the tasting note

#515 An update on the past few months

2013-01-02T18:09:00.000Z

Over the past few months a lot has been going on, not least of which is that I have opened up my own wine shop. After exploring many locations and properties, it became apparent that there is no place like home (particularly when expecting your first child and have your family locally) and opened up in St Andrews. It is a very exciting thing to do, with lots of challenges being thrown at me, but I am so glad I have done it. Being your own boss is both a scary and fantastic feeling and I know I can bring some new ideas to wine retail in the UK - combining my experiences in retail, as an amateur critic and as a wine enthusiast. But that is business, and I've always kept The Tasting Note outside of business. So where are things going to differ with The Tasting Note?

The Tasting Note has always been my personal wine opinions, never influenced, nor commercialised with my work and nothing is going to change on that front. However, I’d be a total fool if I stocked a product I was reviewing and didn’t at least give you an option to buy it. All that will be different will be a link for you to purchase it from my shop if you want to. Otherwise, nothing will change and I’ll still be writing, with my usual blunt style, being honest about the wines I taste, regardless of whether I stock them or not. Essentially, if you don't click on the link to buy the wine, you won't notice anything different with this wine website.

So what have I been tasting recently? Highlights included 1968 Chateau d’Yquem, a rich honeyed aroma with lots of apricot, cheese and stewing rhubarb and clove like spice. A gorgeous cinnamon, peach and pineapple skin flavour came through with some grape stalk notes on the finish. We drank it with Roquefort and it was mindnumbingly brilliant. 92pts

A 1963 Taylors Vintage Port on the same evening was rich and spicy with a bundle of damson, menthol and wild herbs coming out. A tight, smoky palate with lots of spiced fruit coming through with the alcohol dominating a bit. It was good with the stinky cheese as well, which it needed to sing. 89pts

At my surprise leaving lunch, a group of friends had clubbed together and bought a bottle of 1966 Gruaud Larose. I’d never had this vintage of one of my favourite Bordeaux producers, and it was a lovely, old lady. Subtle sweet fruit, a dark, earthy note with some sweet blackened red pepper skins and drier fruit on the palate. Some tobacco on the finish, which balanced everything very nicely. 94pts.

Another great wine was a Lilbert-Fils Perle Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs. A lightly sparkling Champagne with a gorgeous, yeasty, citrus pith flavour and a hint of tomato soup on the nose! It was a gorgeous, elegant Champagne that was perfectly balanced. My new favourite non vintage fizz! 91pts

However, the highlight of my past few months was trying an old port. I managed to get hold of a small sample ‘test tube’ of Taylors Scion – an old pre phylloxera tawny port from 1855. It was gorgeous. Old, spicy wood with caramel and prunes on the nose. Then some baked apple comes through with a sweet balsamic, nutmeg and whisky note! There is a smoked vanilla pod, with rum soaked raisins coming out with lots of orange peel, pipe tobacco and a bit of crystalised ginger. Dried leather smeared with honey and dusted with cocoa powder was what I wrote at the time! The finish was perfect, fresh and lively with herbs, tart pomegranate and fig. A wonderful wine that I will sadly never get to try again! 100pts

So those are my wine highlights over the past few months. Thanks for putting up with a massive gap between posts, but as I'm sure you can understand, I've been a tad busy! Normal Tasting Note service will resume for 2013!

Exciting news is coming!

2012-11-13T10:49:00.001Z

So I've disappeared off the face of the blogging world for the past month and a half. Firstly, sorry about that, but I have had good reason! More details will follow soon....

#514 International Arms Race

2012-09-24T19:21:00.004+01:00

Collaboration beers - they are all over the place, and there are a pair of canine named breweries that have both launched a beer by the name "International Arms Race". Both 7.5%, these IPA's have been made without hops - a diversion from their normal styles where hops tend to be the dominant flavour. I decided to try them both blind, and to see which I preferred.

International Arms Race 1

An aroma that immediately made me think 'Brew Dog' - light, fresh and gingery with a bit of cigarette ash. The palate is sweet, but light, some floral notes with some sweet malt coming through and a bit of mint strangely. Much more aggressive, much more in your face and although drinkable, I couldn't finish a whole bottle. 76pts Brew Dog?

