The Daily Drinker

August News from The Daily Drinker

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:42:00 +0000

Review of the Month
Gavin's note on the 2008 Novac from Romania is the first member review out of the hat this month and I am doubly pleased that it was this review to be turned up by the random pull. It really sums up why we launched The Daily Drinker in the first place. Here's the text:

"Here's another great example why I love the concept of The Daily Drinker! A grape I have not heard of and a wine from Romania - I would probably give this a miss if I saw it in a shop or on a wine list, but what pleasures I would have missed!

I have fond memories of visiting Romania years ago, but the wines I tasted then were instantly forgettable!

Not this one though. That tantalizing smell of ripe cherries on opening the bottle follows through with a delicious, soft and satisfying taste of more red fruits and yes, more cherries. Smooth and well structured.

Having woken my taste buds, it went very well with grilled lamb with rosemary and the following day with duck in a cherry balsamic glaze - yum!

Yet another great find - thank you!"

The aim of The Daily Drinker is to get the maximum number of people to share our journey into the heart of the world's grape portfolio. Reviews like this really make it worthwhile.

The Daily Drinker to Launch Overseas
The first overseas branch of The Daily Drinker is soon to have its inaugural sample-shot. We are launching the service - albeit in slightly modified format - in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Daily Drinker members will receive a mixed 6 bottle case containing three red and three white (two wines) with every shipment, shipments occuring five times a year. Wines will be the same exciting mix of mono-varietal lovelies that UK members are enjoying. If you know anyone in Hong Kong worthy enough for a year's supply of mind-altering grape juice, let us know.

Natural Wine
Natural wine is a hot topic in the wine trade at present. And it's a contentious one. As a trade, it is entirely unregulated and that means that a random purchase of such wine can give rise to serious disappointment, not to mention disease, poisoning or worse (I (semi) jest).

And yet the best of them offer the chance to taste wine completely unmucked about with; pure fermented grape juice as nature intended. One such I found the other day and, after several moments of surprise bordering on concern, I was both fascinated and rewarded.

The bottle in question was a red from the Pineau d'Aunis grape. Pulling the cork was the cue for things to become rather frothy, nay fully fizzy. Concern, as mentioned, was my inital reaction.

But, on reading the back label, I came to understand that the gas was intended, there to protect the wine in the absence of the stabilizing influence of sulphur. With decanting, the gas disdipated, leaving a pure, complex and truly varietal liquid. It is this wine that will be sent out with the August Daily Drinking mailing. Treat it right and I hope that those receiving it will gain insight into the potentially fascinating world of natural wine and the certainly impressive characteristics of this ancient variety.

When is a Daily Drinker wine not a Daily Drinker wine??
When it's a Petit Chablis is the answer. We bought a tranche of this wine last year, selling some in the UK, sending the rest to clients in Singapore and Hong Kong. It's a brilliant wine from a new young producer about whom you are bound to hear more in the future - Patrick Piuze.

About this wine Jancis Robinson stated: "Perhaps the best Petit Chablis I can remember."

We have found a very few more cases that we can offer at £75 inc. VAT per 6. (£67.50 to Daily Drinker members)

Our standard modest delivery charge (£7.50) will cause it to arrive in close proximity to one's corkscrew! And remember that our delivery charge is the same, regardless of the size of the order so why not take advantage and mix yourself a case of Daily Drinker wines at the same time?? Read more about this non-Daily-Drinker wine!

Addition to our range of wine accessories
We have sourced a new product to add to our range of wine accessories - the Luxury Sommelier Wooden Box. A fabulous all-in-one set (foil cutter, corkscrew and thermometer) presented in a well-made solid wooden box.

Looking for something a little bit special for a wine lover? This is perfect. Members' discount applies and P&P included.

Sampling for The Daily Drinker - N Italian Oddball

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 07:43:00 +0000

Looks like the new house red at the Playboy Club...

Tasting a wine made from the Raboso variety. Never heard of it, but the internet tells me it's from northern Italy and produces deeply coloured wines of strong tannin, but low alcohol. This is, indeed, deeply coloured, with strong (but ripe) tannin, high acidity and low alcohol (11%abv). It also has brett lying all over it like a horse hide bikini. I love it...and would love the way that it would make an Aussie wine maker flop to the floor and start twitching spasmodically...

The Daily Drinker Summer Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 21:03:00 +0000

The Daily Drinker Summer Sale starts today, Monday 11th July.

15% discount on all sale wines for today only. Tomorrow, the discount goes down to 12.5%, Wednesday 10%, etc etc.

NB. The sale discount is applied on top of your Daily Drinker members' discount.

And remember that you can now make your own mixed case - pick and mix from all our wines, minimum total order quantity is 6 bottles but that can comprise any combination of any of our wines.

Standard delivery charge £7.50 per order, regardless of size.

Shop in our sale now!

July News from The Daily Drinker

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:25:00 +0000

The Daily Drinker Summer Sale - 5 days only!
Advance warning! Our Summer Sale starts on Monday 11th July but will run for five days only with the discount decreasing each day:

Monday 11th July - 15% discount
Tuesday 12th July - 12.5% discount
Wednesday 13th July - 10% discount
Thursday 14th July - 7.5% discount
Friday 15th July - 5% discount

If you are a Daily Drinker member, this discount is applied on top of your existing members' 10% discount.

Stocks are limited and the sooner you buy the better the price! These are all good wines but we simply need to make some space in the warehouse for all the new wines coming through.

If you would like to preview the sale, go to the the Sale page of The Daily Drinker website. The prices currently listed are full retail prices - the discounts will only start appearing on Monday.

Mixed Cases
Remember that you can now buy all wines, including sale wines, by the mixed case. Simply click on the wine you want, enter the quantity of bottles you want to buy, and keep adding wines until your case is full.

You can buy as many or as few different wines as you want but the TOTAL number of bottles has to be a minimum of six, and a multiple of six thereafter, i.e. 12, 18, or 24.
Our standard delivery charge applies to all orders - £7.50 per delivery regardless of size of order.

This Month's Winner
Congratulations to Patrick from Hertfordshire who is this month's winner of the free bottle.

