Just arrived in Vienna

Three days with Gruner and Blaufrankisch (and hopefully a drop of Riesljng) in Austria followed by three days in Romania. But first a beer and schnitzel 

MARKS & SPENCER SPRING TASTING MAY 2015

Following yesterday’s Aldi summer tasting, today Marks & Spencer held a far larger event (theirs entitled Spring tasting though), with around one hundred wines, beers, ciders and soft drinks on show. I tasted the majority, ignoring one or two categories. Are M&S different/better than the rest? Certainly in the UK they position themselves above all of the other supermarkets bar Waitrose (and Wholefoods I suppose). I am a fan of their foods generally (and some of their clothes) although occasionally you find yourself paying over the odds for something fairly ordinary. But overall I feel you pay a little more and receive a little more in return. Their wine selection is certainly eclectic and they put a huge amount of effort into sourcing well-made wines, advising producers through their team of experts, some of who are winemakers themselves.

There are very few other tastings in Dublin that include wines from Greece, Turkey, Israel, India, Brazil, Macedonia, Uruguay as well as all the other usual wine-producing countries. M&S also offer a decent range of fine wines, their own label beers and ciders. I did not have time to taste the beer and cider yesterday. My comments on supermarket wines (see my post on Aldi) being made to a formula still apply to a certain extent here; I always think I detect a certain similarity of style throughout the M&S range. Having said that they certainly offer a greater diversity than any of their rivals. They tend to be a little more expensive, but overall I think the wines are better. They can offer also wines at very competitive prices and some of these are very good value for money. There were far too many wines to go through everything, but I am sure I will feature more in the Irish Times. In the meantime, here are ten of the most interesting wines.

Tikves 2013 Macedonia

12%

€10.99

When did you last taste a Macedonian wine? Or a blend of Smederevka and Rkaciteli? This has soft easy slghtly floppy melon and grape fruits and a dry finish. Interesting, decent value for money and a welcome change from all of those Pinot Grigios and Sauvignon Blancs.

Mâcon-Villages 2014 Domaine de Rochebin

12.5%

€14.29

A happy hunting ground for Burgundy lovers, the Mâconnais produces some great inexpensive Chardonnays. This is one such example, with its green apple fruits aligned nicely with some crisp fresh acidity and a good lingering finish. A great all-rounder for white meats and richer fishy dishes.

Réserve du Boulas Laudun Côtes du Rhône 2014

13.5%

€13.29

A delicious wine that could be mistaken for a white Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Aromatic and forward, with rich broad plump apricot fruits tempered with a wet-stone minerality. In need of food.

Charles Back Stonedance Roussanne 2014

14%

€15.49

Textured yet elegant with very attractive spicy nectarine fruits. A very interesting and enjoyable wine.

Las Faleras Tinto 2014, Utiel-Requena

12.5%

€8.79

Made from the Bobal grape variety, this is a great value easy glugger with soft plum fruits and light tannins on the finish.

Palataia Pinot Noir 2013, Pfalz

13.5%

€14.79

Fragrant, with lovely soft light spicy cherry fruits with warming alcohol and no tannins. Dangerously easy to drink.

Les Voiles de Paulilles 2013 Collioure

13.5%

€17.49

A big powerful structured wine with masses of cool dark fruits, light spice and a long firm quite mineral finish. Good full-bodied wine to drink with red meats.

Syrah 2013 Vin de pays de l’Ardèche

12%

€11.99

From the ever reliable Cave de Saint Desirat in the northern Rhône, a very attractive light fragrant Syrah with tangy sweet/savoury fruits, good acidity and a tannin-free finish. Great value for money.

Primo de Conti Rouge 2012, Bergerac

13.5%

€13.99

From the excellent organic Tour des Gendres estate in Bergerac, this has very attractive blackcurrant fruits, overlaid with some toast and cedarwood, and light tannins on the finish.

Sheridan’s Irish Food Festival 2015

I spent a very pleasant few hours at the Sheridan’s Irish Food Festival in Meath yesterday. I would love to have stayed longer as there was a lot going on, but sadly, I had plenty of chores waiting for me back home.

