Bowes Wine

Buy the best gifts this Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 13:33:00 +0000

Christmas IS coming...

The festive break gallops towards us full tilt and we’ve been poring over our wine portfolio thinking about what we might like to drink over Christmas and the New Year.

Conversations about the wine component of Yuletide revelry inevitably expand to take in food. Will it be turkey or shall we go slightly more off-piste with a piece of beef? Cheese is a dead cert. Smoked salmon, yes (although what with the season having been so ungenerous in the UK, we are having to go for the next best thing to a wild fish (see below). So...wine.

Champagne

Well, proceedings surely must get underway with champagne. Our tasting in Pall Mall the other evening was the perfect opportunity to re-familiarise myself with our very own NV Champagne Brut Tradition, Larnaudie-Hirault. It really is utterly delicious, thus we received glowing comments about it all evening. At £26 a inc VAT bottle it’s also something of a steal. Email to order.

Smoked Salmon

We are pleased to once again offer peat smoked fish from off-shore farms in Scotland: a full-flavoured meaty mouthful that is extremely satisfying, dubbed by Prue Leith as “the best in the world”. We can offer:

125g Hand-finished slices - £12.50
250g Hand-finished slices - £22.95
725g Salmon Sliced Side - £54.85
910g Salmon Sliced Side - £64.95
970g Salmon Sliced Side - £68.50
975g Unsliced Whole Side - £58.75
1.1kg Unsliced Whole Side - £66.25

Delivery date can be specified, a gift message can be enclosed, BUT please be aware that they do every year run out of stock in the lead up to Christmas and when it's gone, it's gone. If this is something you wish to buy for yourself, or as a gift, please do not delay in placing your orders. Email to order.

Wine

Of course, the finest gift any wine-lover could ask for is membership of The Daily Drinker Wine Club, our educational wine sampling club for inquiring minds and palates. Over the last year, Daily Drinker wines have been selected as Wine of the Week on the websites of Wine Communicator of the Year Tom Cannavan and multi-award winning Joanna Simon, as well as more recently grabbing a spot in the Financial Times as one of Jancis Robinson’s 32 best dry white wines for festive drinking. Membership prices range from £90 to £360. Browse the website or do contact us for more information.

Mixed Cases

Our tasting last week was such a success that we have decided to offer mixed cases of the wines we showed on the night in question: wines that were starting discussions and being spoken about the most, wines that clearly made an impression.

There follows a trio of mixed cases that should cover all the Christmas bases. These are offered with free delivery. Email to order.

However, if you’d like to mix your own cases (12x75cl) feel free. And do call or email us to discuss your requirements.

Case A: Grown-Up Eclectica - £340 inc. delivery

2 bottles of each of the following wines: W: 2013 Vin de Fenouillades, Le Soula, France W: 2016 Soave Superiore Vigneto Runcata, Tenuta de Corte Giacobbe, Italy W: 2013 Meursault Village Vieilles Vignes, Buisson-Charles, Burgundy R: 2012 Gigondas, Saint-Gayan, France R: 2012 Pintia, Toro, Spain R: 2014 Barbaresco Starderi, Renato Fenocchio, Italy

Case B: Through-the-line Party Wines - £200 inc. delivery

2 bottles of each of the following wines:
SPK: N.V. Brut Tradition, Champagne Larnaudie-Hirault
W: 2016 Assyrtiko, Akrathos, Greece
W: 2017 Roter Veltliner Eisenhut, Eschenhof Holzer, Austria
R: 2015 Xinomavro, Akrathos, Greece
R: 2016 Prieto Picudo Calandria, Bodegas Belote, Spain
R: 2016 Cinsault, Leeuwenkuil, South Africa

Case C: Bargains for Thirsty Guests - £127.50 inc. delivery

2 bottles of each of the following wines:
SPK: 2016 Pignoletto Frizzante Colli d'Imola, Cantina Forli, Italy
W: 2015 Marsanne Enseduna, Vignobles Foncalieu, France
W: 2016 Dafni, Lyrarakis, Greece
W: 2015 Zelen, Zorz, Croatia
R: 2014 La Copa de Bobal, Bodegas Covinas, Spain
R: 2015 Kratosija Classic, Tikves Winery, Republic of Macedonia

As ever with mixed cases, all sold subject to availability. Should we need to substitute a wine, we will advise you prior to completing the order.

Coffee

I like coffee. And like wine, it's deffo worth taking time to seek out the good stuff, life being too short to drink the brown swill that so often passes for the fruit of the bean.

For a while I subscribed to a fortnightly coffee delivery service, but cancelled it since it wasn't really providing the rewards expected for the outlay.

Then, I heard rumour of a roastery near our home. I went to investigate and there, on a small industrial estate on a farm near Trowbridge I found Phil Buckley, along with sacks of green coffee beans ready to be roasted to perfection.

Now, I like to find out about things in which I am interested and Phil is an absolute mine of information about coffee, where it's grown, by whom and how. I am now a regular and the wide range of coffees he offers have all been fascinating...and, of course, delicious.

So, whether for yourself or for another worthy bean-worshipper, do have a look at the services offered by Dusty Ape. You can read about their subscription service here.

And we will take this opportunity to extend to all Bowes Wine clients the best of festive wishes for a very happy Christmas 2018.

The Bowes Wine team

What a tasting...

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 15:53:00 +0000

What a showing; what a turn-out. Last Thursday’s London tasting goes down in Bowes Wine annals as one of our best and busiest to date.

Almost eighty people came down to the St James’s Room at 67 Pall Mall to taste forty-one wines red, white, sparkling and fortified and hailing from France, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Austria, Turkey, Portugal, South Africa and Spain.

It being The Daily Drinker’s tenth birthday celebration, we were pouring some of the club’s most popular wines to date in the form of varietal wines from grapes such as Pignoletto, Xynisteri, Garganega, Plyto, Nascetta, Roter Veltliner, Trousseau, Kalecik Karasi, Kotsifali and Baga.