He reviewed the June white - 2009 Verdeca, Masseria Pietrosa - and gave it 5 stars! If you haven't tried your sample yet, pull that cork without delay.

What's Coming Next?
July's Daily Drinker wines are due to be sent out on Monday - an Italian white and a Portugese red. Both are made from varieties new to The Daily Drinker and to us...

We do continue to try and expand your vinous horizons!

June News from The Daily Drinker

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:08:00 +0000

Mix Your Six
Ever keen to offer Daily Drinker members a better service, we have been working both with our logistics company and our web designers to develop a facility whereby members can purchase mixed cases. This we have now achieved!

Daily Drinker members can now order a case of six different bottles for delivery. Why? Perhaps you'd like to hold an impromptu wine tasting for your friends, family or colleagues at work. You could use the Daily Drinker wine information to dazzle those you know with your incisive wine knowledge!

Or perhaps you are looking for wines for a party/wedding/bar mitzvah and want to sample serveral before making your choice. A mixed case of Daily Drinker wines would be ideal.

Orders must be placed for multiples of 6 bottles, with a minimum of a 6-bottle case, but may be mixed as you see fit! Click here to read more about it.

1985 Early Landed Cognac by Hine
We have now made this extraordinary spirit available by the bottle on the Daily Drinker website and it may be included in a mixed case of wine.

The early landed cognac business has been taking place for centuries. Instead of ageing above ground in warm and dry warehouses in France, casks of the spirit are shipped to the UK - typically to Bristol - two years after distillation and are therafter aged in very deep and damp cellars. There, over a period of 22 years or thereabouts the strength of the spirit naturally falls to c. 45%abv, at which stage it is bottled.

These are unique spirits, a great deal more ethereal and elegant than their French counterparts.

Only two cognac houses still involve themselves in this buiness: Hine and Delamain i.e. the best two brandy producers in the region.

Bottles of these brandies usually retail for £60 plus a bottle. Luckily for us (and, perhaps, you!) we have managed to intercept someone who bought barrels of the stuff many years ago and is now extremely keen to divest himself of the stock (to save storage charges, if nothing else). We can thus offer the 1985 Early Landed Hine for an exceptionally keen price of £45 a bottle inc. VAT (£40.50 with your Daily Drinker member's 10% discount). Click here to read more.

June's Review Writer and Winner of a Free Bottle
Garry from Wiltshire's comment on the 2010 Domaine de Millet rosé has earnt him a free bottle! Garry said, "Delicious - an excellent wine to enjoy with friends and family in the garden on a sunny weekend... Went very well with our Steak and salad. Yum!"

It doesn't need to be Shakespeare! Get reviewing for a chance for free hooch!

To leave a comment, go to our website, log in using your user name and password and then click "Write a review". Easy as that!

N.B. If you need reminding of your user name or password, do contact us.

Domaine de Millet Rosé
And on the subject of Millet...this wine has proved a huge success in the houses of Daily Drinker members across the land, as well as here in Wiltshire.

We are considering ordering further stock. If you would like to refresh the pink regions of your wine rack, let us know!

Caspar & Victoria Bowes

May News from The Daily Drinker

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:20:00 +0000

Our First Randomly-Generated Name Pull
Our first winner of an extra monthly bottle - a reward for reviewing a wine on The Daily Drinker website - is Maggie who recommends drinking April's red, the Bulgarian Mavrud, in the garden with a barbecue. I haven't done so myself yet, but can only imagine that the rich black fruit concentration would go exceedingly well with a finely carbonized sausage.

Patrick left a rather more fulsome note on the delicious Moschofilero - the Greek white labelled Mantinea that was also sent out last month - and has ordered a case. This is a wine we've been drinking here at home and we find that the elegant citrus fruit mingled with real mineral interest is right up our street, especially in the recent hot weather. At 12% abv, one's knees work after a couple of glasses, which is welcome.

Please continue to mull over suitable words to describe your favourite (or otherwise) Daily Drinker wines. Don't be shy now! All you need to do is log in, then click on Write a Review. (Email us if you need a reminder of your log-in details.)

And What of Those 2010 Bordeaux Wines?
I have to report that Bordeaux has experienced another extraordinary harvest. Following hot on the heels of 2009 - a vintage that the Bordelais themselves described as the best ever - comes a year that might, in the long term, turn out to be even more impressive.

Both vintages have produced red wines that are exceptionally deeply coloured, have unprecedented levels of both tannin and alcohol, yet in essence the wines are really pretty dissimilar. Whilst '09 gave rise to sumptuous, ripe wines that were relatively easy to taste this time last year, the 2010s are big monoliths: less flattering in their youth; sculpted, chisselled obelisks. They are more akin to the 2005s than the '09s.

Which is better? Who knows...and who cares, say I? We'll all have lots of lovely claret to drink for the next 40 years. Assuming we can afford it, that is.

Daily Drinker Hunting
I was at the Barbican last week for a tasting of wines that had been shown at the International Wine Challenge, but that are yet to find representation in the UK. Part of the reason that I wanted to go along was that listed among the many hundreds of bottles that were to be open on the day were wines from Brazil, China, India and Russia. Yes, I am to host a wine tasting of the produce of the BRIC countries later in the year. Okay, it is something of a gimmic, but this is for a fabulous charity called EMpower whose main benefactors are some of the leading emerging markets bankers in London and beyond.

How did I get on? Well, it had been Russia that was most concerning me and I managed to taste a range of wines from a Russian producer and a number of them were extremely good. The list included a couple of wines made from indigenous grape varieties, so I am hopeful that I may have found some interesting samples for Daily Drinker members going forward!

Austria to Bordeaux...
We recently returned from a week sliding about on the white stuff in Austria (a week that included a good amount of drinking such local wines are Gruner Veltliner and Zweigelt) to find that the first 2010 Bordeaux wines are starting to trickle out. It seems like no time since we were embroiled in the long slog that was the 2009 campaign...and here it comes again! If you would rather not receive emails relating to these wines, please email us.

What's next?
May's Daily Drinker samples are well up the pipeline and, being rendered meteorologically optimistic by recent sunshine, the first rosé of 2011 is to be included; a rosé made from an extremely unusual grape of which I had never heard (I have learned not to be surprised when this happens!).

