This week I’ve at last made it out to Lisbon to judge at the Concorso Nacional de Vinho 2012.  No problems with volcanic ash clouds this year and, with a fair wind on tomorrow’s return journey, I should be back just in the nick of time for a dinner in honour of Decanter Man of the Year, Paul Symington.

So, with Portugal on my mind, today’s blog focuses on Alentejo’s Herdade dos Coelheiros, whose wines I recently tasted for the first time.  They made quite an impression me because, without sacrificing Alentejo’s warm, earthy style, the estate makes great use of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in its blends while, flying solo, a Petit Verdot blew my socks off.   If you’re a fan of Barossa or McLaren Vale reds (of which I’ve been tasting a lot lately), you’ll like these too.

Here are my notes:

Herdade dos Coelheiros Tapada dos Coelheiros 2008 (VR Alentejano)

An earthy blend of Aragones, Trincadeira and Cabernet Sauvignon.  A rich mid-palate shows toasty raspberry and blackberry fruit, with savoury black olive and tobacco leaf notes.  Ripe but grainy tannins and well balanced acidity make for a persistent finish.  Very well done.  14.5%

Herdade dos Coelheiros Tapada dos Coelheiros Garrafeira 2007 (VR Alentejano)

Lots of lift – eucalyptus and violets – to this firmly structured, youthful blend of Aragones and Cabernet Sauvignon.  In the mouth it shows tight knit red cherry and blackcurrant fruit, with bayleaf spice, well supported by ripe but present tannins.  Very much a food wine and one which would benefit from a couple of years in bottle to loosen up.  14%

Herdade dos Colheiros Tapada dos Coelheiros Petit Verdot 2006 (VR Alentejano)

This deeply coloured, well structured red is immensely rich and complex for a single varietal wine.  Black berry & currant fruit is seamlessly integrated with layers of bay leaf, spice, woodsmoke, tapenade, dark chocolate and vanilla.  Long and lingering, it’s a hugely satisfying yet balanced wine with powerful ripe tannins.  A really successful segue of fruity and savoury characters.  14.5%

Herdade dos Coelheiros Branca de Almeida Tinto 2006 (VR Alentejano)

This time, Merlot gets a look in, here blended with Trincadeira and Alicante Bouschet.  Deeply coloured with a rich, warm, spicy, earthy nose and palate with a ripe core of velvety blackcurrant and plum.  Plenty of nuance too – bay leaf, cassia bark, liquorice, leather and cooler menthol note.  The finish is long, well structured and spicy.  Very good indeed.

Mention South Africa and seals and the first thing that springs to mind is a particularly memorable walk around the stunning Robberg Peninsula, off the Garden Route.  It’s home to a vocal colony of fur seals who delight in quitting the waves split seconds before they crash into the rocks off the point.

As South African fur seals delight tourists, the South African wine industry seeks not just to delight consumers with what’s in the bottle, but also to inform them with wine bottle seals which identify ethically produced wines.

First, there was the Sustainability Seal (pictured below), introduced in 2010, which can only be used by producers who are certified as sustainable by Sustainable Wine South Africa.

Last week, a new seal was launched (pictured, top) which guarantees that wine has been produced in line with the fair labour practices outlined and audited by the Wine Industry Ethical Trade Association (WIETA) – click here for details.

Commenting on the new drive, Linda Lipparoni, CEO of WIETA, said: “By introducing the seal we want to acknowledge and accredit wineries and farms that follow ethical practices, and protect them from potential negative publicity resulting from those who flout the law.”  

No doubt Lipparoni had in mind last year’s Human Rights Watch report about the fruit and wine industry on which fellow wine writer Tim Atkin MW wrote a thoughtful and balanced article here.

So it will also be reassuring for consumers to know that, in order to ensure significant industry participation, the launch of the seal will be combined with a programme to fast-track the implementation of fair labour practices on wine farms and in cellars.

It’s expected that the first seals will be granted later this year to currently compliant producers.

Banbury wine merchant SH Jones’s South African Variety Show tasting next Thursday, 17 May looks unmissable.

Winemakers (including young gun Craig Hawkins, pictured), estate owners, winery representatives and importers will be showing around 80 wines (and no Coca-Cola!)

