Liberty Wines Annual Portfolio Tasting: Vesevo White Wines

For a long time I was told, and taught, that white wines out of Italy were a bit of a 'challenge'. Ecock's used to do a big number on Frascati into Superquinn, Verdicchio for ourselves and a bit of Vernaccia for a strange customer. Along the way we intro'd some Friuli Chardonnay and Sauvignon along with the glorious Ribolla Gialla and the very successful Pinot Grigio with the dog on the label from Collavini up in Udine. We got brave and went full hog with the likes of Orvietto Amibile, single vineyard Soave wine and to be more than fair to ourselves rake more esoteric offerings way back in the early 90's.

Then everyone discovered the New World. Then Italian whites became unfashionable and when Pinot Grigio was finally (re)'discovered' it was often a pale imitation of the real thing. But then how was an emerging trade brought up on sulphurous French Sauvignon/Semillon blends and an ever increasingly weakened chardonnay offering from the colonies supposed to like 'difficult' offerings from a red wine producing country such as Italy?

Yesterday I reopened the book and found that the pages are chock full of amazing white wines out of Italy. They never really went away of course but have remained hidden and to large extent camouflaged by their own indifference to a national marketing strategy and the sheer volume of successful red wine making in Italy. Mind you, it would be nice if the Italians would try to let us know what they are up every now and then.

I haven't the time to go through all of the wines - and you wouldn't want me to! Allow Liberty to show you. Here's a sampler:

Vesevo Wine Estate: Campania: near Mount Vesuvius. Overall impression was of expressive, very fresh, fruit driven wines with lots of personality, character and finely honed wine making.

Sannio Falanghina 2008
Deeply elegant bouquet of night scented flowers throwing up a perfume after a rain shower. Exquisitely poised palate where light melon mingles with a memory of yellow rose petals on a bed of tingly minerals. Fantastic finish complements the wine maker, the terroir and the vintage.


Can this really be from the slopes of a volcano in the searing summer heat of Southern Italy?


Fiano di Avellino 2008
Limpid with a light presence both in appearance and bouquet. A languid and thoughtful nature comes through with a lot of suggested heat and some cellophane elements on the nose. These all open out onto an amazingly ripe palate balanced well with a zinging acidity and very rich finish suggesting fish, salads and long, chatty lunches al fresco.

Greco di Tufo 2008

Straw like bouquet with definite hints of earth elements in a chalky and dusty sense. Big grapefruit and citric palate where fruit is allowed to ripen and blossom in the glass. This is expressive and joyful. This is showing off where others need to hide from the sunshine and heat. This finishes with a citric bang. Vesuvius smiling.

Vesevo also showed a fantastic 2007 Aglianico named Beneventano (€15.99) and an extraordinary (Hugh Johnson inspired) blend of grapes and regions called Edizione Cinque Atoctoni 2006 (€29.99)

There were brilliant Soave, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Bianco, (Oh and get to try the Franz Haas Pinot Nero sometime this lifetime), Trebbiano, (Yeah, I know a good trebb and no joke attached!), Malvasia Blanca, Verdicchio and others. Maybe next time someone asks me to try their Frascati I won't be predisposed to turn up my nose and remember the good old days.....and unlike Pompeii maybe I'll look forward to the good times coming around again.

Liberty Wines Annual Portfolio Tasting Or how to turn Italian Whites into Austrian reds!

This was really good: 247 wines and four olive oils set around the upstairs room at Fallon & Byrne.

Liberty has always been in the habit of opening piles and piles of bottles. At the London Fair their stand is a continuous scrum; suits battling jeans to try as many bottles as poss. Thing is, you just can't ever get to taste them all in the one go. It's as close as you get to a wine tasting frenzy.

Back to today's feast. David Gleave was his usual welcoming self; brimming with knowledge and eager to engage. There were oodles of principles on hand. This was impressive as some of these don't sell well in Ireland and were clearly here to support Liberty.

My plan this time around was to look at whites out of Italy. So, just to prove that I am not easily distracted the first wines I looked at were red from Austria!!

