New Life in the Alentejo

25-Apr-11 - Wines from the north of Portugal - particularly the Douro - are now widely accepted as world class, as a new generation has explored new techniques in terms of viticulture, winemaking and ageing. The wood-heavy, semi-oxidised wines of the past have given way to bright, fresh wines with real depth, fruit and length, and the Touriga Nacional has been recognised for what it is - a world-class all-rounder for red wines as well as for Port.

Meanwhile, the rest of Portugal has been waking up, too, and nowhere more so than the Alentejo, which is a vast area stretching along the eastern border from Castelo Branco to the Algarve. On my first visit, about 20 years ago, the region was known only for everyday wines, mainly made by co-operatives, and mostly in the 'cheap and cheerful' category. The land tends to be fairly low in altitude and blazing hot in summer, which doesn't augur well for finer quality wines. Or, at least, it didn't. Recent developments have shown an increasing number of interesting wines coming out of this parched landscape: my wine-writing colleague Richard Mayson bought an ailing estate called Quinta do Centro in Reguengo, and he was quick to point out that there are highland places in the Alentejo - in his case about 560 metres. He has rejuvenated the quinta since taking over: I have yet to visit but am looking forward to it.

Another newcomer is Herdade do Rocim, between Vidiguera and Cuba, in the middle-south of the region. It was founded in 2000 and boasts a spanking new bodega and 60 ha of vines, with about 20 ha of old-vines Aragonez (Tempranillo in these parts, and not to be confused with the Spanish Aragonés, which is the Garnacha) and Trincadeira and the white Antão Vaz. The new owners planted the rest of the vineyard with Touriga Nacional, Alicante Bouschet (Garnacha Tintorera), Syrah and Cabernet-Sauvignon plus the white Arinto and Alvarinho. The wines are classified as Vinho Regional Alentejano. The name of the adega means 'the nag estate' which presumably relates to a history of old horses, and one of the brand names is Olho de Mocho, which translates as 'Owl's Eye'. Make of that what you will.

They sent me four samples, a white, a pink and two reds:

2009 Olho de Mocho branco reserva - €12.00 - 13.5% - Antão Vaz. Very nice herby fruit, some weight and a 'grown-up' style of 'apple pie' fruit on the mid palate, with a long, dry finish. 17/20

2009 Olho de Mocho rosé - €8.00 - 14% - Touriga Nacional/Syrah/Aragonez. A good, 'meaty' rose thanks to the Touriga, with a hint of spice from the Syrah, completely dry, delicious. 17/20

2007 Rocim tinto - €8.50 - 14% - Aragonez/Trincadeira/Alicante Bouschet. This has real weight, class and style, with good fruit on the mid and soft tannins working well. Needs another year. 17/20

2008 Olho de Mocho tinto reserva - €18.00 - Syrah/Touriga Nacional/Alicante Bouschet. This has a dark, brooding fruit on the nose with hints of new French oak, and rich berry-fruits on the mid with tannins in strategic balance. This will be a blockbuster in a couple of years. 18/20

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Lambrusco agonistes?

24-Apr-11 - Yes, I know what you're thinking. Lambrusco? Semi-sweet, fizzy, screwtop nonsense and, yes, that's a good description of most of it. Indeed, one of my wine-writing colleagues, Nicholas Belfrage, wrote a book called Life Beyond Lambrusco  in 1985 to try to lay the ghost of this ghastly substance, and persuade people that there are fine wines to be found, even in Emilia-Romagna.

I knew, of course, that the Lambrusco they drink in Parma and Modena bears no resemblance to the cheap fizzy stuff we see over here but, sadly, the closest I've ever got to Emilia-Romagna is neighbouring Tuscany and, given the choice between Brunello, Vino Nobile and Chianti or Lambrusco... Well it wasn't worth the effort.

It seems, however, that I may have been wrong. I had an e-mail from one Filippo l'Astorino from Cantina della Volta in Bomparto (Modena) who wanted to send me a bottle of their Lambrusco di Modena Spumante Brut. Made from Lambrusco di Sorbara grapes, by the 'traditional' method (i.e. final fermentation in the bottle: what we used to call the méthode champenoise before Champagne forbade the use of the term, thereby depriving itself of the most flattering and prestigious free advertisement in the wine world). Winemaker Christian Bellei developed the wine himself, and believes that it's the ultimate expression of the Lambrusco grape.