In addition, our good friend Mark Rachovides was present to, um, present his fabulous Assyrtiko and Xinomavro from his winery in Halkidiki: the debut releases that have already earned great praise in the press, with Jancis Robinson selecting the Assyrtiko as one of her 32 dry whites for festive drinking in her Financial Times article.

And of course Bowes Wine was well represented. As ever our house champagne Larnaudie-Hirault was extremely well received. Then there were white wines from Burgundy, the Loire and the Rhône, along with a stunning northern Italian and a glittering Santorini wine.

Reds represented Italy’s far north and far south, a spread of burgundies, a super-Syrah from Spain and a slew of brilliant Spanish reds presented by our friend Zoran, who has imported some of the Ribera del Duero and Toro’s finest wines for years.

And what better way to round off one’s evening than with a pair of brilliant madeiras from Barbeito, a rich Bual and a complex and fascinating Sercial.

Plates of charcuterie and cheese were despatched faster than a small, out-of-condition gazelle on the African plain.

Keep your eyes out for the date of our next tasting in Spring 2019.

Pecking Around the Vineyards of Burgundy

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 12:16:00 +0000

Just back from a few days of tasting in Burgundy and I have a moment to reflect on what I’ve discovered.

A Few Days in Burgundy

I jetted down to Lyon on Sunday afternoon with a tasting buddy along for moral support. And from Lyon it’s an easy hour-and-a-half blast up the péage to Beaune and our digs at my perennial Burgundy haunt, the Mercure Hotel: not the town’s most salubrious establishment, but walking distance to pretty much any Beaune restaurant one might be interested in patronising.

And patronise one of them we almost immediately did, having booked a table at one of the few to open its doors on a Sunday evening. Les Popiettes is well worth seeking out if one finds oneself caught nutritionally short in the town. Food is really very good and the wine list likewise…well, I say “likewise”, but the wine list at Popiettes suffers the same complaints as do pretty much all Beaune restos i.e. there’s very little mature stuff to be found. And speaking to other visiting English wine merchants it seemed that Beaujolais was the most popular bottle at their dinner tables. It’s a more pleasurable wine to drink young than many a Côte d’Or red and tickets are generally rather lighter.

Monday in the Côte Chalonnaise and Chablis

In terms of tastings, Monday was a geographically diverse day of work, with visits spanning the Côte Chalonnaise and Chablis, taking in a new estate but two vintages young and a Chablis producer whose wines we’ve offered severally in the past. Why? Because we just love the stuff he bottles.

After the long drive back to Beaune, we headed out to Caves Madeleine, a longstanding favourite of the wine-obsessed. Busy and informal, most of this restaurant is taken up by a long trestle table and benches that are shared by eager punters. I am happy to say we had a table to ourselves and our evening was marred only by one diner – a young man – repeatedly leaving the restaurant for an en plein air cigarette and not bothering to shut the door either on his way out or in, a sin he only managed to supersede towards the end of our meal by puffing heavily on an e-cigarette at the table.

Tuesday in the Côte de Beaune then Côte de Nuits

Tuesday was spent at addresses in both the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits, with some very senior wines being sampled. Michel Lafarge, Odoul-Coquard, Jean Pascal and Bachelet-Monnot, with a break in the middle for lunch with Mark Haisma in his winery located over the railway line from Vougeot. Mark’s an expat Aussie who arrived in Burgundy in 2009, having previously been wine maker at Yarra Yering for some years.

Over a tasting of Mark’s ‘17s and a delicious lunch of sausage and lentils, Mark gave us the low-down on recent happenings in the region, including the 2018 vintage. 2018’s going to be an interesting one to assess. It was stiflingly hot in the growing season, as well as inflicting drought upon the vineyards. As someone who has worked in the hotter wine producing regions of the world, Mark is ideally placed to cope with such conditions. Some Burgundians, with only really 2003 as precedent, might be lacking the experience to make the best of these tricky meteorological extremes.

Tuesday’s dinner was taken at the tiny La Lune restaurant, a purveyor of sublime Japanese-French fusion food. There are 17 covers and two staff members: the owner, who cooks flat-out for the entire session and a waiter who does everything else. Crikey the food’s good here. One orders bits and bobs, plates small and large, a spread of griddled Japanese mushrooms here, a rewarding pile of battered chicken balls there, all brilliantly conceived. Superfluous or not, a nightcap ensued at Pickwick’s, Beaune’s English pub. It was utterly deserted, so nightcap having been sunk, we floated back to our hotel.

Wednesday in the Côte de Nuits then Côte de Beaune

Wednesday was a matter of a dash to Lamarche in Vosne, then back down to the Côte de Beaune for visits to Rollin in Pernand-Vergelesses and finishing at Camus-Bruchon in Savigny. There followed an hour-and-a-half drive back to Lyon airport and the flight home. So, a compact but informative trip all ‘round.

The 2017 Vintage?

You may be eager to hear about 2017 as a vintage and what sort of wines it has produced. Well, I have to report that the tastings were blissfully easy this year. The wines are utter charmers. Throughout my short visit I found myself sampling wines that were bright with the most delightfully pure and charming fruit and that fruit backed by a precise mineral expression that spoke volumes about the origin of each wine.

Many of these wines will drink relatively young, but in my opinion they will also age very well indeed. Volumes are reasonable; vignerons are happy.

I will be securing allocations in the coming weeks and an offering will appear sometime in the New Year. I am looking forward to further tastings of the vintage in London in due course, but I am going to be recommending that anyone with an interest in burgundy sharpens their pencils now. Good times are a-coming!

The 2017 Vintage from Château Beaucastel

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 12:31:00 +0000

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

I journeyed to London the other day for the annual tasting of the new vintage from Château de Beaucastel and the Famille Perrin, under which latter label Beaucastel's owners market their negociant range, many of which are superb.

This year was the turn of the 2017 vintage and I have to say there was a great deal to like.

As last year the wines from Vinsobres - that erstwhile Côtes du Rhône village, now with its own AC - were entrancing, showing the airiness and elegance of their lofty vineyards.

And the Châteauneuf wines were simply fabulous, along with the Coudoulet wines from just across the Châteauneuf boundary fence.