The highlight of the day was a raw milk tasting. We worked our way through four cow’s milks, made from different breeds, a sheep’s milk, a goat’s milk and even buffalo milk, all raw and untreated. The producers gave a quick talk about their milk and its attributes. For cheese it is all about fat levels apparently. Frank Shinnick of Fermoy Natural Cheese gave a great talk on the healthy attributes of raw milk – it is only a short time since the Government was trying to ban it. Apparently we need to drink milk with A2 beta casein that, some people believe, helps those with eczema, asthma and lactose intolerance. I enjoyed all of the milks – the goat’s milk was not early as ‘goaty’ as you would expect. Marion Roeleveld of Killeen cheese said that for some reason, pasteurized goat’s milk has a stronger flavour. Most of the producers do not generally produce raw milk, keeping it for the all-important business of cheese making.

Once this was over, I headed off to buy some cheese. For the last twenty years, I have had a personal addiction to sheep’s cheese and Ossau-Iraty, a brebis from the Pyrenees in particular. I came across it at a wine and food fair in the UK, and have always bought it when possible since. In recent years it has become more popular; both M&S and Tesco sell it, and Sheridan’s generally have a selection. Yet I have only ever come across one Irish sheep’s cheese; strange given the number of sheep we have, and the popularity of sheep’s cheese in France, Spain Italy and Greece. Séan and Deirdre FitzGerald in Co. Clare have made Cratloe Hills for around two decades now. I hadn’t seen it for a while, so I was delighted to find a stand with Séan and his cheese there. I also came across Lorraine Cahalan who makes Cáis na Tíre in Terryglass. I bought a piece of each and conducted a taste test including a French raw milk cheese bought from Sheridan’s last week in the lineup. The competition was a bit unfair – I went for the lighter version of the Cratloe (they have a mature version too) but both Irish cheeses had that lovely firm sweetness you get in good sheep’s cheese. The French was still the best for me, but my wife and daughter both preferred the Irish cheeses, finding the brebis a little too powerful. I find sheep’s cheese a good match for most red wine – although this may be just an excuse I have made up to allow me indulge in my two favourite vices.

I also bought some Boyne Valley Blue, made from goat’s cheese, the only Irish blue goat’s cheese? That was delicious, with a certain similarity to some of the Portuguese versions that I have tried. I also sampled the blue cheese spread from Cashel Blue – a great product (blue cheese and cream, can’t go wrong?) but some people might be put off by the grey/brown colour.

I bumped into David Llewellyn, producer of all things wonderful from apples, including a cider, various apple juices, a syrup, a wonderful vinegar and a balsamic apple vinegar. He showed me his new Perry – a delicious fresh dry pear cider with about 6% alcohol. I also sampled Jane Russell’s bratwurst and sauerkraut – both very good.

As well as the cheeses, I came home with a bottle of O’Cléirigh Virginja American Pale Ale, the first beer from a new local craft brewery, and only bottled that morning. It was very good, with a nice hoppy bite but well balanced. I also bought some Macroom flour, cakes for my mother, a collar of free-range Tamworth pork, some raw milk from Crawford’s Farm and a nice bag of salad.

Ballymaloe Kerrygold Litfest 2015

I have just returned from the Ballymaloe Kerrygold Litfest 2015. As usual I have this lovely warm feeling of goodwill to mankind in general, engendered by the wonderful events and interesting people I came across over the weekend. I know some people view this as an elitist navel-gazing event; all I can say is they have obviously never been there. The Litfest has a laid-back welcoming atmosphere, with no burly security guards, no VIP areas, and no helicopters flying in; just a great range of speakers and if you can’t afford that, an amazing array of free or cheap fringe events (once you pay your €5 entrance fee) in the Big Shed and the surrounding gardens.