International Arms Race 2

Some chocolate, some Irn Bru with a bit of cough sweets coming out. QUite fizzy, a slightly strange subtle flavour, some saltwater taffy coming through with a liquorice/aniseed flavour finish with some pot pourri. Quite chunky a lot of rich sweet floral flavours. A better beer than the first one, but again, would I drink a whole bottle? I think this is the Flying Dog. 80pts

So it turns out that IAR 1 was the Brew Dog and IAR 2 from Flying Dog. I preferred the American beer, but in our blind tasting involving five people, the vote went 3:2 in favour of the Scottish beer. However the general consensus was that neither of these beers was very good.

#513 A golden age of brewing or delusions of grandeur?

2012-09-15T00:28:00.002+01:00

It was reported yesterday by Camra that the number of breweries in the UK has topped the 1,000 mark for the first time in the past seventy years. With another 158 breweries opening in the past twelve months, Britain is going through a brewing revolution. The Good Beer Guide's Roger Protz is quoted as saying that this growth is "making the small brewing sector... one of the most remarkable UK industry success stories of the last decade".

Well, I disagree. Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased that the beer sector is growing in the UK, and with a lot of the new breweries operating sizeable kit, there is the potential for quite a bit of volume production from these craft beer producers. But a growing number of breweries doesn't make a success story, you need quality as well as quantity and it is just a matter of time before the brewing bubble bursts.

A couple of months ago I made a beer. In fact, I made two. The first was an coffee stout, using dark malt and a little bit of ground coffee. We boiled it up on my friend's stove, put it into a plastic bucket with a lid to ferment and then a week later, bottle conditioned it and let it it ferment again. The second was an ale that we chucked a bunch of elderflowers into the boil to give it a bit of a floral note. The exercise was great fun, making a beer was simple. Just following a recipe, tweaking it a touch to give it our own flair and then a fortnight later, you have beer to drink. It was totally satisfying. We even mocked up some labels poking fun at Brew Dog and stuck them on. Was it beer? Yes. Was it tasty? Yes. Should I give up my day job and open a brewery? Not a chance as I'm simply not good enough at it - despite the help of my more experienced friend.

This is where a lot of these new brewers are going wrong. They are enthusiastic amateurs who have the ability to make decent enough home brew - but then get delusions of grandeur and think they can be the next Kernel or Williams Bros and invest a load of money in a brewery kit with the hope of making a living from their hobby. I've tried quite a few new brewery beers over the past months and the results are in two camps. There are some brewers who have gone from the kitchen to a brewery and are making good, professional beers and there are those that should have stayed in their kitchen making beer for their mates as, commercially, their products are just not up to scratch and some are downright terrible.

I'm pleased beer is growing in the UK and we are getting lots of new breweries, but there is going to be a contraction in the numbers soon as the more amateur brewer realises that they just aren't good enough. Before claiming a golden age of brewing, we need to realise how deep the talent seam is first.

#512 Because I felt like it

2012-09-13T18:59:00.002+01:00

It was a little Autumnal today and I felt like trying some port. No reason other than that. So I cracked open a 1997 Grahams Vintage Port. It was lovely. Rich bramble aromas with cinnamon, a little Chinese five spice and loads of toffee and chocolate. The palate was a similar delight, big, juicy cherries, an abundance of spice and then some lovely violet and pepper notes coming through before a dry(ish) leathery cocoa-fest of a finish. 90pts

I love the sweetness Graham's gives, the opulence and decadence. Sure, it might not be as elegant as a Fonseca or Taylors, but it has bundles of character and, with time, every vintage shows the elegance and staying power that some vintages of the two pretty port houses lack.

#511 Iona Wines

2012-09-10T21:33:00.002+01:00

In 1997, former civil engineer Andrew Gunn sold up his business and started to farm apples - as you do. Quickly realising that supermarkets wanted different varieties than those growing on his trees, he looked at his land and figured out he was better growing grapes and making wine after taking a scientific approach and charting the soils and climates of the region. He renamed his farm Iona after the Scottish island, as his family is originally from the celtic nation.

Gunn, now with a Christopher Lee-esque beard after giving up shaving whilst in Eritrea, employs Werner Muller as his winemaker, but likes to get in there and take part in the making of the wine as well. All his grapes are estate grown and the vineyards are going organic and have introduced Biodynamic practices in some vineyards. The cool climate in Elgin means that the wines achieve full physiological ripeness, which gives beautiful balance and ageing potential. After a decade of production, some things are changing at Iona, with the focus of single variety wines being tweaked somewhat. Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay stay as does the Pinot Noir, but out goes their Syrah and their Bordeaux blend wine and in comes their 'One Man Band'. I tried five wines with Andrew today, and here is what I thought.

