the darker sherries.

Typically, I make a move back to Cambridge before 9pm, but on one occasion, having missed a train after a night out in central London and an hour to kill before the next one, I wandered over to Pepito's. The bar was still going strong at nigh on midnight and I sat outside on an unseasonably warm evening pleasantly sipping an Apostoles Palo Cortado.

Palo Cortado is a wine that technically should not exist; intended to be a pale fino, it rebels against its destiny and ages oxidatively.

It is also traditionally the wine-maker's baby and is said to be the wine by which you should judge a sherry house.

The Apostoles is dark and complex with dry roasted nut and antique leather aromas. The addition of a modest amount of raisiny, treacly Pedro Ximinez gives it a rounded feel and it seems less sweet than it actually is.

It was not quite the same as gazing over the shimmering Med in Sanlucar de Barrameda, listening to the strains of flamenco and knowing that the cooling, salty sea air is helping the flor grow more thickly to produce manzanilla, but for a moment, mid-town London was quite a pleasant place wait for a train.

Wines and sherries are generally available by the glass; a plate of meats and cheeses for two plus a couple of bottles of sherry costs around £50.

Other related articles

Hidalgo Sherry Dinner with Cambridge Wine Merchants
Dehesa, Soho
Tio Pepe En Rama
The Great Sherry Tasting

Links
Bar Pepito - website

Marston's Single Hop Ales

If you want to learn what the various ingredients in beer provide in the way of flavours, it is a good idea to sample them separately in their raw state; I was lucky enough to get to do this a few years ago at a local micro-brewery in Cambridge and came away with a much better understanding of the toasty cereal flavours of malt and the bitter, citrussy flavours imparted by hops.

Different hops have different characteristics and if you can't find a friendly brewery, the next best option is to try a range of beers with different hops.

Step forward Marston's Single Hop Ales - a range of six beers each brewed with a single hop, rather than the (more common) blend.

With the extended heavy rain of the last few months now a seemingly distant memory, I spent some time in the garden over the weekend trying out two of these ales.

Marynka - £1.80, Booths

Made from a Polish hop developed 25 years ago to provide a herbal, berry fruit and floral aroma, this beer commemorates Poland's hosting of Euro 2012 in June.

A deep gold colour, it is malty with lots of hoppy bitterness, floral and grapefruit flavours, complex with caramel and toffee notes, spice.

Sovereign - £1.80, Morrisons

Sovereign is an English hop with floral and mint aromas.

No prizes for guessing that this one is intended as a Jubilee celebration beer, and if National Pride is particularly your thing, it was also brewed on St George's Day.

Golden in the glass, this is malty and floral with grapefruit aromas and pithy hoppy bitterness.

Links

Marston's - http://www.marstons.co.uk/
Booths - http://www.booths.co.uk/
Morrisons - http://www.morrisons.co.uk/

The Co-op Truly Irresistible Jubilation Ale‏

Have we all gone Jubilee-mad ? Or do we just need a good old party to lift our spirits from this recessionary funk ?

I must admit to more than a degree of cynicism about the idea of slapping the word "Jubilee" on any old product and commercialising our heritage: overpriced jam sandwiches in "Union-Flag Bunting" packaging, anyone ?

However, if you must do something Jubilee-related then this limited edition, commemorative Co-op Truly Irresistible Jubilation Ale‏ is hand-brewed in the Forest of Dean and made from Warminster and Bramling Cross hops with malt from the country's oldest malting house.

Golden in the glass, it is a crisp, refreshing and well-made ale with aromas of citrus and grapefruit.

Light enough to drink at a street party, it will also match with food.

Available at the Co-operative for £1.69 until June 12th; provided for review.

Links

The Co-op (food and drink) - http://www.co-operative.coop/food/welcome/

Organic Jura Wines - Tasting Notes

Last weekend, I went to a tasting hosted by Wink Lorch of organic wines from Jura, a region whose wines I previously knew only by reputation as being "a bit different".