Hmm, yes, well, I'll believe it when I see it. This was to take some time, as the courier (UPS) had not been trained in the art of ringing doorbells (see posts of 31-Mar-11 and 02-Apr-11) and left the sample at the house next door, which is being redeveloped and is occupied solely by builders, plumbers and other tradesmen. Needless to say we never saw it. A second bottle was luckier, however, and the driver on this occasion had obviously done the full doorbell-ringing diploma.

My normal practice with samples is to leave them for at least a week to settle, then - if they need chilling - 24 hours in the fridge before tasting. I then taste freshly opened, then four hours later, and with food if appropriate, and finally the following day, to see how wine develops in an opened bottle.

Jill is the sparkling-wine aficionado at The Eversley, and I tried to get her to taste it, but she showed little enthusiasm until, a few days later, the Cava ran out, and she agreed to give it a go. We were both, quite frankly, amazed. It has a beguiling purple mousse and an aroma of summer fruits, with a fresh acidity and lipsmacking fruit on the palate, whilst being bone dry - delicious, indeed, and worthy of 17/20 on the Radford scale. I don't think it's available in the UK but retails at about €13.50 in Italy, and is certainly the best red sparkler I've tried for a while - much more subtle than the Aussie sparkling Shiraz, for example, and a million miles ahead of 'Sparkling Red Burgundy' (do they still make that?). Lambrusco here is, unquestionably, enjoying a renascence.

A word of warning, however: that flirtatious thread of acidity which gives the wine its charm can become dominant once the fizz has gone, so do finish the wine within 48 hours of opening and don't leave it hanging about. Not that there's much danger of that when Jill's around.

New vintages - and Whiskey

24-Apr-11 - I'm always interested in new wines and new vintages of existing wines, and now and then a package arrives with something unusual in it. Here's a random selection:

DO Terra Alta, Catalunya
I was fortunate enough to visit Terra Alta in 2009 (see post of 11-Jun-09) and to taste the 2005 vintage of this wine (tasting note on the blog - 18/20). Bodegas Piñol  is one of the leaders in this 'emergent' region and has been in business since 1945, still family run with 70 ha of their own vines. L'Avi Arrufi means 'wrinkly grandpa' and must have some family significance.

2007 L'Avi Arrufi, DO Terra Alta - €23.00 - 14.5% - Cariñena/Garnacha/Syrah - 15 months in new French oak. Dark fruit with soft tannins, good structure and complexity. Nice ripe finish but with some austerity from the oak. Needs a couple more years in bottle. 16/20 but should improve.

DO Sierras de Málaga, Andalucía
Bodegas Bentomiz is a very small bodega on a steep hillside with slate/quartz soil, rather like that of Priorat. It's run by a Dutch couple, Clara Verheij and Andre Both - he's a builder, and she ran a language school but made wine as a hobby from the vines around the house. Gradually the wine took over from the school, and Andre built a new winery about five years ago. They make sweet (DO Málaga) wines as well as non-sweet (DO Sierras de Málaga) whites and reds, and they are regular medal-winners at wine competitions. The red below is a recent venture.

2009 Ariyanas Tinto de Ensamblaje, DO Sierras de Málaga - €16.50 - 13.5% - Romé/Petit Verdot/Tempranillo. Some dark, damsony fruit on the nose, rich, concentrated fruit on the palate with quite a lot of 'fruit sweetness' although the wine is dry, musky tannins on the finish. Needs another year or two. 16/20

Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey
I've been a fan ever since my first visit to Kentucky in 1992, and then again in 1999, when I almost won some money ($20!) on the horses at Churchill Downs, but blew it on the last race, as always. Jefferson's is a new brand on the market and the PR people very kindly sent me a sample to try.

Jefferson's Reserve very old (12-17years) Kentucky Bourbon - £45 - 45.1% - light caramel colour, rich dark, toasty oak on the nose, big, powerful, hint of toffee caramel - richer with ice, warm, good on the palate. For my personal taste this is rather too old: I tend to like Bourbon at 8-10 years old, but small-batch aficionados will love it.