2011 Iona Sauvignon Blanc

Lots of green grass with a little bit of elderflower coming out, quite chalky with just a touch of white pepper as well. The palate has a softness up front from the tiny amount of barrel fermented Semillon that is popped in, following with the grassy , vegetal, slightly spirity flavour. There is more of the hedgerow coming on the pallet with some underripe apple and just a touch of yellow grapefruit tartness. Nice structure, well balanced, soft fruit with minerality coming through. A good French inspired South African Sauvignon Blanc. 87pts

2010 Iona Chardonnay

Really nice subtle oak coming out of the glass, with a bit of ginger emerging from the 20% new wood. Some rustic apples emerge firs in the pallet, a bit of wood and then a delicious peach skin and pear flavour. A little alcohol comes through with a bit of oak and then soft fruit balances everything out with lovely acid. Just a bit of pepper, vanilla pod on the finish. Really good. 90pts

2006 Iona The Gunnar

I've always liked this wine and I think it is a shame that it is going, but I've always liked the veggie element that it has. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (48%), Merlot (46%) with the rest being Petit Verdot, it has gorgeous brussels sprouts, liquorice, damson and aniseed coming off the nose. Then some mint freshens the whole thing up, being fleshed out with a lovely damson and plum aroma. The palate has veggies up front, nice structure of red fruit, savoury liquorice and just a bit of spice. A bit of cocoa dust comes out as well. I really like this wine. 92pts

2007 Iona Syrah

A soft and pretty aroma with the pepper acting as seasoning rather than as a major flavour. Some sweet cherry comes out with a really nice soft spice, good acid and then a slightly under ripe bramble coming through. The finish is all about the spice, pepper - black and paprika - coming out with some dark, coffee flavours and a bit of leather. Firm tannins at the end, and a good spicy finish. 89pts

2008 One Man Band by Iona

This is where all the Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Mourvedre & Viognier grapes are going, one wine that puts the best into a bottle and gives the winemakers a chance to express each vintage in a unique way. The name stems from the balancing act of a One Man Band, and reflects the different grape varieties working together to create something delightful. The wine is quite complex, lots of dark, juicy fruit but with some freshness floral aromas coming through. Chocolate, sweet liquorice and then a little bit of violet. The palate has the darkness from the Syrah, then some cocoa coming out from the cabernet and more lovely dark, tannic spice. Really quite nice, a wine that you need a big chunk of steak with. Mint and more liquorice on the finish. A really nice wine. 91pts

Gunn's wines are all lovely, showing restraint, balance and elegance. The One Man Band is a stunning wine and his Chardonnay is a delight. I think it is a shame that the Gunnar is going, but as Gunn says, "the one thing you need in the wine trade is flexibility" so maybe I'll see my favourite of his wines again some day.

#510 I'm a very happy, satisfied, chap

2012-09-01T21:39:00.000+01:00

I've a friend who is French Canadian and it is always a treat when invited around to his house for a meal. He cooks really tasty traditional French food, usually involving wine and meat of some description and then we have a delicious dessert prepared by his wife. In return for such amazing food, I take along a bottle of wine or two which gives us both the opportunity to indulge in two of our favourite things - eating and drinking!

Today for lunch was Coq au Vin - a delicious rich sauce surrounding wonderfully tender thighs and drumsticks of chicken, with tiny flavour bombs of salty bacon lardons, sweet slowcooked onions and earthy mushrooms. All this served with braised haricot beans - it was a real French farmhouse feast. A red Burgundy would be the 'traditional' wine to pair with this, but I love Bordeaux and had decided to take a 42 year old St Julien along to drink, and boy did it go well! The 1970 Ducru Beaucaillou was wonderfully elegant and old, with aromas of cherry stone, leather and tobacco. The palate had a stunningly elegant, yet still punchy palate. It enticed you in with soft, ladylike flavours including slightly sweet cranberry and cocoa powder, but they you get a bigger spicy punch coming through - and a bit of silky, but firm, tannin. A gorgeous wine that will last for a good decade or more. 94pts

The main thing though was how well it worked with the food, integrating perfectly with the rich sauce - the older red berry fruit notes not overpowering the chicken in the slightest, and then the earthy, meatier parts of the dish balancing with the gutsy spice and tannin of the wine. Completely independent of one another, my friend and I had nailed a food and wine pairing without knowing what the other was doing!