Gernot Heinrich showed me his wine called Heinrich Red 2007 - a blend of Zweigelt, BlauFrankisch (Limberger in Germany) and St Laurent. Smooth and earthy with a light, deft touch. Serious and attractive. Heinrich Burgenland Zweigelt 2007 sealed with a Vin Lok - fell in love with this. Cherry fruit with soft tannins endless depth to the smooth flavours; hint of liqourice and damp chalky earth. Gorgeous. Heinrich Burgenland St Laurent 2006 sealed with Vino Lok - again a very voluptuous wine. More mineral than the Zweigelt (which I prefer) but more proof that here's a guy who can really make red wine rock. I just hope SOMEONE out there can sell this stuff.

Anyhow: Italian Whites. They'll have to wait till tomorrow now!

Spanish Steps at Superquinn

Spanish Steps is a brilliant range of wines. It guides you into four of the less well known wine regions of North West Spain - Rueda, Toro, Arribes and Bierzo with a wine from each that is well presented, well priced and very well made.You cannot ask for more! Well, OK, you can ask for more wine, but You can't ask a distributor to bring in a better priced range of wines for a super market. So often with wine from the supers you are left with the feeling that while you've done OK, they have been the real winners. Not so with Spanish Steps.

Wine from the North West of Spain has boomed in recent times. Consumers are becoming familiar with the beautifully aromatic and minerally Albarinho grape out of Galicia and are keen to explore beefy reds from Toro. The difficulty has been consistency of supply, quality and pricing. It's too easy to buy very, very good Spanish wines at a hefty price. It's all too easy, though, to buy super plonk from the same country.

Good brands outside of Rioja are hard to find. Miguel Torres and Gran Feudo continue to be shining beacons to those who say it can't be done. They have shown that quality and presentation, dressed up well and distributed properly will succeed. It's not easy though and it's a never ending battle. So, here's to the new brand, Spanish Steps, and all who drink along with her. May there be more like her.

Spanish Steps Rueda 2008: White wine made from a Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo blend. I'm a great fan of the Verdejo grape. I love it's intense lemony excitement. Blended with Sauvignon Blanc it gives us a rich and juicy mix of ripe aromas fused well into a broad and yet well structured palate. It's fabulous stuff.

Spanish Steps Toro 2007: Toro has a reputation for strong and beefy red wines. This is where the tempranillo grape reacts well to its environment to show us a wild and rugged landscape. Many examples from the region are tannic and under developed ideas rather than good wines. This however is soft and inviting and a very fine introduction to the region.

Spanish Steps Bierzo 2007: This is an area beside Galicia. (The photos on this page were taken just next door in Ribeira Sacra). Reds from here are usually quite smooth and ponderous in a complex sort of way. Just so with this wine where the juiciness of the fruit is tempered by a distinct and very interesting herbal character.

Spanish Steps 2007 Arribes: This is one of the smallest wine regions of Castille and straddles the Duero River where it forms the Spanish Portuguese border. The wine is light, rose and elegant and not quite in the same 'punchy' league as the other three Spanish Steps wines. That said it is very well made and good value for its price tag of €10.99 which is a remarkable feat from a region that has yet to find a vinous footing on export markets around the world.

Domaine Michel Briday

I mentioned recently that I had been to Burgundy to celebrate the feast of St Vincent, patron saint to all that is an Appellation in Burgundy.

On the same trip I made a number of cellar visits. One was to a remarkable young man whose wines are listed in Ireland by Mitchell and Son. His name is Stephane Briday and, with his wife Sandrine, he makes wine under the Domaine Michel Briday label in Rully from vineyards in Mercurey and Bouzeron but especially in Rully.

This was an intimate affair on a cold Monday morning in January. Two journalists (Paul O'Doherty and myself) and Stephane. Sandrine was seeing working away on a small packing table. Such is the unglamourous nature of the small cellar!

Stephane met us with a smile. He has a genuine affability. he showed us around his facility. It's small but he clearly loves it to bits. Mind you his father literally built it from bits in a disused outhouse in the centre of Rully, in the heart of the Challonaise, not too long ago!

Stephane has strong beliefs. Environmentally friendly and if possible organic farming only. He told us how his vineyards were the only green ones left standing through the heat of 2003. Mind you he also told us that it took him three years of back breaking work to train the vines to grow down to find real nutrients and not sideways to find fertiliser substitutes!

