Drinks of the Month
Segredo do Lisboa Castelao-Syrah, Lisboa 2011
For obvious reasons* I was all set to recommend a handsomely bottled Irish whiskey I’d discovered this weekend but then I tasted it and actually didn’t rate it so here’s a fantastically good value wine deal I found in my local Co-op instead.
It’s a typically dark, intense Portuguese red with lovely brambly, but not too jammy, fruit that would pair swimmingly with dishes like beef stews, rich meaty pasta sauces and beef or venison sausages. But obviously people are not impressed by something that sounds so obscure so the Co-op is flogging it off for £4. No, that’s not a misprint. £4!
At least I hope they are in a Co-op near you. The Co-op moves in mysterious ways which is probably why it’s in such trouble these days so although they had it in my local Bristol branch, it may not be in yours. Or it may be and cost £7.99 which wouldn’t be such a steal.
There's also an equally obscure white, Segredo do Lisboa Fernao Pires-Arinto Chardonnay 2012 which isn’t quite as impressive tasted on its own but perfectly fine with anything fishy. And ‘perfectly fine’ is good enough for £3.80 (the 'bin-end' price)
At the other end of the price scale I tasted an amazing Vouvray up in Settle where I was inspecting one of our BBC Food and Farming Awards shortlistees The Courtyard Dairy (a brilliant cheese shop, btw). It was the 2009 Clos de la Meslerie which was fragrant and delicately honeyed with a lovely balancing acidity - and a very good match with a Gorgonzola Dolce.
Oddly it’s made by someone called Peter Hahn who doesn’t sound particularly French and indeed turns out to be an American who’s rather improbably making natural wine in the Loire. But don’t assume it’s all weird and funky, it’s the best Vouvray I’ve tasted for an age. You can buy it online from BuonVino (the wine merchant next door to the Courtyard) for £28 and for marginally less from an outfit called WineBear but the Buonvino people have a lovely shop so do buy it from them.
The whisky, if you're curious, is called Writer’s Tears and comes from Marks & Spencer. I was seduced by the tall elegant bottle but in truth the whisky itself is lacking in depth and unbalanced by a crude woody finish. I don’t know how old it is, certainly not old enough to justify charging £28. Try one of these recommendations I made in the Guardian a couple of years ago instead though infuriatingly Sainsbury's seems to have dropped their excellent Taste the Difference Dun Leire Irish Single Malt, according to Irish drinks writer Tom Doorley, since Cooley was taken over by Jim Beam (and now Suntory).
A final thought since I was chided for giving the impression that whiskey was the only Irish drink, there's a cracking Irish cream liqueur in Lidl (for £5.99 when I last checked the price). Though I think he was probably talking about beer.
*St Patrick's Day in case you'd forgotten . . .
Koyle Costa Sauvignon Blanc, Colchagua Costa 2012
If you’re a Sauvignon Blanc fan but are looking for something a little different try this deliciously fresh, elegant Chilean Sauvignon.
It comes from Paradones in the Colchagua region rather than the Casablanca or Leyda regions that Chilean Sauvignon usually comes from so there’s less citrus and more of a crisp mineral, almost saline character - the vineyards that are only 9 km from the sea. That obviously makes it the perfect partner for fresh shellfish or simply grilled fish. It’s also unusually modest in alcohol for Chile at 12.5%.
Interestingly Koyle is owned by the Underraga family who have apparently sold the wine business which bears their name and devoted themselves to this ambitious new project. The vineyards are farmed organically and biodynamically - there’s an interesting post on this vintage on Chilean wine tour operator Liz Caskey’s blog Eatwine.
The grapes are apparently harvested in three different parcels and vinified three different ways - in burgundy barrels, concrete eggs and stainless steel.
Oviously the family have aspirations for the wine - it arrived wrapped in white paper - but the price of £10.50 is more than reasonable for a wine of this quality. That can’t last so I would take the opportunity to snap up what I suspect will be a future Chilean classic.
If you want to include a Chilean red in your order try the bright breezy 2013 De Martino Gallarda del Itala Cinsault which you should enjoy if you’re a Beaujolais fan though I’m not sure I’d go along with the Society’s food recommendation of toad in the hole with it (sausages baked in in batter for the uninitiated!). A nice rare piece of tuna would suit me just fine*.
* see this post for other recommendations for food pairings with Sauvignon Blanc
Weingut Brundlmayer Grüner Veltliner Alte Reben 1999
A cellar clear-out at our French house this week unearthed this neglected treasure from 1999. I couldn’t imagine that it would still be drinkable having travelled from England to France when we moved most of our belongings here six years ago.
In fact it was astonishingly fresh and delicious - not remotely oxidised - and didn’t even fall apart in the glass.
Obviously it wasn’t cheap (£11.15-£15.56 back in 2001, I would guess) but I still couldn’t imagine it would have aged so well. There were still some bright fruit flavours (grapefruit and starfruit) and a wonderful complexity - the kind of wine that could take almost anything fishy or vegetable-based in its stride.
Looking it up on wine-searcher the most recent vintage of the Alte Reben I could find in the UK was the 2007 which is stocked by AG Wines for £23.99 (minimum order 6 bottles) - a baby by 1999 standards.
There are plenty of other Brundlmayer Grüners on wine-searcher.com though. The Old Bridge has halves of the 2011 Berg Vogelsang for £9.95 (Ocado has full bottles for £16.99) while The Sampler has the Gruner Kamptaler Terrassen 2012 for £15.75. It would be fascinating to buy a case to dip into over the next decade, assuming, which of course is by no means certain, that this bottle wasn't an aberration.
Clos Floridène Blanc Graves 2012
Dry, oaked white Bordeaux is one of the most underrated styles of wine in my view. I can’t understand why it’s not more popular (probably because the Bordelais keep most of it for themselves).
This is made by the high priest of white Bordeaux Denis Dubourdieu and is - rather surprisingly - available at the Co-op for £16.99. Or rather, larger, posher Co-op’s. I doubt it it will be available at my local store.
The 2012 vintage is a baby of course - it’s really too soon to drink it this Christmas (you won’t get the full flavour) but there are traces of that light, lush smooth character that makes the classic white Bordeaux blend of Sauvignon, Semillon and Muscadelle such a joy.
It’s a natural for seafood, particularly scallops and Dover sole but would also be delicious with lightly sauced white meat dishes - the sort of food that would go with white burgundy.
The Co-op has clearly managed to snaffle an early consignment of the 2012 but most of the Clos Floridène that’s around is 2011 or 2010. The Wine Society has the 2011 for £18 a bottle - not a lot more expensive than the Co-op, and Milroy’s of Soho on special offer for £18.95. Others like Christopher Piper have the 2010 - at £21.68 - as do Haynes Hanson & Clark (£22.65) which makes the Co-op offer look more of a bargain. Buy some to stash away.
PS While you’re there [at the Co-op] you might also pick up a bottle or two of the 2008 Chateau Sénéjac Haut Médoc they’re selling for £13.99 I recommended in the Guardian last week. That's drinking really well now.
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