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Vino o Muerte!

Here's a thought. What if something just fell from the sky and hit you on the head. Will there be a fracture? A concussion? At least a nasty bump? This latest sunbeam from the sunny skies of Uruguay certainly came out of the blue but I must say that I feel better for it's impact. Viña Progreso Bodega Experimental Open Barrel Tannat. The name is a little difficult to say after a few glasses of the stuff but you'll be glad you said them to your local wine shop owner.

First impressions into the glass were a rich, purpled core fading to a deep lilac rim. All good so far. Smoke on the Water. What an aroma. It's still deeply purple in a way that Prince could identify with. Like a monovarietal Petit Verdot on some serious steroids. And testosterone. Plenty of berries and stone fruit give it a truly regal air. Very up front but distinctive.

After tasting quite a lot nice wine this year (not a lot compared to the pros, but a lot for me) it was nice to get something really different. Not just a novelty either. There's craft at work behind the fruit and the tannin. The open barrel part. I'll quote from the website.

Or I can take a screen cap. The oak is noticeable but is well judged and suits this wine. It isn't noticeably sweetened buy the effects of the barrel. I'm sure the edges of this deeply stone fruited, floral flavour will meld together well and this 2011 vintage should be drinking very well by 2015. It was delicious and I want to drink some more soon.
It might be a long wait though. Bottles like this don't just fall into your lap.

Libero Wine blowout, Part 3!

Last time I left you I mentioned how I'd done a sterling job of buggering up my 1978 Lopez de Heredia Rioja. Oh well, at least I brought a back-up. Surely  a 2003 Chateau Kirwan should liven things up? Regular readers will know of my unhealthy obsession with Margaux and I was pumped for this one. Nothing but structure. The nose. A Hell's angel that had taken up carpentry. The palate. Cru Bourgeoise. head-bangingly bad value for money or another bottle that wasn't in pristine condition? I don't know for sure but I suspect the latter.
After that, things got more interesting.

To quote Austen Powers. "Yeah baby, yeah."
Sadly, like most of these kind of wines (those who's reputation simply can't be avoided), this disappointed somewhat. In the words of Director Jesse, "It was yummy." and it was.
All structure, no adornment. This wine was a solidly built Victorian army officer of a wine.
This wine hasn't stayed with me through the weeks since this party in the way the Chardonnays have. I simply can't fully enjoy a wine that doesn't have much fruit in the flavour profile. Poor me? Not a bit of it. It's an awesome privilege to be drinking wine like this. Just be careful how you spend your money.
Red of the night was the 2010 Yangarra Ironheart Shiraz. Fruit and terroir, structure and excitement. This wine is still in a young and dynamic phase with the flavours of bramble fruit and red berries alternating as the wine slowly breathed in the decanter. Earthy and spiced in a typically Barossa way, (not in a McLaren vale way) this wine powered through the competition with grace and power. It only showed a little heat early on and it's something that I'd recommend to those that have access to it. Get full value by not drinking it for another five years.
A night that will live long in the memory, now excuse me while I find some decent Chablis. 

A deal with the Devil

Value Bordeaux. Not two words you see together very often. I got a deal on this. A 2005 classified growth for under ¥5000 is a deal with the Devil. Surely a this kind of wine from this kind of year should command more of a premium? It was with trepidation that I uncorked it, expecting disappointment. Heat damaged in some way, or somewhat sea sick from the long journey to Japan? Of course the first glass was a little closed. The second, drunk the day after, gave me hope. Oh hope. The cruelest of all mistresses.

In this case my hope was not misplaced! Masculine and brooding, this is a Daniel Craig of a wine. The nose has that unmistakable Bordeaux perfume. Cassis and leather. Hint of violets. Wet forest.
Powerful in the mouth, but lacking somewhat in complexity. An almost perfect balance of dark fruit and wood characteristics but none of the floral, vegetal or red fruit character you'd  expect in it's more expensive brethren. Length, medium. I cheated the Devil. Perhaps I should take up the fiddle...

Wine bar Libero: Second anniversary blowout. Part two!

Back to the amazing wine night at Wine Bar Libero, Kyoto! This time I'll go on about the Reds. For your lack of scrolling convenience, I'll repost last week's picture.

I'll begin with the 2005 Romanee St Vivant. Fantastic stuff. Much darker and denser looking than a typical Burgundy. The slight increase in viscosity being apparent on the side of the glass when tipped. The nose was huge and focused with tons of red fruit and a considerable floral character of crushed violets and dried rose petals. Pink and purple pot pourri. Not too sweet. Some fatty characteristics as well. The flavours were not yet resolved. Unsurprisingly, this will need a full 20 years to reach it's peak. Rich and distinctively scarlet in it's fruits, this wine showed none of the vices of over extraction. 