Delivery problems resolved
We have been made aware that some of the delivery drivers dropping off Daily Drinker samples have not been paying attention to members' "if out" instructions and have, frustratingly, been refusing to leave parcels in safe places.

After quite some to-ing and fro-ing, we are happy to report that this issue is now entirely resolved. If you would like to add any "if out" instructions for your deliveries, do contact us.

Caspar & Victoria Bowes

PS. Don't forget that we are still offering one free bottle if you introduce a friend - that is one free bottle to you AND one free bottle to the new Daily Drinker member.

April news from The Daily Drinker

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:15:00 +0000

New Monthly Newsletter
This is the first of our monthly newsletters from The Daily Drinker which we will be sending to all Daily Drinkers by email and posting here on the blog.

Our aim? Simply to keep you up-to-date with news from The Daily Drinker, from the wine trade in general, and any special offers or things we deem to be of interest.

Introduce new Daily Drinker members and be rewarded!
We reckon that The Daily Drinker is fun, innovative and educational. Caspar certainly feels that he’s learning more during his DD research than he has for years. And we would like others to share in the learning.

Do you have any friends, relatives, colleagues who might be interested? Recommend our service and if they sign up for any Daily Drinker membership (except Trial) we will send you an extra bottle with your next samples…AND they will receive a welcome bottle at the same time as their first pair of samples.

All they need to do is let us know who introduced them. If they sign up on line, http://www.thedailydrinker.co.uk/, they just need to select "A friend" when asked how they heard about us, and we will do the rest. Go on, spread the word, make someone else as happy as you!

Post a review on our site to win a bottle of wine
When designing the new(ish) Daily Drinker website we included a facility whereby members could leave comments/reviews on the wines should they feel the urge. It seems that not many of you do feel sufficient urge, so we would like to have a go at motivating you!

The names of Daily Drinker members who post a wine review of more than 10 words will go into a Random Name Generator (also known as a “hat”). The first name out of the RNG each month will receive an extra bottle of wine with their next Daily Drinker samples. The member will be able to choose red or white, but beyond that, it will be up to us - let us surprise you!

And please do not feel that you are under-qualified to comment about wine. We won’t be giving awards for creativity, but do let your imagination roam freely. If we may quote the Monty Python wine sketch as an example to get you going: “This is a bottle with a message in it, and the message is 'beware'. This is not a wine for drinking, this is a wine for laying down & avoiding.”

We hope that the comments are a tad more favourable than that above, but good or bad, please post! To post you have to log in, then click on Write a Review. Simple as that.

New vintage in Bordeaux
It’s that time of year when the wines of Bordeaux start to make their way to the uppermost parts of a wine merchant’s mind. The en primeur tastings, at which the world gets to sample the new vintage – 2010 this year – are taking place in and around that French city next week and Caspar is off there on Sunday. He’s concerned for the future wellbeing of his teeth. By all accounts the vintage is hard work to taste, with wines that contain massive levels of fruit, acidity and tannin. He intends to ask his dentist to work on his blackened stumps on return.

What's coming next??
April's Daily Drinker wines are due to be sent out next week. We are convinced that this is the most exciting pair of wines we have ever mailed to DD members.

Both are from countries that wouldn't necessarily appear high on one's list of targets or on the shelves of one's wine merchant: Greece and Bulgaria.

Both countries offer a range of indigenous and interesting grape varieties and are ripe for plundering for the selection of DD samples. Both countries are experiencing something of a renaissance. And from both countries we have managed to find very, very interesting bottles. We do hope that you enjoy them..

Product codes
In response to member requests, we have appended to each Daily Drinker wine’s code the month when that wine was sent out, i.e. ZAGR090 APR11.

Thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Caspar & Victoria Bowes

New website for The Daily Drinker

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:18:00 +0000

Following the recent launch of our new website dedicated to The Daily Drinker - www.thedailydrinker.co.uk - we will no longer be using the blog to publish the monthly Daily Drinker tasting notes.

The new site is intended to be a font of all knowledge on its services and wines. Tasting notes for all currently available wines are accessible directly from www.thedailydrinker.co.uk.

In addition, any Daily Drinker member can post reviews on any wines they have tasted (bad as well as good, please! We have thick skins) via the new site.

We will however endeavour to continue using The Daily Drinker blog but will use it more as a traditional blog, i.e. news of wines tasted, news of forthcoming events, Caspar's general musings on the 10,000+ wine grape varieties which exist in the world... We hope you will continue to follow The Daily Drinker.

Issue 22: 2009 Verdejo, Vinã Cascarela, Hijos de Alberto Gutierrez, Rueda, Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:42:00 +0000

6x75cl
List price: £48 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £43.20 inc. VAT

Tasting note
Tasted at 22.5 degrees C

This is a pale straw/lemon colour in the glass.

The nose of this wine is floral, displaying a pleasing richness. I found herbal notes and a slight pepperiness to the aromas, as well as hints of banana to the green melon and cut green apple fruit.

Once in the mouth, this delivers salted minerals cross the tongue. It’s juicy fresh and there’s that hint of pepperiness again. A good density of granular minerality. The finish is long, dry and powdery. Purposeful, concentrated, expressive wine.

Later, at 10 degrees C: Very lemony nose, those floral notes again. Lemon palate, nicely focussed and fresh. Good fruit texture. The minerals are less in evidence, although the finish still has a powdery aspect.

N.B. I found that the optimum temperature for this wine is c. 16 degrees C

The Variety, Region and Producer
This is the white variety of Rueda and one of the most exciting of all Spain’s indigenous white grapes. The leaf is similar to that of Verdelho (an example of which will appear as a sample in next month’s mailing; the wine, that is, not the leaf), but examination of Verdejo’s DNA reveals that it is, instead, the same grape as Planta Fina, a variety that is widely grown in Valencia in the south of the country.

Rueda lies in northern Spain, south-west of the Ribera del Duero. Until the 1980s it was a more-or-less defunct wine region, replanted with Palomino (a variety of extremely limited appeal) following the ravages of Phylloxera, largely because the future of the region was seen as being in fortified wines. (Palomino is the grape of sherry.)