Wineries represented include :-

• Rustenberg (Murray Barlow, proprietor)
• Paul Cluver (Paul Cluver Jr)
• Klein Constantia (Iain Phillips, MentzendorfUK, importer)
• Meerlust Estate (Marni Laurent Trammell – Maison Marques et Domaines)
• Spice Route (Charls du Plessis, winemaker)
• Catherine Marshall (Catherine Marshall)
• Bouchard Finlayson (Peter Finlayson)
• Kaapzicht Estate (Yngvild Steytler, proprietor)
• Seven Springs (Tim Pearson, proprietor)
• Glenelly Estate (Luke O’Cuinneagain, winemaker)
• Thandi (Vernon Henn, general manager)
• Ernie Els (Lynton Kaiser, marketing manager)
• Warwick Estate (James Dare, EU market manager)
• Lammershoek (Craig Hawkins, Winemaker)
• Sadie Family (Andrew Higgs, Richards Walford)

Wines will also be on show from A A Badenhorst Family Helderberg, Slowine and Reyneke

I’m told there will be special offers, including a limited number of subsidised ‘Discover the diversity’ mixed cases during May on a first come first served basis.

The ticket price (subbed by Wines of South Africa) is a very bargainful £5 per person. The event runs from 7.00pm to 9.30pm.

Contact SH Jones on 01295 251177  about ticket availability.

Last week I wrote up my first stand out ports from the Big Fortified Tasting – two outstanding mature examples – Graham’s 1952 Single Harvest Tawny & Warre’s Private Cellar 1963 Vintage Port.

Today’s example is a vintage port which fair bristles with youthful energy.  How I wish I could press the fast forward button to taste it in all its mature glory!  It is the third consecutive release of Niepoort’s single vineyard vintage port (known as Pisca, after the vineyard, in its maiden release).

I’ve always found this port to be quite singular and this is no exception.  Though it’s plenty powerful, it has a vinous (table wine like) “slim” quality about it.  The fluid way that it moves in the glass.  Its pools of fruit – black currant and berry – very pure, with a scent of violets.   The fine, powdery tannins.  Plus there’s an old vine intensity and glow, a melded minerality, which it currently wears to the fore, armour-like.  But it radiates potential.  I’m already looking forward to seeing how this intense port unravels over time.

I like to think I’m reasonably ahead of the curve on my areas of focus, but I have to admit I was surprised to receive an email about The Wine Society’s new Aussie label, Blind Spot.

Why? The range retails for under £9 and is made by Mac Forbes, one of Australia’s most go ahead winemakers.  And when I say go ahead, I should be specific.  Forbes has an unerring eye for great parcels of fruit with a sense of place.  And he lets both do the talking with his uncluttered, hands off approach to winemaking.

My curiosity fired up,  I shot off an email to The Wine Society’s Australia buyer Pierre Mansour to find out more about the project.  This is what he told me. “This is the culmination of a long project I’ve been involved in for our Australian range. Basically, I felt that we were missing out on some decent “everyday” Oz wines: the geography makes it so tough for us to crack unless I lived out there! So, Mac’s brief is to intercept some great wines that may have been otherwise destined for the bulk market and just blended away to oblivion. As you know his connections are superb. We then taste together, make some tweaks to final blends & Mac oversees the bottling.”

The Blind Spot range currently comprises a Mornington Peninsula  Chardonnay (£8.50), Gundagai Sangiovese 2010 (£8.25),  Rutheglen Grenache Shiraz Mataro (£7.95) and Grampians Shiraz Cabernet (£7.95).  Assuming members like it, it will be an ongoing feature of The Wine Society’s range, though the styles/grapes may change in line with whatever catches Forbe’s eye.

This member of The Wine Society liked the current range.  These two really shone:

Blind Spot Sangiovese 2010 (Gundagai, NSW)

In case you’re wondering, Gundagai is an elevated region, located between 500-1000m above sea level in Southern New South Wales.  Pale ruby with a garnet rim, this take on one of Italy’s best known grapes (think Chianti) is exactly as a should be.  It has the variety’s typical bright red cherry fruit to nose and palate, with hints of leather, spice and refined ripe tea leaf tannins.  Though it has lovely fruity acidity – well-integrated – it’s plumper than your average Italian expression, which makes an attractive proposition with or without food.  14% abv.