THE WINES

2017 Vinsobres, Les Cornuds, Famille Perrin
£93 in bond a dozen Drink 2019-23
To smell, this seems a touch closed at the moment. But the palate exhibits instant freshness, is rich and firm and shows very nicely pure fruit. This is a direct and really mineral wine, long with inbuilt, fresh structure. It finishes fabulously full and busy. As last year, this is a delight.

"...ample concentration, supple tannins and a finish that boasts hints of violets and dried spices. 90-92/100." Joe Czerwinski

2017 Vinsobres Les Hauts de Julien, Famille Perrin
£114 in bond per 6 Drink 2021-30
This is a superb colour in the glass. And the nose gives off a rich, chestnut-dark plum fruit of really good purity and definition. The palate kicks off with a pure and silky entry and then the lovely dark fruit asserts itself. In the mid-palate I found a burst of menthol. This is a very long and meaty wine; busy, complete and nicely complex. There's a sophisticated salinity to the minerality here. Very long thing and a fabulous one.

"There are only 5,000 bottles of this full-bodied, richly textured wine for the world, so fans will have to move fast...94-96/100." Joe Czerwinski

2017 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Les Sinards, Famille Perrin
£228 in bond a dozen Drink 2019-27
The nose here is almond scented and touched by spice, majoring on deliciously ripe pear fruit. Fruit is plush in the mouth, quite rich and peary, then a mineral freshness appears and swells into great, incisive grip. Very long, this. Very long and rather fabulous.

"The palate is full, on dried fruits, carries spice into the closing moments, where there is a note of glow..." John Livingstone-Learmonth

2017 Coudoulet de Beaucastel, Château de Beaucastel
£144 in bond a dozen Drink 2019-28
There's a pleasing earthiness to the dark fruit aromas here, with aromas of bramble and dark plum meeting a southern herbal scent. The palate is nutty in its structure, yet with delicious fluidity to its fruit. Shape is wonderfully consistent throughout and a fresh minerality maintains one's interest. This is really superb Coudoulet.

"This has better balance and tuning than many 2017 Châteauneuf reds." John Livingstone-Learmonth

2017 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Château de Beaucastel
£249 in bond per 6 Drink 2021-35
There's a liquorice rootiness about this nose which is otherwise a touch closed in...although I can clearly make out the elevated Mourvèdre component in the nutty scent. This is a rich wine of nicely fresh tannic structure. A long and really pretty direct thing in the mouth, with high and incisive grip. It's a very mineral wine at the death. A wine of real presence and freshness. And a wine that will be a stunner given a few years in bottle.

"It's rich and concentrated yet silky and lithe, with a fantastically long, elegant finish. 95-97/100." Joe Czerwinski

Email caspar[at]boweswine.co.uk to order these wines

Press praise for Prieto Picudo

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Fri, 02 Nov 2018 14:32:00 +0000

Our latest red offering for Daily Drinkermembers, the 2016 Prieto Picudo Calandria Bodegas Belote, has been garnering praise in the press. Indeed, Joanna Simon has made it her Wine of the Week and her accompanying prose suggests she is really rather tickled by it.

You don't have to be a Daily Drinker member to order this delicious wine. Just go to the relevant page on the Daily Drinker website and we'll whisk a case (minimum, six bottles, but can be mixed with other Daily Drinker wines) to you pronto.

This is just one of the many wines we'll be showing at our London tasting on 29th November at 67 Pall Mall.

One part of the tasting will be a celebration of The Daily Drinker's tenth birthday at which we'll be showing some of the club's favourite wines, red and white, from vintages past, the other will be full of tempting bottles from Bowes Wine'sofferings recent and less so.

And everything will commence with a glass of our delicious house champagne. Come and join in the festivities!

Date: Thursday 29^th November 2018

Venue: 67 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5ES

Time: 6.30-9pm

Price: £15/ticket

Email Caspar to book your tickets.

Last Hong Kong Shipment before Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 13:34:00 +0000

The Christmas Hooch Run

The next Crown Wine Cellars shipment is closing its doors on 1st November for a 7th November planned departure. This is the last boat before Christmas, so do let us know in plenty of time if you have stock that you would like to move to the SAR.

Similarly, if you are short of wine for the festive season, do ask for recommendations. We have a long list of stock we'd be happy to add to the boat including, of course, our delicious house champagne.

Email Caspar for recommendations
Email Laura to add any of your wines to the shipment

Bowes Wine London Tasting - Thursday 29th November 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

TICKETS NOW ON SALE!

Date: Thursday 29th November 2018

Venue: 67 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5ES

Time: 6.30-9pm

Price: £15/ticket

As is traditional at all our tastings, guests will be greeted on arrival with a glass of champagne from our longstanding champagne supplier, Larnaudie-Hirault. (There is even a possibility that Michael Larnaudie will be with us on the night to talk you through three of their cuvées - TBC.)

We will have a range of fine wines available to taste on the evening; we will be looking at highlights from this year including wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Italy and Spain. Our favourite Spanish wine importer will be coming along to show some of the favourites that he and Caspar sampled on their recent trip to Northern Spain.

We will also be showing the full range of Akrathos wines - a young organic estate in Greece which is new to both the UK and Bowes Wine. (The stock landed in our warehouse this morning and we are very excited to be representing them. More details here soon...)

On the other side of the room, we will be celebrating The Daily Drinker's 10th Birthday; again we will be showing highlights from 2018 plus we are restocking new vintages of some of our all-time favourite wines from the past 10 years.

The full tasting list will be available nearer the time but in short, we can assure you that your glass will never be empty for long and your taste buds will be scintillated.

Both Caspar and Victoria Bowes will of course be on hand throughout the evening and look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

To buy your tickets, please email Victoria or Caspar.

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 15:01:00 +0000

Tradition and History in Champagne

We have been reasonably regular visitors to the range of wines produced by Champagne Aubry. Indeed, we have offered their wines twice in the past: one cuvée (the Le Nombre d’Or Campanae Veteres Vites) on two occasions and another (the Ivoire et Ebène) once.

This is a producer who walks to the beat of a different drummer.