He only uses wild ferments and no batonnage (lees stirring), only gentle pumping over, seldom any punching down (pigeage) and he even showed us two full barrels of American Oak! 2 out of 130! He has not chaptalised since 2002 and he has (empty) bottles of Yerring Station on his tasting room shelves. Everything about the man and his place is cosy, enquiring and bursting with ideas.

Bouzeron 2007 Cuvee Axelle. White wine: 100% Aligote. In 2004 only 2000 bottles were made. Now 6000 and he reckons he has capacity for 10,000. But it's an unfashionable grape and is often used as the base or Cremant de Bourgogne. I love the distinctive mineral and cellophane bouquet of good Aligote. This had it in spades with a clear and very clean lift to it. It's a crisp and precise wine that should be drunk as Young as Possible.

Rully Blanc 2007: Again very easy to 'find. Loads of light spice scents with a fruit supported by a light wood. Fruit is clean as a whistle, long and fine with rich (not fat) flavours.

Rully 1er Cru 2007 Les Cloux: Light perfume with some coconut, citric peel, orange zest; gives impression of wanting to be boisterous but palate is restraining with distinct gum filling and gum tingling fruit. Round and full finish shows off pedigree here.

Rully 1er Cru 2007 Gresigney: v. fine and intense minerality, powerful palate follows well from the bouquet. Stephane has been working these vine for a long time now and feels he knows every nuance in their expression of his terroir. I loved this wine for its purity and its minerality. It's has a crisp and well defined structure where fruit, terroir and acidity are well balanced together.

Rully 2006 Les Quatre Vignes: (Blended late October. Bottling Dec through to March....maybe....) Lovely style of ripeness and depth of character showing a bright cherry and stone fruit character. This theme runs right through all aspects of the wine. Will drink brilliantly next year. Lightly tannic finish balances the full flavour spectrum that this has to offer. Love it.

Rully 1er Cru 2007 Les Champs Doux: Rully only has 23 1er cru vineyards and Stephane has land in 5 of them. Super depth right through. immense development. Can drill down through multi flavour layers. the wow factor here is a high one! Big structure, v. fine fruit and intensely perfumed fruit flavours.

Mercurey 1er Cru 2006. Clos Marcilly: Stephane is the ONLY producer in the 1er cru vineyard of Clos Marcilly!! He has 0.9ha and as he says 'the rest is rubbish'. This made a change. Peach character shows well in sligtly astringent and tough style Rich in an immediate and demanding sense showing deep and dark fruits of the forest. I want to be tasting this in few years time when it opens out.

Overall? Very impressive. Thanks Stephane..

Simplicity is a wine virtue

I wrote up Protocolo in EasyFood recently as a wine that impressed by its sheer simplicity. Wine virtues are often complicated beasts such as softness of tannins or Sulphur levels or weight and mouthfeel. So how does simplicity get in here?

I was pleased to see Andrew Jefford mention in Andrew Jefford's Wine Course that 'sometimes simplicity is perfection.' He's quite right. I go further and say that simplicity is a difficult virtue to achieve.

When a wine maker has managed to achieve perfect ripeness in the vineyard and has successfully brought those grapes into the winery he is faced with a series of multiple answer questions. Most of these answers will produce a great wine - after all he has perfect grapes to work with. Some answers of course fall short of the ideal but supposing our wine maker chooses well, will he opt for a simple and brilliant offering or will he go for broke and look to achieve something a lot more complicated?

He will choose the latter because today's world does not appreciate simplicity. If he doesn't he will be told that he could have done better. In fact he will be lambasted by the wine press and told he should have done a lot better.

Now take the other end of the scale where the grapes are adequate but not perfect. Does our winemaker achieve these grapes' potential by making a simple wine? No. He will do everything in his little notebook to elevate the wine up to the highest level possible by introducing an array of wine making tricks/techniques.

So, who does make simple wine and what is simplicity anyhow?

Without making things complicated when we are trying to talk Simple (!) I reckon that if a wine expresses fruit, place and style then it is both great and simple.

Fruit can be an amalgam but should be clean, obvious, and fresh according to the age of the bottle

Place should give a clear indication of terroir. We may ALL get the place wrong in a blind tasting but at least the wine should show a definite expression of coming from Somewhere and not just be a a drink from Anywhere.

Style is the wine makers fingerprint. So many wines have been butchered or stillborn because they were forced into life and not brought along carefully and with skill.