Somewhat contrarian by nature, I have historically sought out the unfashionable, different and unusual in wines as well as other areas in an attempt to be anything other than mainstream. However, even the little that I have read on Jura has been enough to let me know that these are wines to be approached with caution.

An enthusiasm for Riesling and sherry - a sure sign of wine-geekery - is positively mainstream in comparison to liking Jura wines. In musical terms, Jura is the Prog Rock of wine: different, old-fashioned, unfashionable and divisive of opinions.

Also like Prog Rock, Jura wines are unlikely to appeal immediately at first acquaintance and take time to reveal their charms.

Wink, who has a base in eastern France and is a regular visitor to the area, had invited a number of bloggers to try these unusual wines at Adiva restaurant in London's East End, with Riedel tasting glasses provided courtesy of Sensible.

Also there, and likely to tweet or write up their impressions in due course were Arnold Waldstein, Caroline Henry, Ryan Opaz, Gabriella Opaz, Simon Woolf, Heather Dougherty and Nayan Gowda.

I wrote up some thoughts as an overview of Jura, so what follows in this post is my detailed tasting notes, starting with two sparklers.

Note: the word oxidative comes up a lot in these reviews and I use it to describe the impression of the sharp, piercing acidity and brown apple-flesh flavour of the white wines, even if many of the wines are ouillé, or "topped up", meaning that they do not actually age fully oxidatively.

Fizz

Cremant du Jura Brut Domaine Pignier: made from 100% Chardonnay, this was perhaps the most conventional wine of the evening, light, fresh and crisp, with some floral sweetness and a fine mousse.

Cremant du Jura Domaine de la Pinte: despite its traditional-method fermentation, this had yeast and oxidative notes on the nose and a rasping, sour-cherry acidity on the palate and finish that demands a food accompaniment

Red Wines

In another break with convention, we tasted reds before whites.

Arbois Poulsard Uva l'Arboisiana 2011 Domaine de la Tournelle: rosé coloured and with a combination of sweetness and spice on the nose, this smells like Chinatown on a Saturday night. Light on the palate, it is mainly about the acidity and is a rosé to all extents and purposes. Good length, but not complex.

Arbois Pupillin Ploussard La Chamade 2009 Philippe Bornard: more complex, this has the same mix of fruit sweetness and Chinese spice, reminiscent of a good, light Pinot, some grip on the finish

Trousseau Les Corvees 2010 Domaine de l'Octavin; with settling by gravity and no filtration, this was somewhat cloudy; again, the fruit sweetness and Pinot-esque red berries.

Trousseau 2010 Domaine Pignier; on the nose, this was to me distinctly sulphurous with industrial gas-leak. Nayan Gowda disagreed and felt it was merely a touch reductive. On the palate, more sweet, red-berry fruit and some grip on the finish.

I asked Wink about the sweetness of the reds and she explained that they are all fully dry with no residual sugar, explaining the lack of tannin might create the impression of sweetness.

My own theory is that there are complex fruit sugars which are not measured as residual glucose or fructose, but which register as sweetness on the palate.

Arbois A la Capitaine 2009: the last of the reds, noticeably darker, pale but recognisably a red wine; less on the nose, a touch of oxidative and wet dog, more mouthfilling and longer on the palate. This turns out to be 2/3rds Pinot Noir, 1/3rd Poulsard with a few drops of Trousseau. Ironically, the least "Pinot-esque".

Whites

Cotes du Jura Chardonnay A la Percenette 2010 Domaine Pignier: zippy, zesty lemon and lime with some rounded fruit sweetness, spitzy and sherberty, a hint of oxidative character, some firm grip on the finish

Arbois Chardonnay La Mailloche Pamina 2010 Domaine Octavin: oxidative nose, with aromas of grated apple flesh left to turn brown, mouthfilling and long, good depth and grippy finish

Arbois Pupillin Melon Le Queue Rouge 2009 Philippe Bornard: strawberry bubble gum on the nose, some oxidative notes, sweet lemon curd and bubble gum on the palate, an easier drinker with less grip on the palate and more ripe fruit sweetness (Queue Rouge is a clone of Chardonnay)