Fortified wines are still made in Rueda, but it is a great deal more celebrated for its light whites, including Sauvignon Blanc, of which there are some varietal examples. Some producers blend Sauvignon with Verdejo, which is a shame, in my view.

This winery was documented as long ago as the 17th century, at which time it was owned and managed by a Dominican order. The Gutierrez family acquired it in 1946, since when it has become one of the largest and most important wineries in the region.

Issue 22: 2008 Principio IGT Maremma Rosso, Antonio Camillo, Tuscany, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:31:00 +0000

6x75cl
List price: £57 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £51.30 inc. VAT

Tasting note
N.B. This is 100% Ciliegiolo and 13.5%abv.

A deep colour in the glass.

The nose is an amalgam of fruit and spice. I find black cherry and bramble and, for a moment, something like candied cranberry. There’s a hint of cocoa powder, the merest murmur of something floral and strawberry-esque, plus a dry spiciness, verging on pepper. This doesn’t offer up a flamboyant nose, but it does come across as quite complex and confident.

A cool and smooth palate. There are some mild tannins like velvet paste, as well as a slight salinity to the berry fruit. Good shape this: controlled drive through to the mouth-coating finish. Fresh and spicy wine that picks up juice and structure and grip through the palate to a finish that has something of the nut paste about it.

The Variety, Region and Producer
Written records of a wine called Ciregiuolo dolce can be found as far back as the early 17th century, at which time a description of the variety referred to is strikingly similar to what we call Ciliegiolo today.

It is possible that the name is derived from the Italian for “cherry”, as there are aspects of that fruit in the wine that Ciliegiolo produces. Other (perhaps more fanciful) theories have it arriving with returning pilgrims from Santiago de Compostela.

Ciliegiolo is most often used as a blending wine for Sangiovese, softening that wine’s stern structure.

Camillo worked for many years at some of the top wineries in the Maremma, that marine-influenced region to the west of Tuscany. Setting up on his own, he bought five hectares of vineyards in the far south close to the border with Lazio and he now makes two wines: a 100% Sauvignon Blanc and this wine, which is 100% Ciliegiolo from a 40-year-old vineyard.

Issue 21: 2008 Picpoul de Pinet, Château de la Mirande, Côteaux de Languedoc, France

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:52:00 +0000

12x75cl (also available in 6 bottle cases)
List price: £96 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £86.40 inc. VAT

Tasting note
N.B. I tasted this at 10 degrees C: about right!

A rich and clean nose of lovely ripe fruits. I can identify pear and white peach, certainly, as well as sugared grapefruit. There’s a sort of nuttiness here, as well, and for a while I identified – a little hauntingly - white lilies.

The palate is clean and delightfully fresh, the acidity medium and really citrus. A long wine and there are some earthy minerals wrapped around the finish in particular. Pear and lemon fruit flavours.

Lovely on its own, or with salads, fish and simple chicken recipes. Bouillabaise (when you’ve had enough of rosé!). Oysters!!

The Variety, Region and Producer
This is a variety that has really come of age with the dawn of modern wine making, a new era that has made it possible to make clean and fresh wines from these torrid southern climes.

This is an ancient variety in this region and may, or may not, have been (along with Clairette) one of the ingredients of the famous 17th century tipple Picardan (also, rather confusingly, the name of one the (many) varieties permitted in Châteauneuf-du-Pape).

Picpoul de Pinet is rare in that the appellation takes the name of the grape variety from which the wine is made.

Synonyms are many: Aragnan, Aragnan Blanc, Araignan, Araignan Blanc, Gallet, Gallet Blanc, Grosse Clairette, Milhaud Blanc, Oeillade Blanche, Papadoux, Picardan, Picardan Blanc, Piquardan, Piquardant.

There are white, grey and red versions of Picpoul (or Piquepoul). No wonder I’m confused.

As in the vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, La Mirande’s are interspersed with patches of pebbles that reflect the sun’s heat, perfectly ripening the Picpoul’s fruit.

The soil here is classic argilo-calcaire i.e. clay-limestone on terraces holding vines of between 30-100 years of age.

Issue 21: 2009 Gamay Rosé Les Hexagonales, Jean Mérieau, Loire Valley, France

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:50:00 +0000

12x75cl
List price: £99 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £89.10 inc. VAT

Tasting note
N.B. Initially tasted at 22 degrees C

A mid-salmon pink colour.

Wealth of fruit and nut on the nose. I found fruits very much of the hedgerow persuasion: haw and rosehip and red plums. There’s an aroma of nut paste here.

This is one super-fresh wine that gains in juice throughout its length to a truly lemon finish. Zippy, one might almost say. The fruit flavours are similar to those found on the nose and there’s an earthy minerality that rather coats the tongue. Be interesting to see how this changes when chilled.

2nd tasting at 11 degrees C: the wine exhibits fruits of a more domestic kind: raspberry and redcurrant. This is pared back pink wine and all the better for it. There is no puppy fat, just a dry fruit expression, full of tension and freshness.

The Variety, Region and Producer
What we’ve been discovering together over the history of The Daily Drinker is that ampelography (the science of the classification of grape vines) is a rather winding path. And here is another example of a grape variety that is anything but clear cut.

The most celebrated (if that’s the right word for a wine that is so currently out of fashion) instance of Gamay exploitation is in the vineyards and wineries of the Beaujolais. In this arena we are talking about a variety the full moniker of which is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc and the reason for this exactitude is that there are a number of varieties in France that are called Gamay and that produce fruit with coloured juice, AKA the teinturiers, used (mainly historically, it should be noted) to add a depth of colour to insipid lightweights.

Altogether there are some 30 different varieties that go under the name Gamay, some of which are entirely unrelated to the Gamay of Beaujolais. This wine is, however, Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc.

Touraine is situated in the middle Loire Valley and centred on the town of Tours. As a wine producer, Touraine is equally famous for red and white wines, for it is from these vineyard come the reds of Chinon and Bourgeuil, as well as the white wines of Vouvray and Montlouis.