I did have some prior knowledge of the dessert, a lovely Mocha cake - chocolate, coffee with a buttercream filling, so took along a 1996 Consolation Antic Rivesaltes. I've tried this wine on numerous occasions before and suspected it would go pretty well with the cake. The wine has been aged in Armagnac barrels for a decade and so has a lovely, brandy-meets-Madeira-meets-Vin Santo aroma. Dried fruit, citrus peel, some slightly spirity notes and a slight hint of tea coming off. The palate is more of the same with a darker toffee and cashew flavour, finishing with some dried grapefruit flavours. 93pts Putting it with the cake created another symphony of flavours with the sweet coffee and chocolate being softened and made richer by the dried fruit and caramelised flavours in the wine, but also pushing forward the more dark flavours in the wine and balancing at the end with the sweet, creamy filling. Again, a perfect pairing.

I know it is gloating a little bit, but I had a really good lunch with two stunning wines. This Saturday evening there are two very happy, well fed, wine lovers in central Scotland.

#509 Meeting old friends

2012-08-28T10:00:00.000+01:00

I met two old friends last week. Firstly, I bumped into an old schoolfriend that I hadn't seen in over a decade. Despite the huge number of changes that have gone on in both our lives (marriage for us both, children for her, both in professional jobs instead of having parties on the beach and drinking Smirnoff Ices) we were at ease with one another again despite being very different people. Similarly, I rekindled a relationship with a wine that I haven't tasted since I left Oddbins back in 2004, the South African Glen Carlou Pinot Noir and was intrigued to see if i would have the same reaction to this wine.

Now to be honest, I don't recall much about Glen Carlou from back then except that the Pinot Noir was tasty enough. The labels were always a bit boring, the wines were around seven or eight pounds and that was it really. They were just there, sitting on the shelf by the fridge and I never really paid them much attention. What would at least eight more years of tasting wine make me think of these wines and would the Pinot Noir live up to my memories?

Starting with the 2011 Glen Carlou Chardonnay, it had a slight ginger, peachy aromas mixed with pear skin, leading onto a palate of soft wood, savoury notes and a bit of fleshier apple, peach and apricot. A gorgeous finish of gentle wood and fruit. Firstly, this is an great South African Chardonnay. Secondly, this is a great Chardonnay - regardless of where it is from. Finally, this wine is only twelve pounds, which makes it one of the best value wines I've tried in a long time. 90pts

I moved onto the 2010 Glen Carlou Quartz Stone Chardonnay and there was a lot of peach coming off and less wood than the other wine. It was as if someone had not just stirred the lees, but put it in a blender as there was a load of yeasty aromas coming off. The palate is well balanced with lots of gentle wood, tropical fruit and then a sprinkling of white pepper on the finish. It is a better wine than the 'basic' Glen Carlou Chardonnay, and although it is worth the nineteen pounds you are paying, it doesn't over deliver like the other wine does. 90pts

Moving onto a pair of reds, the 2010 Glen Carlou Cabernet Sauvignon was another brilliant wine. Some sprouty aromas immediately made me think that they may have thrown in some Cabernet Franc as well, with a lovely blackcurrant and chocolate coming through. The palate has an awesome tobacco and dark cherry flavour with some spice and more of the sprouts on the finish. Again, twelve quid and phenominal value. 91pts

Finally, onto the Pinot Noir - the wine I loved back in my rookie wine merchant days. This was the 2011 vintage and it was.... awful. Horribly chemically, then thin with feeble, fake fruit aromas. There was a cheap perfume - the sort of perfume that a Big Brother contestant would put their name to when they were trying to milk that cash cow. The palate was like licking plastic which had had some Ribena spilled on it. This is a horrific mess of a wine. 57pts

Meeting my old school friend was lovely, meeting an old wine friend less so, but it's siblings were stunning wines. I wouldn't bother with the Quartz Stone, not because it isn't good, but because for an extra fiver you can buy one of each of the Chardonnay and Cabernet.

#508 100 Grapes - Trousseau/Bastardo

2012-08-27T20:23:00.001+01:00

Trousseau or as it is also known as, Bastardo, is grown in many parts of Europe, but never in big quantities. Seen mainly in Portugal, it has a white mutation called, no surprise here, Trousseau Gris.

Also seen aas rosé and as fortified wines, I decided to try a Trousseau from the French region of Jura - a land that is sandwiched between Burgundy and Switzerland, and that I think is all too often overlooked.