By far the majority of those from Champagne would tell you that champagne is about three grape varieties and three only. And it is accurate to say that, should you want to plant a vineyard in the region, your only options would be the three they had in mind i.e. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

Yet it wasn’t so long ago that Champagne had plantings of a number of other grapes and those with such plantings are still entitled by law to use them in their wines. Not that many do…

In terms of champagne in the bottle, we all understand that the wine is pressurised. That’s what lends the opening of the wine that air of occasion – occasionally danger – and what makes sabrage such fun.

That pressure is more-or-less standardised at six atmospheres and by far the majority of wines you will come across adhere to that norm. Yet here at Aubry, they have a range – Sablé – that are bottled at four atmospheres, much more like the Crémant de Cramant wines of old, and lending the finished wine a beautifully polished texture in the mouth.

And I have added one great classic vintage wine below solely for the reason that I tasted it recently and it was utterly, utterly fabulous.

The Wines

2013 Le Nombre d’Or Campanae Veteres Vites, Champagne Aubry

£201 in bond per 6 Drink 2019-28

N.B. This is a blend of 25% Pinot Gris, 25% Pinot Blanc, 20% Petit Meslier, 20% Arbanne, 5% Chardonnay and 5% Pinot Meunier.

N.B. I sold a couple of cases of this wine to a UK-based client who was on the cusp of planting a vineyard in Sussex. Having tasted this, he altered his plans to include Pinot Gris and now produces an award-winning wine from that vineyard.

A lovely rich nose, a touch toasty, of salted orchard fruits, all very nutty. Across the tongue the mousse is fine but supportive with orange-like acidity within. A very fine, long and juicy wine with an incisive citrus ending. Fabulous stuff.

“Resonant and expressive on the palate, with striking freshness,
the 2013 is remarkably vivid in every way.” Antonio Galloni

2012 Sablé Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature, Champagne Aubry

£228 in bond per 6 Drink 2020-30

So, not only is this wine bottled at four atmospheres, rather than the usual six, but it is also bottled with no dosage i.e. it is completely dry.

Again, this is a little toasty, of pear fruit and accompanying nuts. There’s a puff of fine, supportive mousse on entry and then it gathers its intent and drives directly through the palate with a lemon intensity. This is very fine, very long and very fresh. The combination of low pressure and no dosage make a winning, fascinating combination.

“Vivid, tense and brilliant…Simply put,
the Blanc des Blancs is fabulous. Don't miss it.” Antonio Galloni

2009 Aubry de Humbert Brut, Champagne Aubry

£195 in bond per 6 Drink 2018-23

N.B. This is 30% each Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier with small doses of Arbanne and Petit Meslier and is bottled without dosage.

Aromas here are broader (as one would expect from this warm vintage), ginger-inflected, with red fruits showing. The mousse really is super-fine and satin textured. I find red fruits again holding a texture of chalk within. Long and, like all these Aubry wines, completely delicious.

2007 Grande Année, Champagne Bollinger

£321 in bond per 6 Drink 2018-30

The ’07 vintage in Champagne wasn’t considered all that clever, so how on earth Bollinger have managed to pull this out of the hat I have no idea. At a London tasting recently I sampled it really because it was there (I mean, you would, wouldn’t you?) and was stopped in my tracks. Subsequently, I have found that other observers have had the same thoughts, with Richard Juhlin, champagne guru, commenting, “One of the three best champagnes from this vintage”.

Utterly entrancing nose: an umami spread of ceps and salt. A rich Marmite-like aroma adding salted nuts. This is a really dense-but-elegant wine with firm and direct core of acidity. Very long thing, this, and utterly delicious. Ripe but structured and there’s big grip here. Fabulous GA!

“Highly elegant, fine and pure but complex on the palate, this is a full-bodied and well-structured Grande Année with a long, intense yet dry, salty, beautifully clear and cleansing finish with lingering citrus flavors and a persistent mineral structure…its elegance, finesse, freshness and promising complexity are fabulous.” Stephan Reinhardt

Etymology with a hint of Entomology

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 15:19:00 +0000

Read Caspar's latest wine column for AngelNews.com - his musings on both etymology (including the myriad of synonyms for Tempranillo as pictured above) and entomology following his recent buying trip to Northern Spain.

95-point Spanish red from one of Ribera del Duero's finest

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 09:09:00 +0000

I was in Spain last week touring Castilla y Leon under cobalt skies that only served to accent the extraordinary gold of the sun-dried hills in the pared-down landscape through which we drove.

I have penned a short report of the trip, which you can read here. And you can expect to see Bowes Wine offers relating to the wineries we visited along the way, as we tasted so many utterly stunning wines.

First up, a wine from the final stop of our tour: Sastre. Here vines are all within the commune of La Horra, which really is the quality core of Ribera del Duero.

Following a glass of his delicious rosado Jesus Sastre drove us up into the vineyards and we stopped to examine the vines, tasting warm Tempranillo fruit on the cusp off harvest: fruit that, like the wine it produces, was sweet and plummy tasting, yet with a core of juicy acidity.

And these are ancient plants, as you can see from the picture above: a fine armchair indeed!

THE WINE

Two important things to remember about this wine: the altitude of the vineyard and the age of the vines. Yes, this is Spain and days can be torrid, the growing season dry, but at these lofty heights - and here we're talking 840 metres above sea level - cool nights allow grapes to retain their freshness. And that acidity bolsters fruit that is the concentrated produce of ancient vines: 90 years old, in this case.

2015 Regina Vides, Viña Sastre
£246 in bond per 6 Drink 2020-30

This manages a stunning trick on the nose by being both a touch creamy and wonderfully defined at one and the same time. Aromas are black and blue, of plum and bramble and blueberry and classy wood comes through as a toasty note. Complexity shows in its hints of charcoal and salt. The whole effect is remarkably cool, almost airy. I found a hint of dried herbs after a while.

The palate is rich, but very quickly gathers a lightly saline structure within the red and black plum fruit. Tannins are very, very fine with a cashmere texture. Very long thing, with minerals along its length. A very busy wine with a properly fresh through-put. Latterly nippy and sustained grip drives through the very clean finish. And there's lively tension throughout, This really is a very fine wine indeed.