I started on the early morning shift at 9.30 on Saturday morning, with a group of colleagues from the Irish press, each of us presenting a wine we thought offered value, and discussing what value actually meant when buying wine. I get very frustrated with wine drinkers who think that a wine must cost less than €10 to be considered great value. In fact, as most of this goes straight to the government in taxes, frequently it means the worst possible value. A wine at €25 can be great value if it tastes as good as a €50 bottle. As it happened three out of four panelists chose wines at €14-15 (mine was the brilliant El Castro de Valtuille Joven, search the irishtimes.com for details) and one opted for a €24 bottle.

The Beauty of Blending

I took part in five tasting/discussions in total, and therefore never made it down to the cookery school to watch any demonstrations. I did get to a great whiskey tasting by whisky author Dave Broom, Tomás Clancy of the Sunday Business Post and Brian Nation, master distiller for Irish distillers in Midleton, and a wonderful presentation of beers from the Brooklyn Brewery by brewmaster, writer and raconteur Garret Oliver. If you haven’t tasted the Brooklyn brewery beers, I strongly suggest that you do so. Tomás and I saved our best wines to last – on Sunday we presented The Beauty of Blending, and a nice line up of wines; Tio Pepe En Rama (Thanks Gonzalez Byass), Bollinger Special Cuvée (Findlaters), Taylors 20 year old (thanks to Chris Forbes of Taylors) and Coyam (O’Briens). We raided the Ballymaloe cellar for some Ch. Léoville-Barton 2004 and Vieux Telegraphe 2007. Proof if needed that the ancient art of blending is all about improving quality.In fact you could argue that just about every wine produced is a blend of some sort.

Sorachi Ace

Alice Feiring in action

I went to a presentation of natural wines by American author Alice Feiring, who champions this very controversial style of winemaking – organic or biodynamic winemaking, low or no sulphur, no cultured yeasts, and very little else added. She pointed out there are 72 permitted additives in winemaking many of which can drastically change the taste of a wine. I enjoyed two of the four wines, and disliked the others – a draw? I also took part in a tasting with Alice and others on terroir in wine, and another early morning session with some very bleary-eyed panelists (and audience) on whether wine is going out of fashion. There was a representative from each form of alcohol production, and it could have ended in fisticuffs. Maybe we were all too tired for fighting as it passed off peacefully.

On Saturday night I attended an amazing dinner prepared by the team at OX restaurant in Belfast. If you haven’t been there yet, make it a priority. The food is inventive, complex and gorgeous. See the menu below. The halibut, lamb, cheese and artichoke ice cream will stay in my memory for a long time, as will the Cypres de Climens. I had John Bowman sitting on one side and Rory Gallagher’s brother (and former manager) on the other, so the conversation swung from history to politics, to music and my attendance (as a schoolboy) at Gallagher’s gig in the Carlton Cinema on O’Connell Street in the mid-seventies.

All of the above were great fun, but I was probably happiest wandering around the Big Shed and other fringe areas, meeting friends and talking to stallholders. I bought some weird and wonderful seeds from Brown Envelope Seeds, some organic lettuce seedlings, a few bottles of amazing flavoured waters from Rebel Foods, oolong tea from Niks, coffee from Badger & Dodo, chocolate from Wilkie’s, lunch from Iyers Café (great dhosas) and a magical mystery lunch from Slow Food Northern Ireland. I tried Mr. Jeffares delicious flavoured blackcurrant juices, Craigies cider, smoked water (?) at Ummera Smokehouse, and much, much more. Several member of the drinks press tasted and danced long into the night – all in a day’s work. Bring on Litfest 2016. Next up Sheridan’s Food Festival next weekend!

David Trafford – de Trafford Wines & Sijnn

We don’t often see South African winemakers in this country. They seem to have forgotten about us or possibly we have neglected them. I brought this up with winemaker David Trafford, one of the leading lights of South African winemaking. I think we agreed to share the blame equally. But as Trafford says, ‘we do have quite a complicated story to tell and we should embrace that. Argentina is beautiful, but the whole country tells pretty much the same story. Our wines are much more individual depending on where they are grown.’ He has a point; the climates and soils of the Cape are very diverse, and are suited to a number of different grape varieties. Even one grape, such as Syrah, can produce a wide range of styles, varying from lean and elegant to rich and full-bodied. As outlined in the Irish Times some time ago, Dr. Eilís Cryan of Kinnegar Wines seems to be on a one-woman mission to bring us the finest that South Africa produces, including the Trafford wines.