The vines for this wine are planted on the banks of the river Cher, a tributary of the Loire.

Issue 20: 2007 Kekfrankos, Weninger, Sopron, Hungary

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:03:00 +0000

12x75cl (also available in 6 bottle cases)
List price: £138 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £124.20 inc. VAT

Tasting note
There’s a lovely black cherry tang to the fruit on the nose. Those cherries are intertwined with summery floral aromas.

Across the tongue the fruit is rich, a touch of bitterness ratcheting up the sensation of freshness. There’s a satchel full of structure here in the form of an almost metallic minerality and chunky, ripe tannins. This is one highly vigorous wine and an intense one. The finish is all about sour black cherry fruit.

Take food with this; it’s not a wine to be drunk whilst chatting over the garden fence. Lamb tagine would be ideal; snags from the Barbie, perhaps.

The Variety, Region and Producer
Kekfrankos is a dark-skinned variety widely planted in Hungary and across the border in Austria, where it is known as Blaufränkisch.

The “fränkisch” part of the name denotes “of the Franks”, an epithet used for centuries to describe those varieties considered noble.

In both countries, this grape produces wines that are deeply coloured, with excellent flavour and notably fresh acidity.

Hungary has been a wine-producing region since at least Roman times and is still, today, a significant grower of grapes for wine.

Hungary’s most famous wines are most probably Bull’s Blood (whatever happened to that stuff anyway?!?) and Tokaji, that nobly rotten sweet wine so popular with European royalty over the centuries (its most celebrated wine, Essencia, was thought to prolong the life of those on their deathbeds). Tokaji’s vineyards were the first in the world to be delineated by law.

Other than Tokaji and the aforementioned steak juice, Hungary has a great diversity of grape varieties and styles of wine which, I am sorry to say, I have, thus far, insufficiently explored.

The vineyards from which comes the fruit for this wine are in the region of Sopron on the southern shores of the Neusiedl Lake, much of which lies across the border in Austria.

Here the climate is moderated not only by the lake’s microclimate but also the cool airs blowing down from the Sopron mountains.

Issue 20: 2007 Coda di Volpe, Cantina Vadiaperti, Campania, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:02:00 +0000

12x75cl (also available in 6 bottle cases)
List price: £123 inc. VAT Daily
Drinker price: £110.70 inc. VAT

Tasting note
N.B. This was tasted at 11 degrees C. Start there and let it warm in the glass.

Not exactly pale; really quite mature-looking gold/lemon colour

Curious nose and one hard to describe. Dried fruit peel and nuts, as well as something like surgical lint. Ripe citrus fruits, through lemon to orange and beyond. Phew! Really struggling to name those aromas. It’s complex, anyway. Damp earth.

This is one very mineral mouthful, with excellent underlying acidity. Flavours are similar to the aromas i.e. nuts and citrus. A juicy wine. This has an almost ashen dryness underlying this odd fruit. But I do like it. It’s quirky in the extreme.

Drink with gouda, chicken and its skin, wild mushroom risotto, smoked duck and other.

The Variety, Region and Producer
What a wonderfully-named variety, the “fox’s tail”, so called because of the shape of the fruit bunches.

This is an ancient variety, its name mentioned in Pliny the Elder’s tome Naturalis Historia.

Almost exclusively a Campanian grape, it is employed in a number of DOCs (equivalent to the French Appellation Contrôlée).

Synonyms include Coda di Pecora, Coda di Volpe, Durante, Falerno, Pallagrello Bianco.

We’re in the hills east of Naples here, where many ancient estates and grape varieties are to be found, the longest-standing of which must surely be Greco, thought to have originally been imported from Greece (hence the name). A 1st century fresco found at Pompeii reads, “You are truly cold, Bytis, made of ice, if last night not even Greco wine could warm you up." Not sure whether Bytis was a girl or a boy, but they were evidently not responding satisfactorily to a romantic diner à deux.

Vadiaperti make both Coda di Volpe and Greco di Tufo here, although the family’s history includes time spent as grape farmers in the US.

Issue 19: 2008 Nebbiolo d’Alba, Marco Porello, Piemonte, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:25:00 +0000

12x75cl
List price: £120 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £108 inc. VAT

Tasting note
Medium deeply coloured and with the classic Nebbiolo colour: ruby with an almost gold cast to it

The nose here is a touch floral, with notes of sugared almonds and sweet-smelling fruit of red and black cherries. There’s a salinity to the aromas and a smell like gingernut biscuits. Hints of dried fruit, too, and something that reminds me of menthol. Blueberries, some of them squishy. Aromas of sweet spice: liquorice and ground coriander.

An immediately fresh wine, this. Nice weight of crisp red fruits, the acidity becoming stronger throughout to a lipsmacking finish. A juicy wine and one with a fine dusting of really quite elegant tannins that become increasingly tacky as the wine breathes. Excellent length here. This is a welcome jab in the taste buds with delicious fruit. A food wine offering flavours of red and black cherries, some dried and salted.

Day 2 – spice much more to the fore, plus that menthol/mint aroma. There’s a sweetness to the front of the palate that gets blown away by the crisp, mineral finish. And the tannins are clearer cut, slightly more grainy. Lovely wine.

This would drink very well with lamb, pork, roast chicken, cheese and quite a lot else besides. And it would last a couple of years, no problem.

The Variety, Region and Producer
That Nebbiolo is one of the world’s great varieties is not in question. Like Pinot Noir it is capable of producing, as a mono-varietal (i.e. unblended) wines that express with great clarity the soil and sub-soil of the vineyard in which it is grown. At the pinnacle of its achievements – in the wines of Barolo and Barbaresco – it produces among the world’s finest and long-lived wines.

The first definitive description of the variety was in 1304, but there are attributable mentions as far back as the writings of Pliny the Elder.

Part of the Kingdom of Savoy, Piemonte’s name comes from its location at the foot of the Alps. We are in north-west Italy here.

Porello are a third generation, family owned winery that make red wine from Nebbiolo, Barbera and Brachetto and whites from Favorita (a future DD wine??) and Roero Arneis. They are situated in Roero near Turin.