Long on the palate and balanced, despite its youth. I have no doubt in my mind that there'll still be significant fruit left come 2033. Hold your horses!

Next up, one of the wines I brought. I was very excited about the 1978 Lopez de Heredia Gran Reserva Vina Tondonia. I'm sad to say that I completely buggered it up. The night before the party I wanted to open it just to remove the sediment. I was worried about drunk hands mashing the 35 year old cork the day of the event. Just a quick bottle/decanter/bottle/vacuum job then... Wrong! after half an hour prodding and probing with a leaf opener the cork had retreated 3mm into the neck of the bottle. Surely I couldn't use a traditional cork screw? This called for drastic action. Push through and decant.

I tried in vain to mash the cork out of the empty bottle or in some way coax it back into a removable position. After another half hour I gave up and re-purposed an old Chilean wine bottle. By that time this old wine had too much air and was well past it's prime. Who'da thunk it? A 35 year old cork that's like a bullet! That was a blow out, but I also brought a back-up. More on that next time.

 

Wine bar Libero: Second anniversary blowout. Part one.

Sometimes an extravagant event comes around that one really can't miss. Such an event was the second birthday of my good friend Shohei Juge's wonderful Kyoto wine bar, Libero. The guests had been pouring over the offerings from local wine stores for weeks in advance in order to impress the other guests with interesting bottles. There were certainly some expensive stuff on display and here I give a few impressions.

The sparkling on the left is Michel Gonet's 1998 Blanc de Blanc Millesime. I hadn't heard anything about this wine before it's arrival in front of me last saturday. A rich toffee colour, the mousse subsided quickly as it was placed in my hand. A quick cheers and this was half dispatched in double quick time. The second gulp, once the first spring of effervescence had subsided, revealed a little cork taint that simply couldn't be covered up by the nutty, peely, rindy richness of the palate. A shame. This wine had length. And damp cardboard.

Yellow wax cap? Domaines Raveneau's Chablis 1er Cru Montee Tonnerre 2006. Excellent and my white of the night. Everything you could want from a Chablis plus length! To be honest it's been a while since I've had Chablis I usually source my white burgundy from other places. This rolled back the years with simple, sweetly singing green fruit with hints of steel and flint. There's not much more you can say about the palate of this wine. There's also not a lot more that needs to be said. A restrained nose? Well that would be nit-picking.

The other end of the spectrum now with a huge, limey, oaky blockbuster. Kongsgaard's The Judge Chardonnay. This is one chardonnay that actually looks a little green in the glass. Chartreuse? Let's hope not! If you like lime cordial you'll love this! The power of this wine cannot be underestimated and the length is impressive as well. Looking for secondary flavours proved to be an uphill struggle as wave upon wave of citrus coated my mouth. Changing tack seemed to be an appropriate course of action for tasting this. Simply reveling in the weight and resinous texture of this titan proved to be enjoyable enough for me to have a thoroughly good time. Blowed if I can remember the vintage...

I hope to be back soon with part two, the reds!

Sometimes the point is just to enjoy it. Better not miss the point...

Last week I had the pleasure to enjoy something I haven't had for a while (no chortling at the back, please). There are some things that I just can't get excited about anymore. All that anticipation just for something plain and generic. It's gladdened my heart that there are still some cheap thrills out there awaiting those brave enough to experiment (Don't make me put you in detention).  What's the point of veering away from standard Chards and Sauvs?

A mono-varietal Roussanne is a rare bird around here. For those unfamiliar (for those who are totally uninitiated, Tablas Creek has a good primer article here) with this enigmatic grape, pinning down what makes a good example can be a difficult process. Capable of fleshy, fruity aroma bombs and austere, mineral driven understatements alike, fans of this grape can often be divided. One person's meat, etc etc.

Yangarra Estate Vinyard 2012 Roussanne is a wine I've been looking forward to for some time. When an example turned up as a sample, I was round to my importer friend's apartment like a shot to have a couple of glasses. Straight out of the bottle it's nose is promising. Typical honeyed green fruit, both tree and stone, greet the drinker. Icterine and crystalline on the eye. The palate has a balance of fruit, acid and mineral that mirrors the nose and convinces harmoniously. Secondary notes include hints of walnut and button mushroom. For such a reasonably priced bottle the flavour seems to go on for a lot longer than one might expect.  Cellaring for a year or two would, I'm persuaded, yield exciting results. Within the structure of this wine the acid's mineral character I'd expect this wine to slowly evolve from a very flexible light food wine complementing salad and vegetarian food into a very genteel standalone drinker.
Any negatives? Well, could it be said this bottle needs a little more intensity? It could, but that would be missing the point.