" I found more finesse and balance in the 2015 Regina Vides than in their top bottling Pesus. 95/100." Luis Gutierrez

Email caspar[at]boweswine.co.uk to order this wine

[New e-commerce website IS getting nearer to completion; once live, all ordering can be done online.]

A Few Days in Castilla y Leon

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 08:42:00 +0000

The view from Aalto

I recently visited northern Spain with a UK wine importer: a Serb of Bosnian extraction and a lively travelling companion. He’s also a man who knows a great deal about the wines of the region we toured, having worked there and having imported a great many of the place’s best wines for years.

There was a thread running through our trip: a single man, justifiably pedestalised throughout Spain by those who move in vinous circles. That man is Mariano Garcia. Son of a vineyard worker, Mariano was born at Vega Sicilia. At that estate he rose quickly to become winemaker at 24 and spent 30 vintages as technical director at what is one of the greatest and most venerable wine estates in all Spain.

In 1978, he started a new winery called Mauro in Tudela de Duero in the province of Valladolid, situated just outside the western boundary of Ribera del Duero. This is now run by Mariano’s son Eduardo and produces three stunning wines - Mauro, Mauro VS (Vendemia Selecionada) and Terreus under the denominacion Viño de la Tierra de Castilla y Leon, equivalent to VdP in France or IGT in Italy.

Eduardo Garcia among the bush vines

At Vega Sicilia Mariano developed an interest in the Toro region and his interest led not only to the production of Vega Sicilia’s first wine from outside Ribera del Duero – Pintia – but in the first instance a new personal business in the form of Maurodos (i.e. Mauro 2), where are made among Toro’s finest wines - Prima, San Roman and Cartago - all from Tinto de Toro (as Tempranillo is known here).

In the late nineties he paired up with his friend Javier Zaccagnini to work on the concept for Aalto. Javier had been head of Ribera del Duero’s Denominacion de Origen Consejo Regulador and together they hatched a plan to create a Ribera del Duero wine that could compete head-to-head with any in the world. Between them they had intimate knowledge of the region and its vignerons and between them they put together a portfolio of vineyards of old vines that now amounts to some 110 hectares.

The Aalto winery above sunflowers and vines

The soils of this region vary between sand and red clay with outcrops of limestone. And here is grown solely the Tempranillo grape, known locally as Tinto Fino.

This can be a torrid landscape…during the day that is. Vineyards grow at up to a thousand metres above sea level and day/night temperature fluctuations are significant. It is, in part, these fluctuations that give the wines of the region their finesse. Cool night-time temperatures help to preserve the acidity within the fruit. Whilst these are big wines, concentrated, sometimes a touch sauvages, they also offer freshness, focus and minerality. In short, they perfectly represent the landscape in which they were grown.

Javier has now sold his interest in Aalto. But not one to rest on his laurels, he has a new project on the go in Ribera del Duero: Sei Solo. This wine is, for the time being, made at another estate, but plans are in place for a winery build in the near future. Sei Solo was inspired by a bottle of La Tâche, so little surprise that the intention here is to craft something with an extra dimension of elegance.

And Mariano himself has a new project: Garmon, a winery in Ribera del Duero he runs with his sons Eduardo and Alberto.

Phew. You’d have thought Mariano and Javier’s respective empire would be sufficient to fill three days of tasting, yet we finished at an estate in the core of the region: the village of La Horra. Here are found the best vineyards of Ribera del Duero and the proprietor of the biggest chunk of them: Jesus Sastre.

Jesus Sastre among some of his most senior vines

My travelling buddy had come to know Jesus through Javier Zaccagnini. And when asked whom Mariano Garcia's son Eduardo respected most in the Ribera del Duero DO, his response had been immediate and unequivocal. Sastre was the man.

As in Toro and Ribera del Duero, the proprietor was keen to show us the vineyards. The wine, after all, has its feet firmly in the region’s soils.

And as in Toro and Ribera del Duero, we passed through slopes of reddish earth and ancient vines trained en vaso, known to the French as gobelet and to the English speaking world as bush vine. These plants form unsupported clumps, the shoots of which try to climb before flopping earthwards under their own weight (and later in the season, the weight of their fruit).

Once thought to be Palomino Fino, Jesus Sastre now believes his white vines
to be Cayetana Blanca. Note the red, ferric soils of La Horra

Vines here are not planted densely, a mere 3,000 per hectare being the norm. This is due to the paucity of the soils and the lack of water. Planted closer together, the vines simply cannot compete and fail to thrive.

After lunching on roast suckling pigs’ heads, we drove north to spend a day in San Sebastian and the journey was spent mulling over the experiences of our three days’ tasting: the wines, the landscape, the people and the food. (And they are obsessed with their food here, with one wine maker suggesting that, with precious else to do, they relish the pleasures of the table more than most.)

I love this place and its wines. There really should be a place for them in any wine lover’s portfolio.

[See our list of related offers below; it will be updated as the wines are released.]

San Sebastian and the river that runs through it

"95-point Spanish red from one of Ribera del Duero's finest" - click here for 2015 Regina Vides, Vina Sastre offer

Fine, or not so much?

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 10:16:00 +0000

"Fine, adjective - Of very high quality; very good of its kind. Fine, adjective - Good; satisfactory. Wine - An alcoholic drink made from fermented grape juice. That’s cleared that up, then. Or has it?..."

Read more of Caspar Bowes' latest wine column for AngelNews.com, discussing the concept of fine wine and, central to that concept, the all-important concept of terroir.

Seriously fabulous Spanish discovery - Sei Solo

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Sat, 01 Sep 2018 08:37:00 +0000

A friend's Mayfair tasting is, quite simply, a "must attend" sort of event. In the course of a couple of hours one has the opportunity to taste an eye-opening collection of Spanish beauties, many from wineries of which one has never heard. At this year's event, these Sei Solo wines quite simply rocked my world.

(N.B. I am off to the region next month, but allocations have to be confirmed to the winery within the next few days, ergo I am offering these now.)