Blind Spot Shiraz Cabernet 2010 (Grampians, Victoria)

A great example of Shiraz Cabernet – as broad as it’s long – with a cool climate peppery twist.  On the nose, the Shiraz comes to the fore, showing hints of smoky charcuterie/bacon fat and black pepper (very Grampians), which follow through in the mouth.  The Shiraz fleshes out the juicy and generous red and black berry mid-palate, while the Cabernet lends line and length of black berry and currant.  Great length  and drive for this price.  Very good indeed.  14%

The Big Fortified Tasting (the b.f.t.) lays claim to being the single largest wine fair in the world which is solely dedicated to fortified wines.

In its third year, founders Danny Cameron and Ben Campbell-Johnston promised a truly outstanding line up, the best yet.  And they were right.

This (trade) event is unmissable and I was only sorry not to attend any of the seminars which, by all accounts, were excellent – next year!

To lift off the page just how good the line up was, here are my notes on two absolutely outstanding mature Ports which I’d challenge anyone to spit:

Graham’s 1952 Single Harvest Tawny

From the year in which the queen ascended the throne, this 1952 Single Harvest Tawny (Colheita) has received the Palace’s approval to offer the wine to the public “To Commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”  Is it worthy of the honour?  I have to admit, I was a little sceptical about the timing but, of course, coming from the Symington Family stable, I should have known better.  It is terrific.  Rich mahogany in hue, the first clue as to its power and authority lies in its colour – deeper than the 1969 Graham’s Colheita shown alongside it.   Both nose and palate exhibit remarkable concentration – a real charge of dried fruits and citrus peel – with liquorice and spice to its long, intense, finish.  Lovely precision and freshness too and, in this, quite different from the sweeter, moreish 1961 Single Harvest Tawny.  The first release of  Graham’s 1952 Single Harvest Tawny (just 1,000 individually numbered bottles) is being sold exclusively by Berry Brothers & Rudd for £275. Additionally ten jeroboams (4.5 litre bottles) will be released.  You can read more about this wine on Graham’s blog here.

Warre’s Private Cellar 1963 Vintage Port

Paler than many a tawny, it’s hard to believe just how intense and lingering this is and, after nearly 50 years, how smooth.   It’s a seamless flow of deliciousness, with layers of liquorice, esteva, demerara, cafe creme and macaroons.  With wonderful depth and resonance, its softly crooning finish hums for minutes.  Fabulous.  Click here to find out more about this wine, which comes from the Symington Family’s own private cellars, hence the name.

Unless you’re Rip Van Winkle it won’t have escaped your attention that Australian Chardonnay is enjoying a renaissance.  These days, Aussie Chardys are lithe, racy even and so, it would seem, is a new generation of Viogniers.  At least judging by two particularly lissome examples (pictured) which recently came my way:

Yangarra Estate Vineyard Viognier 2010 (McLaren Vale)

Yangarra Estate is in the cooler northeastern foothills of the Blewitt Springs district of McLaren Vale.  It benefits both from daytime maritime breezes off the Gulf of St Vincent and, at night, cool air, which tumbles down from the South Mount Lofty Ranges.  This wine was aged for 12 months in older French oak barrels and lees stirred monthly.  Pale straw with green glints, the nose is perfumed and fresh with sweet honeysuckle and a hint of green almond, which notes follow through on a palate simultaneously juicy (with greengage) and subtly creamy, with ripe apricot.  Sensual without losing line or length, it’s a superbly balanced, intense but understated lively Viognier, its sweetness floral and delicate rather than fruit driven.  Lovely. 13.5%

Turners Crossing Viognier 2010 (Bendigo)

Turners Crossing Viognier was similarly fermented and aged in old French oak barriques, though just for 4 months.  It is finely honed, very pure and focused, with not an ounce of fat to its racy palate.  Lemon sherbert, candied citrus, pretty perfumed mandarin and greengage make for a mouthwatering Viognier, with a tight citric backbone.  The oak is not even barely there, though an element of wild yeast ferment lends a savoury sourdough twang.  A Viognier for ascetics!  14%

Last week, InterLoire, the interprofessional body for Loire wines announced that 18 wines from AOC Touraine and Vins de Pays du Val de Loire 2011 vintage had been selected as “Ambassador wines” for this year’s Sauvignon Blanc de Loire project.