Issue 19: 2008 Chenin Blanc, Bogle Vineyards, California, USA

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:21:00 +0000

12x75cl
List price: £126 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £113.40 inc. VAT

Tasting note
There are aspects of white flowers to the ripe nose giving off scents of classic Chenin “wet wool” as well as green apple and something more exotic; pineapple, perhaps and melon.

The palate is, perhaps, a touch off dry, but choc-full with profusion of ripe fruits, green and yellow. In the mid-palate I found a suggestion of rose petals – just a nuance – and the whole thing leads on to a very credible long finish. A well balanced and “true” example of the variety.

Excellent to drink on its own, or with salads of various kinds. Fish and plain chicken dishes would probably work okay, as would the milder fish curries.

The Variety, Region and Producer
There’s more than one person I know would mention Chenin in a very short list of the best white grape varieties. It has that magical ability, like the Nebbiolo, of translating the soils in which it is grown into distinct characteristics in the made wine. It can be fully sweet and loaded with botrytis (as in the great wines of the Loire: Bonnezeaux, Quarts de Chaume and Vouvray Moelleux), fully dry and all points between, including sparkling (I well remember drinking the 1959 sparkling Vouvray of Gaston Huët some years ago and it tasted like fresh mushrooms and white chocolate; not natural bedfellows, I admit, but it was very delicious).

Chenin has an extraordinary ability of seeming to become sweeter as it ages.

It is the widest-planted variety in South Africa, where it is traditionally known as Steen.

In the 1980s more Chenin was planted in the California than in France, but usually made, as it still is, into what’s referred to as “jug wine” i.e. an easy quaffing and cheap liquid.

The Bogle family have been farming near Clarksburg in the northern Central Valley since the 1800s, but it was only in 1968 that they planted their first vineyards.

They now work 1,200 acres of wine grapes.

Issue 18: 2009 Vale da Murta Branco, Quinta da Murta, Bucelas, Portugal

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:51:00 +0000

12x75cl (also available in 6 bottle cases)
List price: £108 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £97.20 inc. VAT

Tasting note
N.B. This is made from Arinto with a pinch of Esgana Cão (or “dog strangler”).

The nose here is very approachable. Friendly aromas of ripe fruits – white currant – accompanied by notes herbal, lactic, of spice and peach, the whole thing a touch leafy.

The palate is cool and compact and there is more than a hint of grapefruit about both the fruit character and the acidity. There are herbal flavours here, too. Very juicy wine and a very pleasant one.

Great on its own; excellent with salads, fish or chicken.

I would drink this within a year, although it might be fun, should you buy a case, to retain a few bottle and see how they develop, since Arinto is certainly capable of ageing.

The Variety, Region and Producer
Arinto was at one time thought to be a relative of Riesling, a misconception almost certainly derived from a period after the Peninsula Wars when Buccelas (sic) – a Portuguese fortified wine made from Arinto – become popularly known as Portuguese Hock (Hock short for Hochheim, a village on the River Main just west of Frankfurt, and for some time short for German wine in general).

Arinto is useful as it retains crisp acidity.

Some of you might recognise the label on this wine, since a red wine from this property was sent out as a Daily Drinker sample some months ago.

Here we find ourselves in the west of Portugal near the city of Lisbon. Bucelas is an historic region that, in the 1980s, almost disappeared entirely. Interest in the region has gradually increased, however, and there are definite attempts – not least by this winery – to relive its former glories.

Issue 18: 2009 Barbera La Colonia, Bodega Norton, Mendoza,Argentina

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:50:00 +0000

12x75cl (also available in 6 bottle cases)
List price: £84 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £75.60 inc. VAT

Tasting note
Light, airy nose of red and black currant fruit. A touch floral and, perhaps, the merest hint of liquorice. A smoky whiff. Can I identify a slight note of fish?!?

Very cool and medium weight. This is both a mineral wine and a fresh one. I found crisp, refreshing tannins that are a touch grainy and altogether lip-smacking. Structured, appetising and delicious, displaying fruit both red and black.

This will hold for at least a year, most probably two. As it’s under screwcap, it would be best to store this (if kept for any length of time) standing up.

This is quite drinkable on its own, would be perfect with roast chicken, pork and simply cooked red meat dishes.

The Variety, Region and Producer
Barbera is indigenous to northern Italy, although there is debate as to whether it originated in Piemonte or Lombardia. In any event, it was recorded as long ago as the 13th century.

Barbera is a late cropping variety and one that produces wine with notably strong acidity, but low tannin. This ability to retain its freshness has led to it being transported to various warm growing regions such as Paarl in South Africa, Mendoza in Argentina and California.

For many years Barbera was cropped for jug wine from vast yields and was frequently topped up with stronger southern reds to give it some body. Thus it was considered an inferior grape.

Since the 1980s and early ‘90s, however, producers have experimented with lower yields and it has been found capable of producing intense, characterful reds of excellent quality.

It was in 1885 that the railway opened up Mendoza as a wine producing region. Ten years thereafter Edmund Norton planted his first vines between 900 – 1100 metres up in the Andean foothills. This is now a vast operation with 650 hectares of land under vine.

70% of Argentina’s wine production comes from Mendoza in the far west of the country just across the mountains from Santiago, Chile’s capital.

Issue 17: 2008 Roussette de Savoie Cru Frangy, Domaine Bruno Lupin, Savoie, France

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:16:00 +0000

12x75cl (also available in 6 bottle cases)
List price: £132 inc. VAT Daily Drinker price: £118.80 inc. VAT

Tasting note
N.B. This was initially tasted at 9 degrees C: way too cold. (See below)

The colour is a very pale, very clear lemon.

The nose is crisp, of white flowers with hints of lemon. The nose did not initially seem to be the most expressive nose, even though I did locate some whiffs of stoniness.

First impression on the palate is of cold white wine; one without a great deal of character. The fruit is crisp and does adhere in concentrated fashion to the tongue. Acidity is somewhere between lemon and grapefruit, crisp and juicy. There is length here and it is pleasingly straight in the mouth. There’s a slightly earthy mineral thing going on at the end and a suspicion of the crispest green apples. One for a summer day, perhaps. And a wine that can certainly be drunk on its own. As it warms, the impression of fruit becomes that of candied lemons.