I really enjoyed the Trafford tasting; not only were the wines excellent and full of character, but David Trafford was an interesting and very open speaker. For instance he argues that the importance of older vines is overdone. ‘Some varieties need vine age more than others. Mourvèdre is one; but you can get great Shiraz after three years – remember that the first Côte Rotie La Turque in the 1970’s was made from three year old vines. Cabernet needs a few years, but it is already quite a concentrated grape, and the very old ones are not always the best.’ Not something you often hear from a producer.

The two Trafford houses are de Trafford and Sijnn (pronounced ‘sane’). De Trafford is the family estate, on the hillside looking down on the heart of Stellenbosch. Trafford trained as an architect before moving to London in 1984 to avoid conscription into the South African army. He became interested in wine, and worked the 1989 vintage in St. Emilion. It was there he realised he says ‘that winemaking is not that difficult if you have good vineyards and look after them’. They had always made hobby wine on the family farm, so on his return he set out to become a red wine producer. The first vines were Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Following a trip to the Loire, they added a Chenin Blanc to the range, but sourced it from neighbour’s vineyards – ‘there are so many older vineyards in Stellenbosch there was no point in planting’ says Trafford. ‘There is more competition now, but it is still easy to access very good quality grapes.’

The second estate, Sijnn, was founded in 2000. ‘We are 40 kilometres from the next vineyard. There is a great diversity of terroir in the rolling mountains – both soil and climate. We are 15 kilometres from the coast, at 400 metres, giving a cooler climate with moderate rainfall, rolled stones over shale with good water-holding capacity. Most of the grapes go into two wines, a red blend and a white. The white is mainly Chenin, with around 15% Viognier (there is Roussanne, Marsanne, Verdelho and Assyrtiko to come). The red is an eclectic blend of roughly 40% Syrah with 25% Touriga Nacional, 20% Mourvèdre, 12% Trincadeira, and a little Cabernet. Trafford brought along tank samples of each variety from the 2013 vintage for us to taste as well as the final blend. This was a fascinating exercise; it is rare to be able to do a tasting like this, particularly with such unusual grapes. The Trincadeira was fresh and floral, the Mourvèdre more structured, the Touriga perfumed concentrated and elegant. The Syrah was the star for me, beautifully savoury and meaty with tobacco and dark fruits, while retaining a real elegance. The assemblage was proof, if needed, that blending can produce a wine that is greater than the constituent parts.

The winemaking appears straightforward. They have only ever used wild yeasts, they have never filtered; fermentation and maturation is done in a mixture of 400 – 700 litre barrels. The wines were quite amazing in their ability to combine relatively high alcohol with a real freshness and elegance. This was evident in the wines of both estates; we tried the Elevation 393, perfectly balanced with an alcohol level of 15.53%!

De Trafford Chenin Blanc 2012

€23.50

Nicely textured, medium-bodied wine with real interest: lightly floral with citrus aromas; plump melons and honey, with some toasty oak on the palate, underpinned by good acidity.

Available from Kinnegarwines.com

Sijnn White 2012

84% Chenin Blanc, 16% Viognier

€25

An incredibly seductive wine with creamy rich ripe peach fruits and custard, subtle toasted nuts and a good finish. There is a good clean mineral acidity to keep it from straying into to far into lush territory. A delicious and complex wine.

Available from Kinnegarwines.com

Sijnn Red 2010

(41% Syrah, 27% Tourgia Nacional, 18% Mourvèdre, 10% Trincadeira, 4% Cabernet.

14.5%

€25-30

Wild dark fruits on nose and palate; perfectly ripe with a strong mineral element. Refreshing smooth and powerful with very good dry length. A very impressive wine that evolves in the glass.