We’re in La Horra here: the beating quality heart of the Ribera del Duero. And we’re in the company of an erstwhile partner in one of the greatest names in the entire appellation: the mighty Aalto.

Since leaving Aalto to set up on his own, Javier Zaccagnini has built up and sold a white wine project and has, in parallel, developed a red wine brand based on the Tempranillo grape, here known as Tinto Fino.

And it is here in the Ribera del Duero that Tempranillo reaches its apogee of character and complexity. The best wines of the region – as here – combine big, assertive, slightly sauvage fruit with fine freshness and stunning balance. They are very much a product of their landscape: wild things of an almost blood-like density and pronounced minerality.

With bold food they make exciting drinking indeed!

THE WINES

N.B. These wines see no new oak and are aged in large oak casks: unusual for a region seemingly obsessed with small barriques. This could, in part, explain the superb refinement of these liquids.

2015 Preludio, Sei Solo

£108 in bond per 6 Drink 2018-24 (magnums available at £39 per one in bond)

Aromas are really very pretty, of fresh and domestic fruits – dark cherry and plum – adorned with a light floral scent. And it crosses the tongue cool and a touch creamy, showing dark fruit and a fresh, mineral core. This is one seamless package, hard to spit. A very long thing that becomes really juicy; in fact, it offers fabulous freshness from front to back. Just a stunning bottle of red wine.

2015 Sei Solo

£225 in bond per 6 Drink 2020-30

The floral aspect is immediately apparent here, prettifying that slightly chocolate-y nose that includes a tangy, citrus, orange note amongst the plums and cherries. This smells simply divine. In the mouth, the plush, velvet entry quickly attracts a core of assertive, crisp and firm acidity: a thread that winds its way along to the stunningly long finish. The tannins are bold, too, but subjugated to the dense, wonderful dark fruit. This has refinement, but character in spades. Superb.

Email caspar[at]boweswine.co.uk to order

What is the score with the score?

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 11:05:00 +0000

"...most wines produced today will give some level of pleasure. When attending tastings I wear my proverbial tee shirt bearing the logo “It’s okay to like everything” i.e. I don’t come looking for trouble..."

Read Caspar's most recent wine column for AngelNews.com.

Changes Afoot...and a Fine Italian

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 09:10:00 +0000

We hope you've noticed our rather striking new logo. This is a herald of greater changes in the form of a stunning new website that will be live in the near future.

Our intention is to combine a slick eCommerce site via which we will display all our wine offers, with my blog, as well as listings of all available stock, both bin-ends and broking.

We're extremely impressed with the preliminary work we've been sent by the techies and think you will be similarly impressed with the finished article.

The Wine

I visited an importer's offices in west London for lunch recently, actually a tasting followed by lunch. As is ever the case with this importer we tasted some extremely fine wines, of one of which I bought a number of cases on the spot, so impressively delicious was it. After lunch and the train journey home, it rather slipped to the back of my mind. I have only now been reminded of it as the stock arrived in the Bowes Wine storage.

Some years ago I visited Renato Fenocchio and his wife Milva at their winery in Neive and it was something of a dream ticket. Not only are they and their wines extremely lovely, but they also furnished us with a gorgeous spread of a lunch: a meal that included a huge chunk of parmesan with 100-year-old balsamic vinegar.

We have offered their wines before and I have, of late, been getting a great deal of pleasure from their wines that I have cellared myself.

I was therefore overjoyed to find this beauty, which comes highly recommended.

N.B. Stocks are limited, so please act quickly to secure.

2014 Barbaresco Starderi, Renato Fenocchio
£210 in bond per 6 Drink 2019-25

There's the first autumnal hint of maturity about what is the most fabulously complex nose. Aromas are warm, a touch broad, of toasted spices, ripe, red cherry and plum fruit and those nuances of tomato, dried pine cones, smoke and mint. I even found an intriguing hint of iodine about it.

The palate is cool and quickly very fresh and then the integrated , fine, upright, fresh and tacky tannins arrive. This is a long, long wine of really firm grip. A fabulous thing that can be enjoyed really quite soon.

Email caspar[at]boweswine.co.uk to order

Bargains in Burgundy

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 20:31:00 +0000

"Burgundy has long been regarded as not the sort of region one “visits” should bargain-hunting be on the agenda. In fact, many wine consumers have long since written it off as being out of the reach of their resources and have turned instead to the less glamourous regions of the world.

But listen very carefully and one can now hear some seriously minor tickets being printed…"

The foggy future for European vineyards

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 10:36:00 +0000

"Wine’s at a curious crossroads and the future is as foggy as an especially opaque Tyne morning.
Pulling in opposite directions are a legacy of Robert Parker and dawning modernism that is attempting to keep pace with climate change.

One positive aspect of Parker’s influence was the drive for riper fruit. Remember, here we are talking about the very early 1980s when vine growing and wine making was still essentially much as it had been for decades. The two principal issues with French (and much European, for that matter) wine related to unsanitary conditions in the winery and under-ripeness of the fruit at harvest..."

Read more of Caspar's latest wine column for AngelNews.co.uk

Is Bordeaux’s bright sun finally fading into dusk?

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 13:07:00 +0000

"The curtain has long since been drawn on the 2017 Bordeaux primeurs campaign and merchants the world over are doing their damnedest to expunge all memory of it from their minds, so limp has it been.

Bordeaux is the only wine producing region in the world that insists on buyers coming to evaluate the new vintage virtually as soon as the wine has finished fermenting and before it undergoes what can be a majorly transformative period in barrel (known in French as élévage). One is then expected to stick out one’s neck and request the stock one thinks one will require.

..."

Read the rest of Caspar Bowes' latest wine column on AngelNews.co.uk

Chablis - Burgundy's Northern Frontier

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 09:09:00 +0000

In this seemingly endlessly sun-drenched UK summer it is to the crisp and the white that one turns once that radiant star has crept over the yardarm...and one cannot imagine anything quite as suitable as a glass of Chablis for slaking the dust from one's parched tonsils.