2005 Domaine Andre et Mireille Tissot Arbois Trousseau Singulier

Very pretty on the nose, bright cherry and plum skin coming off the nose with some strawberry cream filled chocolate aromas. Wonderfully soft, then a bit of tannin coming off with very restrained, older fruit. Quite savoury with some really attractive plum and cherry stone. Very soft and then some harder, woodier elements on the finish that has a real appeal. A delicious wine 89pts

#507 Spark up the doobie, lets talk Tasting Notes

2012-08-20T21:04:00.001+01:00

What still amazes me about wine critics is that you get to see a lot about their life through their tasting notes. The flavours and aromas that they use to describe a wine can give you a surprising amount of insight into what they relate to. Take Gary Vaynerchuk, he was all about Fruit Loops, Skittles and pork fat - a perfect set of tasting notes from a child of the 1980s! Jamie Goode is more simple and to the point with his notes - flavour - flavour - flavour - comment on structure - summery of the wine - done. A methodical approach, charismatic of the scientist he is. Olly Smith embraces the Monty Python in his character and has backflipping penguins landing on pineapples and Michael Broadbent is much more about the construction of the wine and the overall experience, relating to the many previous times he has tried the wine and showing a dignity as an elder statesman of wine. You really can learn a lot about the character of a person when reading their notes.

I mention this because I don't want you to judge me on a wine I tried today. I rarely get drunk - in fact, I rarely drink, preferring to taste wines and let my colleagues finish off the bottle. I don't smoke and have never done any form of illegal narcotic in my life - not even the more socially acceptable ones. I am, to be honest, pretty boring! So imagine my surprise when the first smell I got from the 2011 16 Stops Shiraz (£8.99) from Liberty Wines, was marijuana.

Yep, before the crisp raspberries and tobacco came through, I got so much of of Amsterdam's finest blasting into my olfactory gland, it made me want to grab a Bob Marley record and wear a kaftan. The palate was a bit of a downer after that, with some lighter berries, a bit of red apple skin and some black pepper coated plums, but like walking down any street in the capital of the Netherlands, you just can't avoid smelling the pot! 80pts

#506 You know you shouldn't...

2012-08-19T14:41:00.001+01:00

Wine lovers everywhere - this is a wine you aren't going to admit to liking, but secretly, you'll open up a bottle on a Sunday morning and guzzle it with your bacon and eggs. With the name 'Pink Bug Juice', you'd think that it would be coming from Australia or America, but this sweet pink fizz is Italian. From Rinaldi, this Moscato d'Asti has had none other than Robert Parker praising it for being simple and fun.

It has a soft, strawberry aroma cut with some raspberry leading to a sherry vinegar note coming off. The palate is light, fresh and clean with delicious strawberry, lychee and raspberry flavour. The finish has some young balsamic notes to it which cleans everything up and makes it soft and very approachable. It is a fun, slightly nutty wine and it is fortunately low in alcohol because you could drink loads of this. 82pts

I forgot to check it it had a vintage, but if it does, I'm guessing it would be the most recent, 2011.

#505 Putting money in a Piggy Bank

2012-08-12T18:56:00.003+01:00

There are always people coming up with new ways to build a wine brand and make a bit of money for themselves and/or charities, and Guy Anderson Wines (GAW) has come up with a concept that should work. In conjunction with Waitrose, they have released six wines called 'Piggy Bank' made by three winemakers from Chile, France and Spain.

Available in 160 Waitrose stores, fifty pence from each bottle sold is put into a Piggy Bank, and when it reaches £10,000, they will give the money to a group of charities. Utilising social media, the customers can pick one of three charities, and the pot of cash is divvied up proportionally amongst the trio. This is a concept that Waitrose have been doing for a long time with their in-store 'token bins', and this is why I believe this sort of concept, ideally targeted at the typical Waitrose customer, could be a success. The only question remaining is 'are the wines any good?'. I was sent two bottles to try.

2011 Piggy Bank Sauvignon Blanc (Elqui Valley, Chile)

Winemaker: Giorgio Flessati

Bright, crisp apple with some lovely light lemon and elderflower coming off. There is a slight burnt note emerging though that I'm not entirely pleased about - it is almost like burning plastic. The palate is ok, shows some brighter fruit, but again there is this burnt note coming out. There is also a bit too high alcohol, and the acid is a bit punchy on the finish, which has some nice grassy, vegetal flavours. It is ok, but I can show you dozens of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc that are just as nice for a pound less. 76pts