At 14 degrees C, things start getting much more interesting. The mineral quality on the palate becomes much more pronounced. The nose takes on an aspect of wet nuts. There’s a great deal more fruit concentration across the tongue. Suddenly the wine is worth the money!

The Variety, Region and Producer
Roussette de Savoie is the name of the wine, Frangy being the name of one of the four communes producing the wine deemed to be of sufficient quality to be permitted to mention themselves on the label.

Roussette is the name of the wine, but not the grape, at least not any more. The variety exploited herewith is now known as Altesse and I could believe – perhaps fancifully – that this reflects the mountainous nature of the vineyards in which it is grown.

Vineyards here face south, an exposure that assists in full ripening of the grapes.

Some of these wines age rather well and I intend to stick a few away to see what occurs. When I have further news, I will report! In any event, I suggest that this wine, well kept, would last a couple of years easily.

Issue 17: 2007 Marselan MusT, Domaine de la Graveirette, Vin de Pays de la Principauté d’Orange, France

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:14:00 +0000

12x75cl
List price: £108 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £97.20 inc. VAT

Tasting note
The nose here is initially rather shy, opening up somewhat with aeration. It offers up very nutty aromas intertwined with scents of my mother’s gingerbread (tasting notes should, to a degree, be personal items!) and the freshest black plums.

I found a rich fruit concentration in the mouth. There’s nice, cool fruit of black plum with hints of spice. The medium tannins are very fine and ripe and texturally paste-like. This has some mineral underpinnings that come across as a slightly granular earthiness. The finish is crunchy/juicy. Good wine.

Could perhaps keep to 2 years

The Variety, Region and Producer
Now this is an interesting one (feel free to debate this with me). Marselan is, in fact, a crossing of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache that was first authorised for vin de pays usage in 1990.

It was created by the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique and was intended to thrive in the vagaries of the Languedoc climate i.e. to cope with both hot and wet conditions.

It is resistant to fungal diseases and coulure, that affliction that results in the small, under-ripe berries falling from the vine.

Marselan is a small berried variety, capable of producing wines of good colour and concentration.

In 2003, Julien Mas secured a parcel of vineyard abutting Vieux-Télégraphe near Courthézon. Over the boundary from Châteauneuf-du-Pape - in the “Principauté d’Orange” - he now works Marselan and Merlot into vin de pays wines, as well as producing Côte du Rhône and Châteauneuf-du-Pape from the more senior local appellations.

The climate here is fully Mediterranean, with hot summers – tempered by the Mistral blowing from the north – and mild winters.

The landscape is a sandy one, with low herb – thyme and rosemany - bushes growing wild.

Issue 16: 2009 Torrontés Urban, Bodegas y Viñedos O Fournier, Cafayete, Argentina

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:22:00 +0000

12x75cl
List price: £90 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £81 inc. VAT

Tasting note
The aromas one finds here are absolutely definitive of this variety and not 1M miles away from the grapiness of a Gewurztraminer or Muscat.

I find a perfumed wine, redolent of grapes and flowers and herbs. There’s something of the rose petal and the finest Sobranie cigarette smoke.

For what smells as though it could well be a sweet wine, this sure is mineral and focussed. It is very direct across the tongue; compact even. A dry and nicely fresh example with a delightful lift of freshness at the back of the palate.

The Variety, Region and Producer
I hope you’re sitting comfortably. Unravelling Torrontés is not a straightforward job. Here goes…

There are three varieties in Argentina that go by this name: Torrontéses Riojano, Sanjuanino and Mendocino. It seems all are unrelated to a synonymous variety indigenous to Galicia in northern Spain; indeed, two of the three – Riojano and Sanjuanino – have had their DNA examined at UCLA Davies College in California and found to be crosses between Muscat of Alexandria and Criolla Chica (known as Mission in CA).

Muscat of Alexandria is almost certainly one of the parents of Torrontés Mendocino. The other is altogether unknown.

You are never going to be tested on this stuff, by the way.

It is in Cafayete that this variety produces its best wine. The altitude of Cafayete (1,600 metres) controls the variety’s natural inclination to over-ripeness.

Bodegas y Viñedos O Fournier is owned by Spaniard Jose Manual Ortega, an ex-banker who now controls a vinous empire spread over three countries: Spain, Chile and Argentina.

Vines are bush trained, a method that allows the leaves to shade the fruit. With 320 days of sunshine a year, this is quite necessary!

Issue 16: 2006 Crianza, Bodegues Macia Batle, Binissalem, Mallorca

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:08:00 +0000

12x75cl (also available in 6 bottle cases)
List price: £147 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £132.30 inc. VAT

Tasting note
N.B. This is a blend of Manto Negro, Callet and Cabernet Sauvignon.

This is an almost opaque ruby red colour in the glass.

The nose is rich and dense, giving up creamy milk chocolate wood aromas, along with ripe, black plum fruit.

Taking a sip, I found a pillowy mouthful of black fruit. Half way through minerals and some fine tannins arrive, making the whole more serious than one has, perhaps, initially assessed. This is crisply fresh, with some chocolate wood appearing at the back. Long enough and the finish, although woody, is structured and persistent. Touch of cold tea and beef extract.

This will keep another year, perhaps two, and would perfectly accompany red meats, meat-and-tomato pasta dishes and game.

The Variety, Region and Producer
Manto Negro and Callet are two of the most widely planted red grape varieties in Mallorca, frequently planted together in mixed vineyards.

Manto Negro ages quickly, rapidly losing its colour and oxidising easily; better blended, in other words.

Callet produces deeply coloured wine, yet even in the Mediterranean heat rarely becomes overly-alcoholic.

Cabernet Sauvignon is the classic grape of the Médoc in Bordeaux and the main ingredient of the great wines that are grown there, including Châteaux Margaux, Latour, Lafite and Mouton-Rothschild. Although one of the most aristocratic of the noble varieties, it is rarely fully formed as a mono-varietal wine i.e. unblended. Its characteristic aroma and flavour is of blackcurrants, or cassis.