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Back to the day job - more tastings - Galena

24-Apr-11 - At last, I've gathered up all the dusty empties with scribbled post-it notes, some of which have been hanging around for six months but, unfortunately - or, indeed, fortunately - I've been so busy that I haven't had time to list them. So, here goes - prices, where quoted, are approximate as at April 2011, and will go out of date.

Domini de la Cartoixa was founded in the DOQ Priorat in 2000 by a university professor on 24 ha of vineyards with galena (lead ore) bedrock, land formerly occupied by the monks of Scala Dei. He grows Garnacha, Cariñena and Syrah  and is aiming for the top end of the market. With his flagship wines, Galena and Clos Galena, he also produces a 'second wine' called Formiga Vellut ('velvet ant') which represents excellent value for money - www.closgalena.com - UK contact Alex Francis.

2008 Formiga de Vellut, DOQ Priorat - £13.00 - 14.5% abv - Garnacha/Samsó/Syrah. Lovely soft fruit ('velvet', indeed) and a delicious, smoky length. 17/20

Galena artistic labels

2006 Galena, Domini de la Cartoixa, DOQ Priorat - £22.50 - 14.5% abv - Garnacha/Cabernet-Sauvignon/Merlot/Cariñena. Soft, dark fruit, a bit closed on the nose but big structure and rich, concentrated fruit, musky, mouth-filling finish. 18/20

 Josep Moscardó

As you can see by the labels, the bodega is into art by local artists, an example of which is above. For more information about the paintings, contact Alex Francis.

A note about Samsó and Cariñena. They are the same grape, but Cariñena is a town and also a DO, and it's illegal in Europe to put the name of one wine region on the label of another wine region, so the confusion arises because the grape and the DO have the same name. The Consejo Regulador recommends the use of the alternative name to avoid this confusion. Curiously, the name 'Samsó' is believed to be a phonetic version of the French 'Cinsault', which is what people thought it was originally. Confused? Well, this is Spain.

Election fever - May 2011

23-Apr-11 - This is not a political blog, of course, but there's been such a lot of hot air about the referendum on the voting system that I did a bit of research to try and find some semblance of the truth. The way I see it is this: leaving aside the lunatic fringe parties, let's say that you have a three-cornered fight between Lib, Lab and Con. One of the candidates gets 32% of the vote, one gets 33% and one gets 34%. This last candidate wins, even though two-thirds of the electorate manifestly did not want him or her. Is that democracy? According to my researches, more than 400 MPs (that's two-thirds) now sitting in the Commons didn't get 50% of the vote at the last general election, so whom do they represent? According to the Electoral Reform Society 382 MPs  are in 'safe' seats, effectively with jobs for life, even though most of them didn't get 50% of the vote, leaving 25 million voters disenfranchised. If you live, as I do, in a 'safe' seat and if you want to vote for anyone other than the sitting member you might as well tear up your ballot paper and put it in the bin.

I used to believe that it was the voter's responsibility in a general election to vote for the strongest candidate against the sitting member regardless of party, in the hope that it might remind sitting members that we are the bosses, not them, but it'll never happen of course: there are too many 'clockwork' voters who don't even think about it and vote the way their parents voted, or, indeed, on 'class' lines. Some years ago I was in Spain on the day of their General Election and I put this point of view to a local businessman. He smiled apologetically and replied "Señor - it is a nice idea, but if you get rid of the sitting member, you send away the man who already have the bag full." Wise words, perhaps, as we've seen in recent years there have been plenty of 'full bags' with the sitting members - some not sitting any more, indeed.

And then there are the local elections? Who to vote for? What I want is the fiscal policies of the Conservative Party, the social policies of the Labour Party and the Foreign policies of the Liberal Party. I can't have that, of course, so I vote for the candidate, regardless of party, who lives nearest to me, so that if I want something done I can go and bang on his or her door and put my point of view. Not that I ever have, but I refuse to vote for anyone who doesn't live in the ward.

Politicians should be local people who live in the constituency or ward, and have lived there for at least five years before being eligible to stand. The party system, however, ensures that obedient apparatchiks who will slavishly follow the party whip can be effortlessly 'parachuted' into safe seats, 'representing' constituencies about which they know nothing.