So, any takers for the simplest wine now or do we agree that simplicity is a hard wine to make?

Saint Vincent and all his brothers

A few weeks ago I was fortunate to attend the annual celebration of St Vincent in Burgundy. This year it was held in Macon. A rainy and quite cool Macon. Felt right at home I did!

The grand Order de Chevaliers du Tastevin were in full swing and when they swing, they swing. They also give very long speeches; especially while they induct new members into the ancient tradition of wearing fancy gowns and drinking bowls of wine dry.

We joined the parade of St Vincents early on the Sat morning. It was I admit a bit like watching an old Corpus Christi procession through the wet streets of Arklow back in the 1960's! It had rustic charm. And the St Vincents just kept coming!!

There was one for every Appellation in Burgundy - Pommard's dated from 1669! - and they covered every possible aspect of male physiology

Young ones

Old ones

Hirsute ones

baldy ones

fat ones thin

hatless and monked over ones

dark ones

fair ones

tiny ones and huge ones

They all headed in the direction of the cathedral. Yes, folks this was the first wine tour that brought me to mass - and what a mass. And yes, they are wine glasses hanging around the necks of the ST Vincent carriers.

It was great. The banners piled into the church. The archbishop welcomed the Chevaliers at the door and led them via incense and prayer through to a blessing on the forthcoming year in the vineyards.

Afterwards we followed the parade down to the esplanade where we had been assured we'd get to see a wine or two. No such luck but there were a lot of speeches!! This was turning out to be both wet and dry.

This devotion to saints in the vineyard is not unique to St Vincent or indeed to Burgundy. A few years ago I was very impressed by the devotion to Saint Anthony up in a vineyard in the Veneto. Granted the winery goes by the name San Antonio - great Valpolicella's - and everyone in the neighbourhood seemed to have a St Anthony on the dashboards of their cars. I was impressed by the fact that even young vineyard workers paid homage to the St Anthony perched above the field they were about to prune. One told me that it was lonely out in the hills and that he prayed for comfort.

Up at my fave organic vineyard in Lombardy - Cabanon - they built a whole church! Now that's saying something.

Of course the church, saints and wine have all been on the same twister mat for some time now. Long may it continue. There's something warming at a pagan ceremony in a cathedral; something timeless in eulogising in the vineyards; something eternal in wine; something characterful in trusting a saint to help you through the day

Drink the Bowl Clean now or we'll make you drink another......

Good Questions Lead to Good Answers Lead to Good Wine

One of the most annoying questions wine journalists seem to ask ad nauseum is 'what's new?' They are always looking for an edge that will allow their next column to slice its way through the mundane and announce to the world, What's New!

What's up Doc? would probably be a better question to ask. Allow me to explain why I think Bugs Bunny would make a better wine journalist than many a wino journo out there already.

Most wine makers come into their own in their late twenties and make about twenty five vintages before their star fails to shine any longer. This is the palate of their wine making career. 25 offerings to the great gods of journalism who all seem to want to ask, "eh, yeah, OK, but WHAT'S NEW??"

They don't mean, 'show us vintage variation', or, 'show us how a wine making theme has been subtly altered'. Noo, they mean, "have you new grapes, new styles, new flavour profiles etc." They mean new in the sense that the wine maker might just have departed from what he/she actually does well and made something that the journalists would like to have seen made instead!

Strange given that you might only have twenty odd times to get it right that you might give in to the notion that something NEW might be better than something considered OLD. Is something NEW better. God knows it might take a few attempts to get it right .....and that's eating into your twenty odd attempts to offer up your life work to the great gurus of wine journalism....the clock is ticking. Should I do what's right or what's NEW. What's cool or what's proper?

What if wine journalists gave up on the, 'what's new' angle, and asked something like, "But, can this be made better?" instead.

I have a great difficulty with wine makers who make wine to appeal to the 'common good' based on a media inspired belief that what's new is what's good. This stinks of a newsprint terroir. Ah, now there's an expression worth remembering, NEWSPRINT TERROIR.