The selection tasting last month was led by project consultant Sam Harrop MW. The criteria for selection is based not just on quality.  Panel members are asked to select those wines which they consider have the best commercial chances of success in the British market. This year’s panel participants were UK wine journalists Tim Atkin MW, Charles Metcalfe and Jamie Goode and wine consultant Annette Scarfe.

Eighteen 2011 vintage wines were selected, compared with 28 from the 2010 vintage , 23 from the 2009 vintage and 29 from the 2008 vintage (the first year of the project).  However, it would appear that, in the difficult 2011 vintage, fewer wines were submitted since Harrop commented:

“The percentage of 2011 Ambassadors selected from the wines entered was very similar to last year, when we were looking at the easier 2010 vintage. Most winemakers coped very well this year, and some fantastic wines were produced – confirmation that, with more technical knowledge and understanding of the UK market’s needs, producers in the Loire are seeing much greater consistency in quality from one vintage to the next.  Good news for retailers and sommeliers.”

Here’s the list of this year’s Sauvignon Blanc de Loire Ambassadors from the 2011 vintage (and for comments on this tricky vintage, click here).

IGP / Vin de Pays du Val de Loire

Domaine Auguste Bonhomme, cuvée Jean de La Roche

Caves du Haut Poitou, cuvée Brumes de Loire

Vignerons de la Vallée du Cher, cuvée La Marinière

Vignoble Cogné

Château de Fresne

Ackerman, cuvée Ackerman

Henri Bourgeois, cuvée Petit Bourgeois

AOP /AOC Touraine

Domaine Octavie, cuvée Prestige d’Octavie

Domaine de la Renne, cuvée l’Expression

Domaine des Corbillières

Domaine de La Renaudie

Domaine Joël Delaunay

Domaine Pré Baron, cuvée L’Elégante

Domaine Pré Baron, cuvée Domaine Pré Baron

Complices de Loire, cuvée Pointe d’Agrumes

Domaine Villebois, cuvée Villebois Prestige

Alpha Loire Domaines, cuvée Domaine de La Croix Bouquie

SCEA Les Hauts Lieux, cuvée Domaine Guenault

I’m no gambler, but I reckon it’s a safe bet that Ross and Judy Brown will be hot-footing it to the movies to see “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.” 

Over a lunch of fresh caught rock lobster at Freycinet Marine Farm on Tasmania’s scenic east coast, Brown Brothers’ former CEO tells me “I’d fish in a puddle.” It’s why, just a little sheepishly, he admits the board banned him from visiting Brown Brothers’ recent acquisitions on the island until, he says, “cooler minds had a business model that’d stack up!”  

When Coombend vineyards (pictured) hoves into view, you can well understand the board’s decision.  While the older section of the vineyard (established in 1985) lies just below Freycinet Wines to the west of the Tasman highway, more recent plantings (2006-2008) on its eastern side extend several kilometres, almost to the shore of Moulting Lagoon, which overlooks Freycinet Bay.

It’s a glorious location and, according to Brand Manager Will Adkins, at 160ha, Coombend vineyard is Tasmania’s largest.  That it represents less than half of Brown Brothers’ Tassie holdings says something about the scope of their ambition for their new island outposts, which they acquired in 2010 from Gunns Limited, Australia’s largest forest products company.

Aside from Coombend, Brown Brothers’ new umbrella brand, Tasmanian Estates, encompasses Tamar Ridge, Devil’s Corner, Pirie Tasmania, including Pirie Sparkling, SOUTH by Pirie and Rosevears.   As for land, the acquisition included a further 220ha  (the 137ha Kayena vineyard in the Lower Tamar Valley and 83ha White Hills Vineyard in the Upper Tamar Valley). All up, Adkins estimates that Tasmanian Estates’ annual production stands at around 80,000 cases – a similar figure, he reckons, to Pipers Brook and Jansz.

So what persuaded the so-called “cool minds” at Brown Brothers that these brands stacked up as a business model?  Click here to find out and for tasting notes on latest and upcoming releases, including the all new Pirie 2006 Vintage sparkling, plus an insight into how different Pinot Noir clones are performing at Tasmanian Estate’s Kayena and White Hills vineyards in the Tamar Valley.