Wilson on Wines

Oak free wines

Posted by admin on April 14, 2016

I tried out the wines of two very different producers last week, Philip Vincens of Ch. Vincens in Cahors and Antonio Diez Martín of Bodegas Martín Berdugo in Ribera del Duero. In both tastings I preferred the cheapest wine. Why? In each case, the wine was unoaked and possibly a little less smooth than the wines that followed. But I loved the bright pure fruits, accompanied by a light refreshing acidity; wines that give a simple pleasure. It makes you wonder how good the wines could be if they used the best quality fruit for their unoaked wines.

I have known Antonio for many years, and worked for the company that imported the wines. In 2013 tragedy struck when the family winery burnt down, destroying much of his stock. He says the local community were fantastic, giving him wine to sell to help tide him over. The new winery is now up and running, and fitted with the best modern equipment insurance money can buy. Although the unoaked joven (we used to call it ‘spotty youth’ – see the label above) was my favourite, all of the wines have a lovely clean purity of fruit and an elegance not always found in Ribera del Duero. They are all very reasonably priced too.

Philip Vincens has caused quite a stir with his wines; they have been very well-received by many critics and competition judges. His first wine was a more classic style of Cahors, with cool dark fruits, good acidity and light tannins on the finish. It was a very well made wine and really well priced at €14-14.50. As you went up the scale the wines became more oaky, riper, more extracted and more alcoholic – 15.5% for several. I can see why they are so successful, but they were not really my style of wine. The next wine up in price, Ch. Vincens Origine 2013 (€17-18) is also pretty good in most vintages; this according to the importer, is the best-selling wine of the range.

Malbec 2012 Cahors, Ch. Vincens
€13.99-14.99 from The Vintry Rathgar; Hollands Bray; Fresh Stores Dublin; McGuinness Dundalk.

Ribera del Duero Joven 2014, Martín Berdugo
€18-19 from Mitchell & Son; Morton’s, Ranelagh; Martin’s, Fairview; Sheridan’s Cheese Shops.

Tags: Bodegas Martín Berdugo, Cahors, Ch. Vincens, Malbec, Oak, Red Wine, Riber del Duero, Sapin, Tinto País

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Hunky Dory Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Marlborough, New Zealand

Posted by admin on April 8, 2016

Hunky Dory Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Marlborough, New Zealand
13%
€14.95

Floral aromas, luscious fresh exotic fruits, and a dry finish.

I have written about this wine before, but if you are a fan of Marlborough Sauvignon, this is well worth buying. Made from organically grown grapes, this is a very keenly priced; originally at €18.99, I have seen it in several outlets at a bargain €15.

Available from 64wine, Glasthule; Ardkeen, Waterford; Carpenters, Castleknock; Blackrock Cellar; Gibneys, Malahide; La Touche, Greystones; No. 21, Cork; O’Driscoll’s, Cahirsiveen; The Wine Centre, Kilkenny.

Tags: Classic Drinks, Hunky Dory, Marlborough, New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc, White Wine

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Pinot Noir La Roncière 2014, André Vatan, Vin de Loire

Posted by admin on April 8, 2016

Pinot Noir La Roncière 2014, André Vatan, Vin de Loire
12.5%
€14.95 from Whelehan’s, Loughlinstown.

Light refreshing red fruits with an earthy edge. Serve cool with all sorts of summer salads, cold meats and chicken dishes.

For a long time, Sancerre was one of the few parts of France other than Burgundy attempting to make red wine from Pinot Noir. Red Sancerre has got a whole lot better, but is always quite pricey. This wine, made by one of the leading producers of Sancerre (white and red) is very moreish and offers pretty good value for money.

Tags: André Vatan, France, Pinot Noir, Red Wine, Sancerre, Summer wine, Val de Loire, Whelehan's

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No Joe Porter, O Brother Brewing, Wicklow.

Posted by admin on April 7, 2016

No Joe Porter, O Brother Brewing, Wicklow.

6.7%

First there was Joe. Joe Coffee was a single batch porter that didn’t hold back on the coffee content. Unlike some of their rivals you could really taste the coffee. Great if you like espresso, but not if you drink latté. No Joe is the same beer but without the coffee. ‘It was conceived as a coffee porter,’ says Barry O’Neill of O Brother; ‘local roaster Coffee Mojo ground and brewed 68 litres of fresh coffee on site, which was added to the porter. We were tasting the beer all the way along and thinking this is realty nice even without the coffee. So this time, we did it without. It’s the one I bring home in the winter, ‘admits Barry, ‘there is something warming about it. It is all sold now (all of their releases tend to be presold), but there is still plenty in the shops.’

As for O Brother, Barry says they are thriving; ‘We are out the door doing emergency bottling runs this week, trying to keep up with everything, the draft and bottles at the same time. We are going one and a quarter years, but it still feels like we are finding our feet; it will probably always be that way.’ For a porter No Joe still has plenty of body and alcohol (6.7%), with vanilla, chocolate and toasted malt with an attractive subtle bitter touch.