Like Beaujolais at the opposite (southern) tip of Greater Burgundy, Chablis sometimes seems to have little to do with its Côte d'Or cousins some 60 miles to the south. Sure, the grape - Chardonnay - is the same, but here we are rather closer to the most southerly vineyards of Champagne, the soil is dominated by limestone and the wines resemble a cross between the great white wines of the Côte de Beaune and bubble-less champagne.

The Dampt family are father Daniel and sons Sébastien and Vincent, both of whom make wines in the family winery under their own labels. I have a preference for Vincent's wines. They have cut and flair and enormous style. Every time I open a magnum from my case of 2008 1er Cru Côte de Lechet I rejoice in its purity and, well, Chablis-ness. It just seems to sum up everything that appeals to lovers of these wines.

The Wines

2016 Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons, Vincent Dampt
£231 in bond a dozen Drink 2019-28

This is wearing its Chablis heart on its sleeve both in terms of its aromatic profile and the flavours across the palate, so let's just sum this up by saying it combines a delightful floral nuance with the intense citrus, almost pithy fruit and the evidence of limestone that shows in nicely presented minerality on both nose and across the tongue. Classic Chablis; not a blockbuster, but an elegant expression.

2016 Chablis 1er Cru Les Lys, Vincent Dampt
£231 in bond a dozen Drink 2020-29

This carries more weight than the above in terms of the concentration across the palate, but it is in no way heavy or, indeed, less fresh than the Vaillons. It carries a similar, citrus-fresh fruit character, plus an aroma not unlike pine needles that only adds to that impression of freshness. A beautiful mouth-filler, this: fills then glides away leaving the freshness behind in time for another sip!

2016 Chablis 1er Cru Côte de Lechet, Vincent Dampt
£231 in bond a dozen Drink 2019-27

This is a wine that always blows me away with its purity and fabulous definition and tension. The vineyard itself is a 38 degree slope and vines here are into their fifth decade. Great pure crisp apple and citrus fruit aromas meet the taster. It's instantly a wine of which one wants to drink deeply. The palate is defined like architecture made from the air itself. There's great precision and tension here. That tension will mellow with time in bottle.

It will be fascinating to follow the evolution of all three of these stunning 1ers Crus Chablis.

Email caspar[at]boweswine.co.uk to order

Caspar's favourite wines from The Daily Drinker

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 12:53:00 +0000

We know that some people feel a little baffled when perusing The Daily Drinker website, or perhaps spoilt for choice! In a bid to help, we're compiling a number of pre-mixed six-bottle cases, all hand-chosen by Caspar and/or Victoria.

They offer a great starting point to discover The Daily Drinker range and they also represent great value as there will be a 10% discount as standard.

First up, "Caspar's Crackers"...

Caspar IS crackers, yes, but this case contains some sane selections - his absolute favourites from our current range. As you know, he selects all the wines we sell but these six are wines which really stand out from the crowd for him and wines that he keeps on drinking at home.

WHITE

2017 Roter Veltliner Eisenhut, Eschendof Holzer, Austrian - £16/btl

2016 Soave, Tenuta di Corte Giacobbe, Italy - £13/btl

2015 Maturana Blanca, Nivarius, Spain - £12/btl

RED

2016 Grenache Le Paradou, Château Pesquié, France - £10.50/btl

2015 Castelao Serra Mae, Sociedade Vinicola de Palmela, Portugal - £15/btl

2016 Lacrima di Morro d'Alba, Cantina Zaccagnini, Italy - £12.50/btl

Full retail value of six-bottle case £79 but mixed six-bottle case for only £71.10.

Buy two cases to get FREE DELIVERY to mainland UK.

Browse "Caspar's Crackers" on thedailydrinker.co.uk...

Miles from Soave

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 08:06:00 +0000

In April this year northern Italy lost one of the titans of local wine production when Leonildo Pieropan died, drawing to a close a lifetime spent transforming the wines of the Veneto and their reputation.

There are now quite a number of estates in Soave producing stellar wines from the high-quality Garganega grape, so one shouldn't really be surprised to find an estate previously unknown making wines of scintillating quality, yet surprised I was to taste something quite this riveting.

We stocked up on the entry level Soave from this estate as one of our monthly Daily Drinker wines and it is a delightful everyday drop of great sophistication. This - the Vigneto Runcata - is something else again: an intense, profound, complex and long-living white wine offering maximum reward.

The Wine

2016 Soave Superiore Vigneto Runcata,

Tenuta de Corte Giacobbe

£105 in bond per 6 Drink 2018-24

A super-defined nose of salted Golden Delicious apples and dry, spiced fruits. There's a touch of grapefruit pithiness about this, along with a resinous complexity. In fact this is an extremely complex thing to nose: a fascination.

The palate offers great cut from very near the front. There's fine saline definition to the firm core of pithy acidity. Real spice here. And the energy is notable: great vim enclosed within. A very long thing this, through which runs a thread of green lemon, firm acidity. And then it comes together into lasting, even grip.

Email caspar[at]boweswine.co.uk to order

Slow Boat to China (actually, Crown Cellars in Hong Kong)

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 09:28:00 +0000

The next wine shipment to Crown Wine Cellars in Hong Kong has been announced. Wines must be with the shipper by 22nd August latest for a 2nd September sailing. Shipments generally take 23 days or thereabouts.

You might like to have a look at your portfolio to see whether anything therein is in a fit state of drink-ability (feel free to ask for advice on this should you require it), but i thought I would put together a short, pithy list of delicious wines that might be just the thing for filling empty spaces in one's wine fridge.

So how about...

Our house champagne, Larnaudie-Hirault. All cuvées have attracted praise from far and wide, with the Blanc de Noirs (the wine we drink most often than any other from this range) coming top in the Global Pinot Noir Masters competition. The wines are:

Brut, Champagne Larnaudie-Hirault £105 per 6
Click on the wine name to read more

Blanc de Noirs, Champagne Larnaudie-Hirault £126 per 6
Click on the wine name to read more

We also have a very little rosé. Please enquire for details.

2017 Wild Ferment Assyrtiko, Gaia £105 per 6

From a recent offering. Some clients have already been drinking this and we've received nothing but high praise. Drinks like a 1er cru Chassagne Montrachet crossed with a fine Chablis. It really is that good.