Arbois Chardonnay 2008 Les Corvées sous Curon Domaine de la Tournelle: oxidative hints on the nose and on the palate, rasp of lemon-lime acidity, a touch of sherbert, less sweetness with a grippy finish

Arbois Savagnin Les Nouvelles Comtesse A ... 2011 Domain L'Octavin: oxidative notes on the nose, sherberty, lemony palate with zippy acidity and sweet butteriness, refreshing on the finish

Arbois Fleur de Savagnin 2009 Domaine de la Tournelle: mildly, but persistently sulphurous on the nose, oxidative notes, sweet lemony fruit with rasping acidity, good depth and grip on the finish

Cotes du Jura Savagnin Ouillé Les Chassagnes 2008 Philippe Bornard: ouillé means topped-up, so less oxidative in theory, but this has an oxidative nose, lemony palate and grip

Arbois Cuvée d'Automne, Savagnin / Chardonnay Domaine de la Pinte: highly oxidative on the nose and palate, but the acidity is still fresh, palate developed and complex.

Recommended wines

What I got out of the evening was more of the distinctive "Jura style" than any specific preferences; however, based on my notes, my recommended wines are:

- Fizz: Cremant du Jura Brut Domaine Pignier
- Red: Arbois Pupillin Ploussard La Chamade 2009 Philippe Bornard
- White: Arbois Savagnin Les Nouvelles Comtesse A ... 2011 Domain L'Octavin

Links

Wink Lorch - main blog, Jura blog, twitter

Image credits: Brett Jones, http://www.thewinemaestro.co.uk/

Two New Zealand Pinots: Felton Road and Ata Rangi

This evening, for a change, a colleague brought along two wines to our semi-regular, after-work Wine Club.

There was no formal review, we just drank a few glasses, but somehow I can't avoid the need to put my thoughts down.

He described them as "a couple of special NZ Pinots that he is very keen on" and we initially opted not to decant, based on my experience that Pinot does not improve with significant airing.

Felton Road Cornish Point Pinot Noir 2010

From the world's most southerly wine region, Central Otago, this Felton Road Pinot is purple in the glass with a typical Pinot nose of cherry fruit, mushrooms and a touch of undergrowth.

So far, so textbook.

The palate again shows red and black cherry fruit, and truffley aromas and whilst it all feels very balanced, accomplished and pleasant, it does not really make my heart beat faster.

It improves with some air, but remains firmly in "good, pleasant, well-made" territory.

I hazard a guess at the price being high teens, maybe low twenties and am taken aback at the actual figure of £33; it's just not that good - to me, at least.

The faults - if they can be called that - are stylistic rather than technical. With 14% alcohol (despite its cool-climate origins), it seems overly fruit driven and a bit lacking in textural interest. Perhaps it's my Old World bias, I've had Burgundies costing under £20 that I've preferred.

It is, however, very well received by Wine Club attendees with no reservations whatsoever.

Ata Rangi Martinborough Pinot Noir 2006


Since the first wine improved with some air, we pop this Ata Rangi in the Company Decanter and then sample.

Although the grapes for this are from much further north in Martinborough, it has the same 14% alcohol level.

Sealed hermetically under screwcap, it nonetheless shows signs of age, being a deep brick-red colour throughout.

The nose is again a typical Pinot mix of red berry fruit, cherries and undergrowth, but it is much more complex overall.

The palate has the soft yet mouthfilling texture I look and hope for in a Pinot; it is textbook in both the sense of 1) varietal typicity and 2) no faults, either technical or stylistic.

The palate shows some (rather atypical) eucalyptus notes and there is some sweet vanilla spice, along with more grip and a longer finish.

Overall, it is an altogether better, much more accomplished and interesting wine, by a factor of, very roughly, 50% to 100%. So I am pleasantly surprised to learn that it is only a few pounds more expensive at £39 and based on that metric, it is much the better value of the two - in relative terms.

As to whether it's worth its £40 price tag, I'm not sure I'm completely convinced, but it is again well-received by all at Wine Club.