Should Viognier be hounded through the world's trellises? Should Pinot Gris be dressed up in the Emperor's New Clothes? Can the Holy Grail of Pinot Noir be achieved? Is Sagrantino worth exploring in Uruguay? Yes, if it is because someone has asked the right question. No, if its in response to What's New. You will only get wrong answers by asking the wrong question

Hey, remember, Guinness Light out of Dublin or uberTrocken Rieslings out of the Rheingau. Remember those volcanic smelling Sauvignons out of the Graves and the jaw exercising Barolo's out of Piedmont. The former lot tried to deliver something NEW while the latter died a righteous death because someone dared to ask, "BUT, CAN THIS BE MADE BETTER?"

Lipstick on 12 year olds?

I follow the Cavemans Wine Blog http://thecaveman.blogspot.com/not least because I used to be a real caver, survived to recall the pitfalls (sic) and still miss the smell of wet muck and rotting peat bog. Sad.

Proof: They don't let you stand beneath the great stal in Pol an Ionion in the Burren any longer - probably don't like you throwing muck balls at it either!! We used to make it 'sing'.

No, I follow the Caveman's Wine Blog because he is concise and neat and has a great turn of phrase. Yesterday he asked wine makers to stop dressing up young wines. Some times they are meant to be 'guzzlers' - his word. He described this process as akin to putting lipstick on 12 year olds. Brilliant.

I was at the New Zealand Wine Fair in Dublin recently and did my absolute best to get to grips with the current fad of bringing Pinot Gris out of New Zealand.

Did I fail or succeed when I say that I still don't understand how a well developed, reasonably sophisticated and well educated trade persists with a grape that seldom shines anywhere in the world?

This is the fun about wine and something every wine drinker should take on board. My viewpoint and therefore my answer to my question is as valid and as relevant as anyone else's in the whole world of wine.

DO NOT let anyone ever tell you that their viewpoint is more important than your own. Where would NZ be if they had listened to French wine makers telling them that their green and under ripe Sauvignon Blanc wines were hideous?

ALWAYS LISTEN to other viewpoints and be prepared to develop your thoughts on any and all subjects. I still don't like very green and light Riesling out of Australia but I am (finally) prepared to accept that its a legit style of wine rather than a non style in the sense that the Emperor Has No Clothes On - mmmmm, maybe I have a way to go there...!

Finally for today choose a grape that no one seems to talk about but that you like. Follow it and be its champion. Mine have been Sagrantino from Montefalco in Italy and Albarinho out of Galicia for the past dozen years. One out of two is now main stream.

Just, if anyone brings me an obviously oaked Albarinho and an over oaked Pinot Gris I will send them both away and tell them in good old Caveman fashion to wipe the lipstick off and get on with the business of being a good grape instead - have fun but don't take the mickey.

Vitriol is not an Appellation - it's a state of mind

I have just spent the entire year wondering where to go with this blog. Thankfully it's not Valentines yet and I haven't (yet) whittled the year away.

Two decisions:

1. It 'aint broke so don't try to fix it.


2. There is nothing wrong with the angry young man attitude....just don't pretend to be young!!

I was told at the recent NZ Wine growers wine tasting in Dublin that I was becoming 'very vitriolic' in my blog! I was taken aback. Clearly not a regular reader.Only just becoming...?

A good tasting by the way. Not a fan of their (NZ) Pinot Gris efforts but really do like what they can do with Riesling and Pinot Noir. Went to a master class on Central Otago given by Paul Pujol of Prophets Rock. There's a wine.

Anyhow back to Vitriol. I went to the Macon two weeks ago to join in the annual Burgundian celebration of St Vincent's day. Speech giving is taken to a new high by the Grand order of the Chevaliers du Tastevins as they induct new members. No vitriol but brilliant showmanship. One and the same? Depends.

This is what it's all about. Great costume, drama and speechifying. Just, don't mess with the guy holding the vine!!

We need to maintain a sense of drama or the suits will win.

We need to develop colour in our trade or it will turn grey.

We could do with a few whistle blowers but I reckon we're too small for that.... Let ye who would taste in the cold for ever after be the first to spill the dirt.....

These are very serious times. Holding onto our jobs and our trade will not be easy. I am not suggesting we all end up levitating into a funny land type of world where we all giggle at inane jokes.

I intend to develop an educational aspect to everything I write this year. Good and well directed wine education will keep the wine trade alive until good times return. So, this blog will continue as mildly vitriolic but at every turn of the cork I will attempt to give something back. It will be lighthearted and genuinely serious ALL at the SAME time!!