So, in my book, anything which shakes parliament up and makes MPs more accountable to the voters is a good thing. You can probably guess which way I shall be voting.

The tasting season begins

02-Apr-11 - The tasting season seems to be getting under way. This month it started at Highdown Vineyard in Worthing as guests of Paul and Aly Englefield, who took over just about a year ago after a period of neglect. He was a cinematographer (and still does freelance work) and she was a set designer for an independent production company (work including Jeeves and Wooster and, if you have a long memory, Porterhouse Blue in 1987). They decided to switch careers and Aly went to Plumpton to learn winemaking while they set to work to rejuvenate the vineyard. Highdown currently has a shop and restaurant, and the wine is made elsewhere, although they have plans to install their own winery in the future. Guests on the night were a lively bunch, including a contingent who had been listeners to BBC-SCR in the 'glory days' before it was dumbed down, and who wanted to talk about 'Call Our Bluff', the panel game (shamelessly ripped-off from BBC-2 but done entirely unscripted and extempore) which aired between 09:00 and 09:30 every weekday ("you made me late for work every day!" Said one guest).

The evening was a tasting of wines from the Duero/Douro, including (working from east to west)
O. Fournier Alfa Spiga, Ribera del Duero; Valdelosfrailes* Rosado, Cigales; Marqués de Riscal Blanco (Majestic), Rueda; Pintia*, Toro; La Setera* Selección Especial, Arribes and Churchill Estates (Majestic) from the Douro. Those marked with an asterisk were generously donated by the producers or importers and all were much appreciated, with the Alfa Spiga perhaps getting top marks, and a lot of interest in La Setera, which was made from Touriga Nacional grapes smuggled 'illegally' across the river from the Port country. All the wines were, however, splendid, and the evening finished with a choice of three paellas - fishy, meaty and veggie - and I managed to blag a large Calvados from Aly before she very kindly drove us home. I'm going back to do a tasting of English wines once the new vintage is in bottle, on Friday 03-Jun-11.

05-Apr-11 - Following on from my earlier post (29-Mar-11) about the tasting at Camino Canary Wharf, this, too was a great success. Nacho did us proud with the tapas, with perhaps the masterpiece being the charcoal-grilled Ibérico black pig shoulder blade with pea purée - sublime. It was good to see mine host Richard Bigg again, along with his 'other half', whom I recognised as the drop-dead gorgeous Ayesha (Ayshea?) Whom I'd met back in BBC days, as she was university contemporary of my one-time producer Alex Strangwayes-Booth. It's a small world, indeed. And I was delighted that Richard had been invited to join my team at the DECANTER World Wine Awards, on the Sherry panel, the following week, of which more later.

Another excellent night was spent by all, and a good opportunity to gear up for the 'London Marathon'. No, not the running around thing, but the tasting of 1,000 wines at The Worx starting the following Monday.

Royal Fail - Act II

02-Apr-11 - twice in three days? The Royal Fail once again seems to be employing some person to whom the technology of the doorbell is a closed book. This is how it went:

10:44 - I am at the door, looking for the mail. There is none
10:45 - I am in the kitchen and notice that there is something on the doormat
10:46 - I go back to the door to find a card saying that they tried to deliver at 10:45 but I wasn't in
10:47 - I open the door, but the bird has flown, presumably in a private jet or some other high-speed contrivance
10:48 - I ring to complain and after the endless and expensive (08456) announcements am put through to some hapless post-person, who says "nothing to do with me, guv, but you can file a formal complaint if you like"
10:53 - I lose the will to live

Monday - yet another trek to the outer spiral arm of the galaxy (i.e. Worthing Post office) to find that it's some useless press-release that I didn't want anyway.

I have always been opposed to privatisation of public services and, with the single exception of telephones, every privatisation of the 1980s and 1990s has been a financial disaster for the taxpayer. But if privatisation of the Royal Fail is the only way to get the staff an intensive seminar on such complexities as 'doorbell ringing' and 'knocking on doors' then it'll get my vote. Not that anyone will ask.

I don't believe it!