A lovely harmonious medium-bodied wine with pure damson and dark cherry fruits.
Perfect with duck breast or pork dishes.
I have just finished a tasting of wines from the Dão region for a piece in the Irish Times. I suspect this will feature strongly. Dão is one of the best-known wine regions of Portugal, but until recently, often produced very average wines. This has changed over the last decade; if you enjoy light to medium-bodied wines, then this is well worth checking out.
€14.95 from Fresh Outlets, La Touche, Greystones; The Coachouse, Ballinteer; Power & Co, Lucan, D Six; Nectar, Sandyford; McGuinness Wines, Dundalk; Green Man Wines, Terenure; Corkscrew, Chatham Street.
This white, with its light tropical fruits and refreshing citrus edge tasted of summers and holidays past. Apparently it is a vegan wine.
Drink on its own, creamy cheeses or with light seafood dishes.
I am a big fan of Portuguese wines. We are probably more familiar with the red wines, but the whites can be excellent too. For wine nerds, the good news is they have a dazzling array of their own indigenous grape varieties too. This wine is made from a blend of Antão Vaz (50%), Arinto (25%) and Síria (25%).
€14.95 from La Touche, Greystones; O’Briens; Fresh Outlets; Corkscrew; Fallon & Byrne; D Six, Harold’s Cross; Deveney’s, Dundrum; Sweeney’s, Glasnevin; The Wine Well, Dunboyne.
An exhilarating, sophisticated mix of concentrated rounded red apple fruits that fill the mouth, a subtle nuttiness and an intense saline, mineral backbone that adds real verve and attack. The combination of rich fruit and bracing acidity is unusual but fascinating. Not cheap but it compares favourably with a top white Burgundy, and is every bit as good.
I would try this with crab, grilled black sole or a buttery salmon dish.
I have written about Bolo and Louro before; As Sortes is the next step up the ladder in the wines of Rafael Palacios. One of the key figures in reviving the fortunes of the near extinct Godello vines in Valdeorras, Palacios gave a short but excellent master class in Dublin this week. I hope to get around to writing a full blog some time soon. In the meantime this wonderful wine, tasted at the master class. It is made from six small Sortes or plots of Godello, planted in the 1970’s.
€51 from 64wines, Glasthule; Clontarf Wines; Green Man Wines, Terenure; The Corkscrew, Chatham St.
Vidal Reserve Syrah 2013, Hawke’s Bay, Gimblett Gravels, New Zealand
Elegant savoury dark cherry fruits and spicy black peppers with a very attractive grainy texture and some drying tannins on the finish. An impressive almost European style of wine.
It was certainly much better with food, in my case a roast guinea fowl.
Gimblett Gravels has emerged as one of the best places in New Zealand to produce red grapes (leaving Pinot Noir aside). The deep gravel soils produce perfectly ripe wines with uniquely savoury flavours and balanced alcohol levels – this wine is 13.5%. They are well worth seeking out. At €17.35 this is something of a bargain, and should appeal to fans of the Northern Rhône. Available from Winesoftheworld.ie.
For the last couple of years I have been given, or bought, a few bottles of new season Tuscan extra virgin olive oil. It has become one of my favourite seasonings at this time of the year.
In the past, most wine producers in Chianti Classico and elsewhere in Tuscany produced both wine and olive oil. More recently David Gleave of wine importers Liberty encouraged a handful of top estates to make high quality oil; Liberty then release the new vintage every November or December (The River Café in London are huge fans, and even have their own bottling). In some ways, it is a pity that it cannot be released freshly pressed the following summer when the salad season is in full flow. However, it is a great addition to the store cupboard in winter and spring. I have been come quite addicted to it and drizzle it at the last minute on a variety of foods, from beans, pasta dishes with courgettes, cauliflower, peppers or on plain pasta with Parmesan, roast vegetables, steak and a host of other dishes. It brightens up just about everything, adding a slightly bitter peppery kick and a pure fruity richness. With a sprinkle of pepper and salt, it becomes a perfect dressing for any winter salad too. I am sure I remember reading that extra virgin live oil is full of anti-oxidants and all sorts of other good things, so it could be classified as the most delicious of all health foods.
The oils are expensive – €20 or more for a bottle of half-bottle, but they last a while. Not too long though; they will last a year or more but I reckon they should be finished by early summer. Check the back label for a harvest date – 2016 is what you want.
Earlier this year, David Gleave of Liberty gave a group of us an olive oil tasting in Jamie’s Italian in Dundrum. The names included Alpha Zeta, Capezzana (delicious) Petrolo, Fèlsina, and Fontodi. My favourite was the Fontodi, an organic oil, and I have a ½ bottle of that in my kitchen, but to be honest I would have been happy to have a bottle of any of these.
They are available from Fallon & Byrne; Jamie’s Italian; 64 Wine, Glasthule; Lotts & Co, D4; Thomas’s ,Foxrock, Jus De Vine, Portmarnock; Clontarf Wines; Blackrock Cellars; Terroirs, Donnybrook; Green Man Wines, Terenure; Ballymaloe Garden Café; Red Island, Skerries; Grapevine, Dalkey; Sweeney’s, Glasnevin; Hole in the Wall, D7; Redmonds of Ranelagh; Cirillo’s, Baggot Street.
Trimbach Reserve Riesling 2010 – this featured in my wine guide this year. A great mature waxy, nutty bone dry Riesling that retails for €23. Went very nicely with prawns and a Japanese cucumber and seaweed salad.
Four wines from Dão, part of a tasting for an Irish Times article. The region produces some lovely refreshing red and white wines.