Available from Kinnegarwines.com

Sijnn Syrah 2011

13.94%

Elegant dark fruits on the nose, showing through again on the palate with a lean refinement. Some spicy oak showing through a little, but the overall impression is of a beautiful complex elegant wine.

De Trafford Blueprint 2012

14.76%

€28.50

Made from a neighbour’s vineyard, this is a very impressive wine. Sleek hugely concentrated loganberry fruits overlaid with mint, herbs and pepper. Amazingly for a wine of this power, it retains a lovely clean refreshing acidity. This is Platter’s wine of the year in 2015.

Available from Kinnegarwines.com

De Trafford Elevation 393 2010

15.53%

€45

A richly fruity nose leads on to a broad palate of blackcurrants and forest fruits, with good firm tannins on a lingering finish. I could not believe this wine had an alcohol level of over 15%; it drinks like 13.5%!

Available from Kinnegarwines.com

Ibérico Ham and Sherry – God’s gift to those who like good food and wine.

Ibérico Ham & Sherry

I blagged my way into a tutored tasting of Ibérico ham in the Spanish Embassy earlier this week. On arrival, I discovered it was aimed at food journalists rather than mere wine scribes. However, it was a great event, featuring two of the finest products known to man – Sherry and Ibérico. The tutor was carving expert and all-round good guy Mario Hiraldo Regalado, whose family run a jamóneria down in Andalusia. You can see him at work on a short video from the TV3 AM show, where, unbelievably, nobody actually tastes the wonderful ham!

Mario took us through the raising of Ibérico pigs (not all are Pata Negra apparently, some have brown or even pink hooves) in the oak forests of Spain, and the process of ageing. There is a narrow strip of land running from the south of Spain along the Spanish border with Portugal (Portugal makes its own very good equivalent Presunto) where the large cork oak forests are found. This is where much of the cork used as wine closures comes from. The highest grade of Iberico ham is Bellota, made from pigs that have spent the last 3-4 months of their lives grazing in these forests, with one hectare allowed per animal.

Mario spent much of his time explaining the different parts of a full Jamón Ibérico, and how an expert will make the most of this expensive piece of pork. There are no less than six different ‘cuts’ that should be carved in order, each with its own specific flavour. The marbling changes, as does the fat content. Remember all of those hams you see hanging in Spanish bars? The fat is slowly migrating southwards to the bottom end of the Jamón, finally collecting in those conical dishes you see under every ham.

We tasted our way down the ham; each did taste distinctly different. A wafer-thin piece should be a complete cross-section of the ham, and the size of a credit card – perfect for eating in one bite. At one stage we laid a strip of ham across the back of our hand to warm it up a little. At a slightly higher temperature, the flavours were even more heightened and complex.

The first cut, the Caña, is a hard meat and generally used in cooking; the Jarrete was nutty and sweet and full of fat, the Maza is the piece we are most familiar with, the juiciest yet leanest strip from the loin. The Babilla lies between the two bones, the Contramaza lies opposite the Maza, and is the narrowest and most cured part. The La Punta is the strip opposite the hoof, full of fat and therefore flavour – mushrooms and nuts. Lastly we tried a chunk of Taco de Jamón from the tougher side part is used in Spain as a cooking medium., ‘an Oxo cube’ Mario explained. I found it good enough to eat.

Mario was talking to the converted. I have believed for many years that Jamón Ibérico is one of the great foods of the world. Add in a glass of good sherry and you have one of the most perfect ways to start any meal. Deep red in colur and heavily marbled with fat, it has the most complex flavour, salty one minute, nutty the next, mushroomy, sweet and so much more. The fat melts in your mouth giving the most wonderful creamy texture and lingering finish.

We then tried various pieces of ham with three different sherries. Mario explained that the alcohol in a sherry will ‘melt’ the fat, creating a taste sensation. Take a sip of the sherry first, either fino or Oloroso, and then the ham to experience an explosion of flavour.

Two things worth remembering; serve your Ibérico at room temperature. At fridge temperature you will lose all of that wonderful flavour. Serrano ham, available at cheap prices in our supermarkets is nice but it is not the same thing.