Tags: craft beer, Irish Craft Beer, O Brother, Porter, Wicklow

Posted in: Beer & Whiskey, Irish Times

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Rizzardi Costeggiola Soave 2014

Posted by admin on April 7, 2016

Rizzardi Costeggiola Soave 2014
12.5%
€15.45

Textured red apple fruits with a touch of honey. With hake, cod or salmon.

I wrote about Custoza last week; this week it’s better-known neighbour, Soave. Inexpensive Soave is often very watery to the point of tasteless. Pay a little more, and you get a lightly fruity crisp dry white. At the top end (€20+) there are brilliant wines, worth considering for a posh dinner with light shellfish dishes. The above wine is made in a richer style, which works really well.

Available from O’Briens

Tags: Chardonnay, Garganega, Italy, O'Briens, Rizzardi, Soave, White Wine

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Finca Resalso 2014, Ribera del Duero, Emilio Moro

Posted by admin on April 7, 2016

Finca Resalso 2014, Ribera del Duero, Emilio Moro
13.5%
€19.95

Tasted more like 14% or even more to me, but a very good polished wine with smooth dark fruits, very subtle oak, a bit of real power and good length too. Nice wine. Went very well with our Armenian chicken, stuffed with walnuts, prunes and sumac.

Available from Redmonds, Ranelagh; Deveneys, Dundrum; The Coachhouse, Balinteer; Higgins, Clonskeagh; Sweeneys, Glasnevin; Clontarf Wines; O’Driscoll’s, Cahirsiveen; Donnybrook Fair; Holland’s, Bray; Fresh, Canal St.; No.21, Cork; 1601, Kinsale; Joyce’s, Galway.

Tags: Cassidy's Wines, Emilio Moro, Resalso, Ribera del Duero, Spain Red Wine, Tempranillo, Tinta del Pias, Tinto Fino

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Did I drink all of those? A weekend’s consumption.

Posted by admin on April 6, 2016

Did I really drink all that? Sort of – I was assisted by my better half, and I didn’t finish everything. That is my excuse anyway. A few interesting wines, and Fernet Branca of course.

Fernet Branca
I always see Fernet more as an away drink. I have consumed it late at night in hotel bedrooms, over breakfast, and as a midday digestif on various wine trips. I dusted off my bottle for an article in the Irish Times last Saturday, and enjoyed a small glass after dinner one night; I love it, but I am definitely the only one on the house! If you haven’t tried it, it might be best to order one in a bar first; it is not to everyone’s taste!

Cava Aliguer Brut Vintage 2012,
11.5%

I have been drinking a lot of nice cava recently, including this lovely floral wine with very moreish apple and pear fruits. Around €23 from Sheridan’s Cheese Shops.

Pinot Noir La Roncière 2014, André Vatan, Vin de Loire
12.5%
€14.95 from Whelehan’s

Sin Palabras 2014, Rías Baixas, Castrovaldés
13%
€19.95 from 64wine, Glasthule and Whelehan’s, Loughlinstown.

A fine crisp dry Albariño, with subtle pear fruits. Lighter and fresher than many other Rías Baixas.

Kalkundkiesel 2014, Claus Preisinger, Weinland, Austria
12%
€22

A low/no sulphur wine, made from a blend of Pinot Blanc, Grüner Veltliner and Chardonnay. The quality of fruit is very different, with hints of apples and barley-sugar, with a crisp mineral acidity. Interesting and enjoyable wine.

Gran Cerdo 2014, Spain
€14.50

A natural wine made in Rioja with very low levels of sulphur. It certainly tastes different, with funky, barnyard aromas, raised acidity, and soft strawberry fruits. Not for everyone, but worth it for the back label alone which reads ‘ dedicated to the bank executives that denied loans to us on the basis that wine is not a seizable asset. One day, these greasy and sweaty corporate suits will find that the best things in life cannot be impounded’.

Stockists: 64wine; Baggot St Wines; Blackrock Cellar; Fallon & Byrne; Corkscrew; Le Caveau; Donnybrook Fair. Listons; World Wide Wines; Green Man.

Finca Resalso 2014, Ribera del Duero, Emilio Moro
13.5%
€19.95

Tasted more like 14% (or more) to me, but a very good polished wine with smooth dark fruits, very subtle oak, a bit of real power and good length too. Nice wine. Went very well with our Armenian chicken, stuffed with walnuts, prunes and sumac.

Treintamil Maravedíes 2013, Bodega Marañones D.O. Viños de Madrid
14.%
€19.95 from many independents, including 64wine, Glasthule and Whelehan’s, Loughlinstown.

Really not sure about this wine. I like Fernando, the winemaker at Marañones, and have certainly enjoyed his wines in the past. He seems to be going on a new route with a different style to his wines. This still has some of the lovely crunchy elegant Garnacha fruit that I have come to expect, but alongside it there is a slightly funky oxidative touch – not quite sure how to describe it. I still like the wine, but not as much as before.