2014 Sacrisassi Rosso, Le Due Terre £150 per 6
Incredible class and loveliness in this northern Italian red. "Wonderful succulence and length..." jancisrobinson.com

2012 Gigondas, Domaine Saint-Gayan £192 a dozen
Anyone with even a passing interest in the wine of the southern Rhône will be utterly beguiled by this. It's like a velociraptor in a silk suit i.e. elegant but a bit scary. And who'd've thought dinosaurs could be quite so tasty?

2014 Meursault Village Vieilles Vignes, Buisson-Charles £312 a dozen
Stunner of a vintage; wine from one of the masters of the commune. Cannot imagine a better Friday night treat.

Lots else besides! Email me for full details (these are just some of my current favourites)...

Truly great Chenin Blanc

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 13:06:00 +0000

A bunch of Chenin Blanc grapes

It feels as though the list of "great" grapes is growing on an annual basis: new names added to the roll-call of supremely expressive varieties that can make something truly scintillating unblended with other grapes.

One of the more recent additions has been the Greek Assyrtiko. The roots of this Santorini-dweller just seem to suck up something from the soils in which it grows and squirt it straight into one's wine glass (the great Rhône wine writer John Livingstone-Learmonth refers to this as STGT i.e. Soil to Glass Transfer).

And then there are those go-to classics that have been flying the flag for terroir, one feels, since time immemorial. Riesling is something of a head honcho in this department. Yet there's another variety that rivals it for transparency and ability to transfix one with its complexity: Chenin Blanc...

I remember some years ago sitting in a miniature wine bar in Hong Kong, a tiny space that specialises in natural wine. The bottle we ordered created one of those rare moments when a liquid so entrances one that one doesn't want to move or stop sipping for the remainder of the evening. That bar was La Cabane (and I suggest a visit ASAP; just ensure you arrive early); the wine was a dry Loire Chenin Blanc.

A London tasting the other day reminded me of that occasion. The reason? Once again, I had a stunningly memorable dry white wine in my glass and once again it was a Loire Chenin Blanc.

This is a new venture by an American who travelled to France to teach English, became hooked on wine, worked for one of the Loire's great winemakers (Domaine Guiberteau), before being offered a vineyard from which to make the sort of wine he likes: "elegant, pure, vertical, with salinity from the limestone".

This is his first vintage. There is very little of this wine available; clients will be restricted to a single 6-bottle case.

2015 Saumur Blanc Les Chapaudaises, Brendan Stater-West
£174 in bond per 6 Drink 2019-24

Thrilling nose, superbly defined and clear-cut. There are hints of Chenin lanolin to the glinting pear and apple fruit that's dotted with green, grassy scents and a sort of smoky minerality. The palate is utterly dry, even a touch phenolic; direct and compact (I am told that decanting this allows it to open up considerably). At the core, I find earthy, mineral, lightly saline acidity that's really firm and juicy. And it closes with arresting fullness and density. Fabulous. A "wow" moment. And an extraordinary first vintage.

Email caspar[at]boweswine.co.uk to order

2016 Vintage Port

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 10:45:00 +0000

"...there's no question that 2016 is a superb vintage..."

Richard Hemming MW on jancisrobinson.com

Quite out of the blue three half bottles of wine arrived in our offices, sent by Mentzendorff, UK agents for the Fladgate Partnership, owners of Taylor, Fonseca and Croft in the Douro Valley and, indeed, it was barrel samples from these great estates contained within.

Having read about the high quality of the wines of this vintage I was excited to give them a go. I duly pulled the corks and recorded video tasting notes.

If you are a drinker and collector of such wines, I would rate the '16 vintage as unmissable. I absolutely loved the style...

The Wines

2016 Vintage Port, Croft

£237 in bond per 6 Drink 2025-50

I found this to be the most forward and plush of these ports and will consequently be ready soonest. It's a hedonistic mouthful, rich and touched by spice.

Click here to see my video tasting note

2016 Vintage Port, Fonseca

£294 in bond per 6 Drink 2028-55

I was completely entranced by this wine. It has such elegance and salient wine-y-ness. Just a lovely, lovely wine.

Click here to see my video note

2016 Vintage Port, Taylor

£300 in bond per 6 Drink 2030-60

Just such an exciting wine, with so much held in reserve. This is regal, structured and highly impressive.

Click here to see my video note

In addition to the wines above, I can offer the following worthies:

2016 Vintage Port, Smith Woodhouse

£170 in bond per 6

"I admire the tension here, a nimble and agile Vintage Port that gathers weight towards the finish." Neal Martin

2016 Vintage Port, Cockburn

£225 in bond per 6

"Very round with a savoury, herbal, dry finish but absolutely gorgeously sweet and fresh on the palate." Jancis Robinson

2016 Vintage Port, Quinta do Vesuvio

£240 in bond per 6

"The palate is sweet and candied on the entry, notes of marmalade and dried quince infusing the cassis and black cherry fruit with high notes of blueberry and a slight saline tincture towards the well balanced, quite persistent finish. Very fine." Neal Martin

2016 Vintage Port, Warre

£260 in bond per 6

"Strongly aromatic with balsam notes. Smells as though this would be just the job with roast lamb somehow – in the same way as a redcurrant jelly. The acidity seems more marked than its grand stablemates Dow and Graham. Racy and sinewy." Jancis Robinson

2016 Vintage Port, Graham

£319 in bond per 6

"Rather elegant and the hugely sweet fruit almost covers a massive charge of silky tannins. This is almost like a sweet, tannic table wine. Pure and polished." Jancis Robinson

2016 Vintage Port, Dow

£319 in bond per 6

"Rather savoury and minerally on the nose. Such a strong, almost minty personality. Lovely blend of freshness and ripeness..." Jancis Robinson

Email caspar[at]boweswine.co.uk to order

Bowes Wine new logo

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 10:39:00 +0000

Ta dah!!! The new Bowes Wine logo. We hope you like it as much as we do.

Next step? The new website which is currently "work in progress" but aiming for completion before the end of the summer. Watch this space for more exciting developments...