If you can afford the €300 or more for a full Ibérico or Bellota ham, it will keep for several months. Use the first strips of ham, largely fat, as a cover to prevent oxidation. One day, when the lotto comes in, I will purchase a full ham. A good carver can get 800 pieces of Iberico from one ham – makes it seem cheap really. Lastly, in case you are worried about all of that fat, Ibérico is a health food, containing a high level of healthy mono-unsaturated fats high in oleic acid, and therefore very good for you.

Two Outsiders in Spain

Olivier Rivière and Germán Blanco are both outsiders, people who have neither family history in wine nor any historic link with the region where they work. Possibly because of this, both have a very different take on a well-known wine region of Spain. Olivier is a real outsider, from Cognac in France (he makes a wine called Gabacho, the slang Spanish term for a Frenchman, like our ‘frog’). He worked with two highly regarded biodynamic estates, Elian da Ros in Côtes du Marmandais and Domaine Leroy in Burgundy, before moving to Spain where he spent two years with Telmo Rodriguez, one of the most influential and respected winemakers in Spain over the last two decades. ‘I stayed on because I liked the place and it was an opportunity. It was not my original dream, but I really like it here. It is a great place to make wine’, says Rivière. Unable to afford vineyards, he began by purchasing small quantities of grapes from three growers in each of the three sub regions of Rioja. In 2009 he managed to buy some vineyards in Arlanza, a little-known region north west of Rioja, where he found very old vines – from the 1930’s, he says, followed by more in 2013. As an outsider and foreigner it was not easy to buy at first, but he says, ‘notoriety helps now’.

Rivière works in a small winery in Rioja Baja. The Rayas Uva is 50% Tempranillo, 40% Garnacha and 10% Graciano, all from Rioja Baja. This may sound like the typical Rioja blend but the wine is anything but. It is pale in colour, with lifted aromas, ethereal silky cherry fruits and a wonderful freshness; none of those vanilla flavours from American oak or weediness associated with so much bog standard Rioja. I found the Gabacho a little more difficult; made from 100% Garnacha from Rioja Baja and Alta, this was tight and compact, with good firm concentrated strawberry fruit and good length. Needs time but I found it hard to read. I had no such difficulty with the Covarrubias 2011 from DO Arlanda outside Rioja. This was a seriously good wine, very fine with superb red fruits and a wonderful long dry finish. I am sure it will evolve further for a few years. I was also persuaded to try his white Rioja, a style of wine that rarely impresses me. The Jequitiba 2013, made from Malvasia, was excellent, refreshing and full of delicious white fruits finishing dry. Not cheap, but a very good wine.

When I met German Blanco, he was full of enthusiasm for rugby, having been to his first ever match (Ireland vs. England) the day before. Blanco had no family history in wine. His mother was an art teacher, his father a clothes manufacturer. He comes from the Asturias in the north of Spain, a region noted for cider rather than wine. He did spend some of his childhood in Bierzo living with his grandmother, and now makes a wine in her honour in the region. He says the interest in wine came from a love of art – ‘ grapes are an art material to be moulded’ he says. His wine experience started in the Madrid branch of luxury wine shop chain Lavinia, where he worked while studying enology in the university. After working with various wineries in La Mancha, Bierzo and Ribera del Duero, he formed an unusual alliance with a local family. They owned ten hectares of 36 year-old vines in one of the best parts of Ribera del Duero, seven kilometres north of Aranda. However, they were unable to make or sell their wine. ‘Now’ says Germán, ‘we are three people, José-Luis, his dad and me. Together we grow the grapes, make the wine and sell it. We make a great team.’ Blanco tend to harvest earlier than most. ‘It is vital to pick before sugar levels start to rise too rapidly’, he says. The wines are made in a mix of open-top fermenters, stainless steel and amphorae. They do not fine or filter and add a small dose of sulphur at bottling. ‘In the boom time, people planted vines everywhere’ argues Germán. ‘It is easy to make good basic Ribera del Duero, but great wine is far more difficult.’ The Quinta Milú wines are marked by a delicious freshness and minerality, with little obvious new oak. The basic Quinta Milú is one of my favourite wines, as is another Germán Blanco wine, the Perra Gorda, made in a region in the hills above Bierzo in northwest Spain. This is on honour of his grandmother. The top Quinta Milú wines are excellent, including the La Cometa mentioned below.