Weisser Burgunder Trocken 2014 Dr. Deinhard Pfalz
12%
€17.95 from the Corkscrew, Chatham Street, Dublin.

Every now and again, a bottle gets lost in the pile of wines I have to taste (I know, tough life). This was sent to me several months ago by The Corkscrew in Chatham Street, one of Dublin’s best wine shops. Weisser Burgunder is Pinot Blanc in France, Pinot Bianco in Italy, where it makes wines ranging from anonymous to pleasantly fruity. This was one of the latter. Clean and refreshing with light pear fruits and a snappy dry finish.

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Fernet Branca

Posted by admin on April 3, 2016

First published in the Irish Times, Saturday 2nd April, 2016

Nothing can quite prepare you for your first hit of Fernet-Branca. Mine came over breakfast, courtesy of a Danish colleague, who assured me it was the only way to start the day. I thought he was trying to poison me. Fernet-Branca is dark, mysterious and bitter. Very bitter. Drunk neat, it is dry, medicinal, sharp and herbal, like a slap across the face.

I once read a memorable description of Fernet Branca as “like waking up in a foreign country and finding a crowd of people arguing in agitated thorny voices outside your hotel window”.Italians like this sort of thing; witness the popularity of Campari, cima di rapa and other bitter brassicas, and liquorice. They treat Fernet-Branca and other bitters as a digestif. A small glass at the end of a meal is said to ward off indigestion and promote well-being. Elsewhere, there are those who swear it is the perfect antidote to a hangover, but that is probably because it tastes like a severe punishment, and temporarily dulls the senses.

Fernet-Branca was invented in 1845 by Bernardino Branca. His company, Fratelli Branca Distillerie of Milan, is still run by the Branca family. As with so many drinks, the recipe is a secret, but the company website tells us it has 27 herbs from four continents, as well as spices and roots. This includes aloe from Sri Lanka or India, and chamomile from Italy or Argentina. It is aged in old oak barrels for a year prior to bottling.

Fernet-Branca is hugely popular in the bars of San Francisco where bartenders apparently start their shift with a shot, and sometimes continue throughout the evening.

The most popular cocktail is the Bartender’s Handshake, Fernet and ginger ale, sometimes drunk one after the other. But it is Argentina that consumes the greatest quantity of Fernet-Branca, some 25 million litres each year, usually as a Fernandito or Fernet con Cola.

It is even available in pre-mixed cans. On a recent visit to a trendy Buenos Aires nightspot, bartenders were offering all manner of Fernet-based cocktails. I tried one and returned to my Malbec.

Throughout its history, Fernet-Branca has been marketed as having curative properties, in the 19th century as a treatment for anxiety and fever.

Early labels claim it “benefits the stomach, promotes digestion, strengthens the body, overcomes cholera, reduces fever, and heals those suffering from nervous weakness, lack of appetite, sickness or tapeworms; suitable for use as a preventative measure for all those who are obliged to reside in damp and infectious conditions. May be taken at any time of the day as required, undiluted or mixed with water, soda water, wine, coffee, vermouth, or other beverages”.

Tags: Fernet Branca

Posted in: Beer & Whiskey, Irish Times

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Custoza 2014, Zenato

Posted by admin on April 1, 2016
Custoza 2014, Zenato.
12.5%
Available for €14.95 from Searsons, Monkstown.

Fresh textured white with pear fruits and good cleansing acidity. Great served solo or with lighter seafood and salad dishes, possibly a prawn salad of some sort.

Custoza, a lesser-known neighbour of Soave, can be more reliable, possibly because there are fewer producers who have to try a little harder. They use the same grape varieties, mainly Garganega, sometimes with a little Trebbiano, to make attractive crisp refreshing white wines.

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Tags: Custoza, Garganega, Italy, Searsons Wine Merchants, Trebbiano, White Wine, Zenato

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Dao Jardim da Estrela 2014, Carlos Lucas
Posted by admin on April 1, 2016
Dao Jardim da Estrela 2014, Carlos Lucas
13%

Available from Clontarf Wines; Browns, Portlaoise; JJ O Driscoll, Ballinlough; O Learys, Cootehill; Hole in The Wall, D7; www.quintessentialwines.ie Quintessential Wines, Drogheda, for €12.95.

Lovely soft juicy blackcurrants and red cherries. Refreshing and ripe, with no tannins. Ideal everyday wine with all kinds of red and white meats. A stuffed filet of pork or bacon with parsley sauce both sound good.

I like Dao. When properly made, it is light and refreshing with very tasty dark cherry and plum fruits. There are expensive versions, and some of these are very good. But most are incredibly cheap given the quality and offer great value. These are very food friendly wines that won’t break the bank; perfect for a wet Wednesday. This one is made from three local grape varieties, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz (aka Tempranillo) and Alfrocheiro.

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Tags: Alfrocheiro, Dao, Jardim de Estrela, Portugal, Quintessential Wines, Red Wine, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional

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