Personally, I have something of a principled objection to a Pinot with 14% alcohol - it feels rather like turning up at the ball with just a bit too much make-up and cleavage. For sure it gets you noticed, and yes it's theoretically more of what we like, but it's not the classiest of looks; "snog", rather than "marry".

Yes, I'd dance with this wine - I'd even take it on a few dates (albeit, they wouldn't be cheap ones). But I don't think I'd be phoning Mother CWB with instructions to start looking for a new hat.

Links

Felton Road - http://www.feltonroad.com/
Ata Rangi - http://www.atarangi.co.nz/

The Wines of Jura - An Overview

Jura, in Eastern France (not to be confused with the Scottish island of the same name - or indeed any of the other Jura references to be found on wikipedia), is a place of strange grape varieties, unusual wine-making techniques and challenging wines.

Not for the faint-hearted then.

From the outside, at least, Jura seems stuck in an oenological time-warp with its own ways and traditions that owe little to contemporary wine-making.

An oddity with a complex history, Jura is mountainous but not alpine, gives us the word Jurassic and formed part of the Free County of Burgundy (not to be confused with the Duchy of Burgundy).

Its nearest wine-making neighbour remains Burgundy, and it does seem to share some at least superficial characteristics with that region - the reds are pale and light, the whites big and often oaky.

And although you will find some Burgundian grapes here, Jura generally specialises in varieties that are grown nowhere else.

So what is Jura wine like and why is it so challenging ?

Whilst the general rule of thumb for Jura seems to be that everything is at best unfamiliar and more often the exact opposite of what wine-making convention deems usual, here are some specific pointers to what I think makes the wines different, based on a tasting of Jura wines I attended at the weekend.

The tasting was organised by Jura enthusiast and part-time resident, Wink Lorch, and held at Adiva restaurant in London's East End, with Riedel tasting glasses provided courtesy of Sensible.

Grape varieties

The grape varieties grown here are mainly ones you've never heard of; reds are mainly Poulsard and Trousseau, whites are Savagnin, none of which are widely grown anywhere else to my knowledge.

There is some Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but even these won't seem familiar due to the next point.

Vinification

Whilst contemporary wine-making generally looks for as little air contact as possible between pressing the grapes and drinking the wine, in Jura, the wines are made oxidatively - that is, in contact with air - so that the fruit aromas die off and you are left with aromas of brown apple flesh, roasted nuts, old leather and generally something rather sherry-like.

Styles

Unusual grape varieties and wine-making techniques result in unusual styles of wine and flavours: the reds are light, delicate and rosé-esque, tasting of allspice and toffee apple and can either be sipped as they are, or matched with white meat such as roast pork.

The whites, by contrast, are bigger and heavier, with no overt fruit but rather, developed, oxidative aromas and a grippy finish that positively demands food to match; whilst the lack of fruit / oxidative style perhaps actually makes them more versatile as food wines.

As a result, in another break with convention, we tasted the reds before the whites.

A full list of my tasting notes will form a separate post for anyone intrigued enough to want to know more.

At this point, suffice it to say that you are unlikely to be convinced by your first bottle of Jura wine - or even by your first day spent in the region. After a few days - or a half-case, depending on where you are based - you may start to understand the wines and from there even begin to develop a fondness for them.

Vin Jaune - Jura's answer to sherry

As for me, I feel that tasting 15 or so wines at once was enough to understand Jura and its key characteristics. And if I have not yet fallen in love with them - and some are certainly more challenging than others - I would happily try them again. Ideally in situ with some local food.

Failing that, I'd drink them on Arnold Waldstein's rooftop terrace in Manhattan where he likes to indulge in the occasional bottle of Jura wine with Rob Tebeau who also knows a thing or two about these strange beauties (see Rob's Jura reviews here).

For Heather Doughty's take on the evening - see here: http://heatherdougherty.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/jura-its-france-jim-but-not-as-we-know.html

Links

Wink Lorch, Jura website - http://allaboutjurawine.wordpress.com/

Twitter hashtag - #jurawineuk

Image credits: Main and other Jura images courtesy of Brett Jones, http://www.thewinemaestro.co.uk/