Quinta Milú 2014, Ribera del Duero

13.5% €16.75

The 2014 is a great follow-on from the 2013; fresh, brim-full of vibrant dark cherry fruits and virtually no tannins at all.

Stockists: Jus de Vine, Portmarnock; Ennis (SCR); Green Man Wines, Terenure; Listons, Camden Street; Red Island, Skerries; 64Wine, Glasthule; Drinkstore, Manor Street; Whelehans Wines, Loughlinstown; Blackrock Cellar; On the Grapevine, Dalkey; Clontarf Wines; The Black Pig, Donnybrook.

Quinta Milú La Cometa 2012

€23

Some new oak on the nose, but full of firm ripe dark fruits on the palate – damsons and sour cherries, with cleansing minerality and a dry tannic finish. Excellent wine.

Stockists: Blackrock Cellar; 64Wine, Glasthule; Green Man Wines, Terenure; The Black Pig, Donnybrook.

Rayos Uva 2013, D.O.C. Rioja

€17

Fabulous fragrant fresh red fruits with a real elegance; streets ahead of most Rioja at this price.

Stockists: Black Pig, Donnybrook; Blackrock Cellar; 64Wine, Galsthule; Sweeneys, Glasnevin; Green Man Wines, Terenure; Ennis (SCR); Clontarf Wines.

Viñas del Cadastro 2011, D.O. Arlanza

€33

Concentrated with very fine linear dark fruits, structured tannins and excellent length. Impeccably made wine that would benefit from an hour’s decanting.

Stockists: 64Wine, Glasthule; Black Pig, Donnybrook; Clontarf Wines.

Coravin – keeping wine fresh indefinitely

I went to the launch of Coravin in Ireland yesterday – a revolutionary pouring device that has been the talk of the wine world over the last few years. Founder Greg Lambrecht was there to give a very persuasive argument in favour of his system over anything else that has gone before. He is obviously a very bright guy, working as a nuclear engineer before starting several companies that invented new medical devices. Lambrecht became frustrated when his wife was pregnant. A wine-lover since his teenage years, he couldn’t drink an entire bottle of wine every night over dinner. Besides ideally he wanted a glass of white wine, then one of red, and possibly a glass of dessert wine too. And so he started off on a twelve-year process that was eventually to lead to Coravin. Having contacts in the medical world proved very useful; the Coravin uses a fine Teflon-coated needle and high quality argon gas.

Greg Lambrecht and the Coravin

‘We remove the best wine preserver – a cork – to get at the wine’, says Lambrecht. ‘But what if we didn’t have to? I wanted to be able to drink whatever glass of wine I felt like, and then move on to something else. I wanted to try six different wines if the mood took me.’ He focused on how to extract the wine without introducing any oxygen. The upshot is a very smart small piece of equipment that looks a little like a microscope. It has clamps to grip the bottle, a long thin needle that goes through the cork, and a capsule of argon gas that automatically replaces the wine as you pour out the desired quantity through a spout. Once you remove the needle, the cork springs back to reseal itself. It doesn’t work on screw caps and with difficulty on plastic corks, but apparently does on DIAM and composite corks. Coravin claims the wine will remain fresh for months if not years.