Santenay 1er cru Clos Rousseau Les Fourneaux VV 2013, Bachey-Legros – around €30 from Le Caveau, this was quite closed with spicy dark cherries and a savoury edge. Good but not great – I suspect it will improve over the next year or two, and I probably should have decanted it. Nice wine though.
Castello di Fonterutoli 2004, Chianti Classico, Mazzei – I bought six bottles of this ten years ago. You’d need 20/20 vision to read the vintage. It was very good, medium to full-bodied, with a good tannic backbone and dark chocolate and slightly earthy very ripe dark fruits. Went well with roast lamb.
“Do people really drink that?” a student asked me a few years ago on taking her first ever mouthful of Nebbiolo. This variety, from Piemonte in northeastern Italy, makes some of the country’s finest wines. But with its firm dark impenetrable fruit, high acidity and swingeing tannins, Nebbiolo can never be described as easy-drinking. These are wines for the aesthete rather than the hedonist .
Before you stop reading, two things: first of all, most Nebbiolo nowadays is made in a much more approachable style than in times past. Secondly, as with all wines, you need to drink it in the right setting. Arm yourself with a bowl of tajarín, the fine egg-rich pasta of the region, accompanied by wild mushrooms, white truffles, rabbit or a beef ragù, or maybe a risotto, or agnolotti del plin (little folds of pasta stuffed with meat), or maybe simply some roast game or aged parmesan, and Nebbiolo begins to make perfect sense. The food of Piemonte, centred on the towns of Alba and Asti, is amongst Italy’s finest. So are the wines.
Enjoying Nebbiolo is almost a rite of passage for real wine nerds. Tannic and alcoholic they may be, but really good Nebbiolo also has fleeting aromas of violets and perfume, an array of supremely elegant complex fruits that have you scrabbling for adjectives – leather, truffles, black olives, tar, licorice, wood smoke and much more besides. Those tannins allow the wines to age and improve for decades in great vintages.
Patchwork of vineyards
The grape reaches its finest expression in the two small towns of Barolo and Barbaresco, both on the valley floor, surrounded by vineyards high up the slopes, peeking through a shroud of swirling mist. Often called the Burgundy of Italy, the region has a similar patchwork of tiny vineyards, with holdings scattered throughout. As in Burgundy, each sub-region, each vineyard, every change in height and exposure is reflected in the wines. Sadly, the prices are fairly Burgundian too.
In the past, many young men and women deserted the region for the two big local employers – Fiat in Turin and the massive Ferrero chocolate plant, manufacturers of Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, which gobbles up one of the region’s other great products, hazelnuts. Nowadays, farmers with a field or two in either town own a very valuable asset.
There are plenty of other wines produced in the region, including the more approachable Barbera and Dolcetto, as well as some good white wines, but Nebbiolo is the undoubted king, and Barolo and Barbaresco its finest expression. Langhe Nebbiolo is their Bourgogne Rouge: in the right hands it is much more approachable and often good value. Further north in Piemonte, Proprietà Sperino produces silkier wines with a lovely mineral streak.
Langhe Nebbiolo 2014, Massolino, 13.5%, €29.99
Fragrant violets and redcurrants; tangy, elegant, approachable wine with light tannins on the finish. Stockists: Fresh Outlets, Dublin; Blackrock Cellar.
Proprieta Sperino Costa della Sesia Rosso
Uvaggio 2012, 12.5%, €39.99
A Nebbiolo blend. Scented, floral, laced with herbs; lingering fruits; an utter delight. Stockists: Terroirs; Red Island; 64 Wine; Red Nose Wine
Massolino Barolo ‘Parafada’ 2012, 14%, €79.99
Beautifully aromatic, with intense structured robust dark fruits and a firm dark finish. Ideally keep it five years-plus.
Stockists: Corkscrew; Green Man Wines; Blackrock Cellar.
Fresh crisp green apple fruits, with a zesty citrus edge and a nicely rounded finish. Delicate and delectable wine.
By itself or with mildly spicy Asian fish dishes; that lemon and lime acidity works really well with many Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese dishes.
I am a big fan of Riesling and was very happy when a friend served me a glass of this before dinner recently. Low in alcohol and refreshing with a touch of sweetness (as with many white wines these days) it is the perfect aperitif wine.
Light fresh juicy cherry fruits and no tannins. There isn’t really much more to say. Very good simple everyday drinking and great value for money.
Pizzas, lighter pasta dishes, and white meats. Or by itself.
This is made by Cantina Tollo, a well-regarded, large co-operative in the Abruzzo region. Chieti is the largest of the four provinces that produce Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.
Available from Avoca; Blackrock Cellars; Fallon & Byrne; Le Caveau, Kilkenny; Listons, Camden Street; MacGuinness Wines, Dundalk; Green Man Wines, Terenure; World Wide Wines, Waterford.
Light brioche with toasted almonds, delicate fruit, a subtle creamy texture and a dry finish. Delicious wine; not trying to be Champagne, but every bit as good at the price.
The perfect light aperitif, or with lighter tapas.
This is one of the leading family-owned Cava estates. Based in the Penedès, they remain loyal to the three traditional Cava varieties, Macabeu, Xarello and Parellada. This Cava is a blend of all three, aged for a minimum of two years before release. This is one of the finest Cavas I have tasted in years, and well worth seeking out.
Available for €29 from Mitchellandson.com (online only) and Sheridan’s Cheese shops, Dublin, Meath and Galway.
Dão Ribeiro Santo 2014, Portugal