Binissalem is a Mallorcan DO (equivalent of the French Appellation Contrôlée) just north of Palma.

Macia Batle was formed in 1856 i.e. somewhat after the Romans introduced the vine to the island in 123 BC.

Issue 15: 2007 Reserve Carmenère, Vina Tabali, Limari Valley, Chile

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:11:00 +0000

12x75cl (also available in 6 bottle cases)
List price: £114 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £102.60 inc VAT

Tasting note
The nose here a spiced cream of damson and black plum fruit, the spice taking the form of a twist of black pepper and a distinct nuttiness. Liquorice joins the pepper in the spice rack and there’s a note that reminds me of an empty biscuit tin that, until recently, held gingernuts.

Really credible palate (which one can say about so few Chilean Carmenères, sad to say). This is a beautifully balanced wine and a really fresh one. The fruit is both red and black, a touch creamy, yet not at all facile. A lovely wine! There are tannins here and they’re a touch grainy, so drink it with food: lamb should do it; rack, leg, shoulder or fillet.

The Variety, Region and Producer
Carmenère is yet another of those Bordeaux varieties that has been picked up in South America and dropped “at home”. Whilst there is very little planted now in Bordeaux, Chile has taken to it in a big way, at least it has since it was discovered, in 1994, that most of the country’s Merlot vines were, in fact, Carmenère.

Carmenère is a vigorous vine and one capable of producing high quality wine. So far, so good. But it is susceptible to coulure - a condition in which the small, immature fruit falls from the vine – and due to this it was dropped from the Bordeaux team.

It is thought that Carmenère’s name could have the same root as the word carmine, so deep is its colouring.

The Limari Valley was originally planted with vines in the mid-16th century, yet it was only recently that wine growers have rediscovered its vinous strengths. Fog fills the valley in the early morning, only to be burnt off as soon as the sun rises. 4” annually is all the rainfall the valley sees so irrigation is de rigeur.

Tabali started life in 1993 and are based in the Limari Valley.

Issue 15: 2008 Pecorino Le Merlettaie, Azienda Agricola Ciu’ Ciu’, Offida, Marche, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:06:00 +0000

12x75cl (also available in 6 bottle cases)
List price: £120 inc. VAT
Daily Drinker price: £108 inc VAT

Tasting note
A pale but pronounced lemon yellow colour in the glass.

I found a rich nose, one of delicious yellow fruits: super-ripe pears; yellow melon; hints of apricot and sweet nut.

There’s a lovely richness of fruit on the palate, fruit that is quickly joined by a fine, almost pumice/ash-like minerality. The palate is nutty and that richness quickly becomes checked by the structure: that minerality and the fine, medium acidity, almost cached beneath the ripe fruit. The structure gives the palate shape. There’s much more than mere fruit going on here. Definite herbal wisps and a distinct stoniness. There seems to be a complexity of soil influence in this wine. A long wine. The fruit adheres tackily to the tongue long after it’s swallowed. Highly unusual mouthful, bright, rich and choc-full of character.

Drink with oily fish, chicken dishes (even creamy ones) and, perhaps, pork chops. On its own or with seafood wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.

The Variety, Region and Producer
It seems that little is known about the Pecorino variety. It is autochthonous in the Abruzzo and the Marche regions of eastern Italy. Whether its name has anything to do with the sheep and sheep’s cheese of the same name, no one appears to know. It is a thin skinned variety that ripens early and is often used as a table grape. And it’s the only serious alternative to the occasionally good Trebbiano in this region.

The Marche is very much a Mediterranean region in eastern central Italy, with the ridge of the Apennines running to the west. Soils are largely calcareous. Red wine production is dominated by the high quality Montepulciano grape, whilst the backbone of white wine production is Trebbiano.

Ciu’ Ciu’ was founded in 1970 and majors on Montepulciano in the form of the local DOC (think French AC) Rosso Piceno.

Apparently one UK journalist was suckered into believing the winery name comes from a reference to steam railways!

Issue 14: 2008 Pinot Bianco, Cantina Andrian, Alto Adige, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Caspar Bowes) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:02:00 +0000

12x75cl (also available in 6 bottle cases)
£135 inc. VAT

Tasting note
N.B. This was tasted at 10 degrees C and could be consumed a little warmer.

A pretty wine in the glass; pale-but-pronounced lemon yellow.

A nose aromatic with ripe yellow fruits. There are spiced pears, a slightly lactic note, like fresh fruit stirred into Greek yoghurt, plus notes of nectarine and dried fruit skins. There’s a delightful sweetness to the aromas. Grilled hazelnuts; the merest hint of something herbal.

Nice richness of fruit on entry, but this lacks nothing in structure. Spice and dried fruit skins again appear in the mouth. There’s an orangey aspect to the fruit and, particularly, the acidity. Length is nice and there are mild mineral sensations to be found – like pumice dust – around the finish. Balance is notable, with the acidity rising to the fore gradually throughout the wine’s length. A peary thing, this, and a very lovely one. Hint of bitter almond left in one’s mouth after swallowing/spitting.

The Variety, Region and Producer
The Pinots are a wayward bunch. Genetically unstable, they are prone to throwing up what’s known in horticultural circles as a “sport” i.e. a mutation. Thus this variety – Pinot Bianco/Blanc – is a sport of Pinot Gris (also known as Pinot Beurot in its home territory of Burgundy), just as Pinot Gris (which is also the same grape as that wine bar darling Pinot Grigio) was a sport of Pinot Noir.

This variety was for many years confused with Chardonnay and is perhaps most famous for the wine it produces in the Alsace. In Germany and Austria, however, it is rather more highly valued than it is in Alsace.

In Trentino-Alto Adige, we’re in the mountainous – and largely German-speaking – far north of Italy.

Andrian was founded in 1893 as the first co-operative in the Alto Adige. It is now run by Cantina Terlan, one of the region’s finest producers.

The vineyards here are protected by Mount Gantkofel and share that mountain’s limestone soils.
In Burgundy in the 1920s, Henri Gouges found that one of his Pinot Noir vines was producing white fruit. This is now known as Pinot Gouges and produces a white Nuits-St-Georges, legally a red wine!