There are other wine-preservation systems such as the Enomatic, but that is expensive and works best for multiple bottles; good for restaurants but not practical for home use. The Vacu-Vin and related Verre de Vin systems work for a short period. Nothing else performs for as long or as reliably as the Coravin promises. If it works it will be a real boon for a wine enthusiast; imagine being able to pour a glass of you’re a particular fine wine, reseal it and then try it again six months later. It will certainly offer great opportunities for lovers of vintage port and dessert wines; you really only ever want a glass or two after dinner. It should allow restaurants to offer a huge range of wines by the glass without fear of being left with an opened bottle that is rapidly oxidising. It could also allow wine shops to offer their customers multiple samples before they buy. And does it work? Well Jancis Robinson and Robert Parker are both big fans. Ch. Margaux uses it to test their wines before sending them abroad for tastings. At the launch we tried four wines before the bottles were sealed again. Apparently we will be invited back in three months to see how the wines are faring. I was also promised a trial model to use at home. I will keep you posted!

The Coravin
Photo: Paul Sherwood

The Coravin is distributed by Findlaters WS, and is available through various retail shops including Jus de Vine, Redmonds and O’Briens for €299. A replacement capsule costs €19.99 and will work for around thirty glasses of wine.

TWO AUSTRIAN WINEMAKERS

Two of my favourite Austrian wine producers were in Dublin this week conducting tastings and holding dinners with people from The Corkscrew. I got to one in Thornton’s. Some great wines.

Fritz Wieninger and Johannes Hirsch

WIENINGER

Fritz Wieninger has 35 hectares of vines up in the hills surrounding Vienna. His family ran a heurige, a Viennese tradition of winery/pub/wine bar that offers wine by the glass or bottle along with some food. Fritz has taken the winemaking side into a different league and is today the best producer in Vienna and one of the greatest in Austria.

We tried several of his ‘Gemischter Satz’, wines made from a field blend of many different grape varieties. This is another Viennese tradition. The first, from several vineyards, was a delicious fresh spring-like glass of wine; the sort that makes you want another sip, and then another – the kind of thing you would love to come across in a Heurige. The second from his Nussberg vineyard, reckoned to be the finest site in Vienna, was altogether more serious, a rich concentrated wine with lovely mineral traces too. We then moved on to his Nussberg Riesling 2013, a wonderful pure textured wine with racy green fruits and excellent length.

Later in the tasting (the two winemakers tic-tacked) we returned to Wieninger’s Chardonnay Select 2013, his Trilogie (Zweigelt/Merlot/Cabernet) and his Pinot Noir Select. Apparently he made his name in Austria with these three wines. I enjoyed the Chardonnay, but was less impressed with the two reds; possibly the Viennese prefer this style and have too many great white wines from others? Good wines but I thought the first three white wines were the standouts.

Kevin Thornton’s Smokin’ Scallops

HIRSCH

I have been visiting the Hirsch stand at Vievinum, the great biennial Austrian wine fair, for many years now. I have a soft spot for the Kamptal anyway – the more elegant refreshing style is right up my street, and the region boasts some of Austria’ greatest producers – Scloss Gobelsburg, Bründlmayer, Loimer, Jurtschitsch and others besides. I have always put Johannes Hirsch right up there with the very best, and it is great to see his wines return to Ireland after a few years absence.

At the tasting we worked our way through three vintages of his Zöbinger Gaisberg Riesling, one of his two great single vineyard Rieslings. The 2008 and 2009 were very good and very different in style, with a little more residual sugar, but the 2010 was the star wine of the entire day, a youthful but beautifully structured wine with distinctive flavours of orange peel and juice, a refreshing acidity and wonderful length.

Three 2013 Grüner Veltliners, from three different vineyards were fascinating, but here the Lamm was a real star. Hirsch has 33 hectares of vines. He was one of the first to put his wines under Stelvin (screw-cap) and says one Austrian magazine asked his readers to boycott his wines for this crime! As a result he suggests decanting his wines before serving to allow them develop.

STAR BUYS

I would certainly love a few bottles of the Wieninger Gemischter Satz 2014 for €17.50, and the excellent Nussberg Riesling €28.50 seems very reasonably priced.

The Corkscrew has the Hirsch Riesling Gaisberg and the Grüner Veltliner Lamm from 2013, both for €47.95 – expensive but well worth it, and a match for most burgundy at the same price or more. The Riesling Zöbing 2013 at €24.95 would serve as a very good introduction to the house.