2011 Piggy Bank Tempranillo (Estremadura, Spain)

Winemaker: Norrel Robertson MW

Some meaty, sweeter fruit aromas balanced out with a bit of herbs and lamb sweetness. The palate leads off with a bit of firm tannin, some cherry and then more berries being coated in cocoa and charred wood. There is still a load of tannin, but it softens towards the end with a dusty, leathery note. The finish is a bit unbalanced, but it is a nice enough bottle of wine and good value. I just wish that the end was as good as the beginning. 81pts

Piggy Bank Website

Piggy Bank Facebook Page

#504 Independent Bottler Whiskies

2012-08-11T21:23:00.000+01:00

A lot of people pay a visit to Scotland at this time of year. Some go to St Andrews to play golf, others are in Edinburgh to see a show at the Fringe and some go further north to hunt for Nessie. Inevitably, most people who visit Scotland will sample a few of the culinary delights of Scotland including Haggis, Deep-fried Mars Bars and, of course, Whisky.

They will be familiar with the bigger brands of whisky - Glenlivet, Glenfiddich and Macallan - but what they won't be too aware of are the hidden gems of Scotch; Independent Bottlers. Most whiskies are made, matured and bottled by the producer. If you see a bottle of, for example, Cragganmore 12 year old, it has been made and matured at the distillery in Speyside and then bottled by the producer, sometimes in their own bottling plant, other times contracted out to a bottling plant. An independent bottling of Cragganmore would be made by the distillery, and then one of two things would happen. It would be aged by the distillery and then sold when mature to an independent bottler, or the independent bottler would take the new spirit and age it themselves. Then the bottler, with both of these scenarios, will decide when they think it should be bottled and do so.

There are a lot of advantages of buying independently bottled whiskies. Firstly, they don't advertise, so you aren't paying for that when you buy a bottle. They also offer different ages, casks and styles to the standard distillery bottlings of the whisky. Older whiskies can be cheaper (for example £500 for a 25 year old Macallan or £275 for a 41 year old Macallan bottled by Gordon & Macphail) and you can often get whiskies from distilleries that closed a long time ago. The downsides? Well unless you read lots and lots of reviews or have the opportunity to try a lot of whiskies, you never really know what you are buying.

I've sampled a lot of indie bottlings recently, here are some of the best.

Berry Bros & Rudd's 1989 Girvan Cask 37532 Single Grain Whisky, bottled 2011
Soft, gentle and subtle with honey, foam bananas and a bit of Corn Flakes on the nose. The palate is very approachable, with a clean, savoury note. Lovely. 85pts

Berry Bros & Rudd's 2000 Boisdale Bowmore, bottled 2011
Subtle heat and smoke with some smoke, oak smoke rather than peat however. There is a caramel and tobacco note as well. The palate has a punch of spice, lots of sweet peat and dry wood, cinnamon bark and leather. 84pts

Berry Bros & Rudd's 1990 Bunnahabhain Cask 18, bottled 2012
Big and sweet aromas with smoke as seasoning, reflecting the distillery style of being lightly peated. The palate has a lot of sulphur, gentle however with some tobacco. Even with the sulphur element, I quite like this. 84pts

Gordon & Macphail's Secret Stills 3.5 (Auchentoshan 20 Year Old)
Rum & Raisin Ice cream mixed with a hot Tamale. Some subtle dried orange peel on the nose. The palate is very woody, some earthy elements coming out with a bit of tar coming off. The palate does have a nice simple elegance to it. 84pts

Gordon & Macphail's 1993 Imperial, bottled 2012
This distillery closed in 1998, and the whisky has a big, chunky nose, lots of punchy flavours - bitter marmalade, burnt match, butter, leather, coal dust, ash.... a mean aroma. Lots of alcohol on the finish but it does have a sweet, creamy element on the finish, fully covered by the peppery dry elements. Imperial is a tough whisky, but this is about as soft and gentle as you are going to get. 82pts

Gordon & Macphail's Secret Stills 6.6 (Glen Garioch 22 year old)

Sweet aromas of dried orange peel a lot of creme caramel and lion bars! The palate is simple, with subtle matchstick and pear skin mixed with a lot of pepper, dried citrus and pot pourri. Very nice. 85pts

Gordon & Macphail's 1994 Caperdonach Connoisseur's Choice

Clean, fresh and simple with lovely light creamy elements. Lots of herbs and a bit of peach. The palate is simple, gentle, balanced and nice with a clean citrus and cream flavour. Very nice. 84pts

Gordon & Macphail's Secret Stills 4.17 (Bowmore 12 year old)

Gentle, herbal and soft and creamy, not a lot of Bowmore characters except for the sea air. The palate is salty, lots of wet rope and bright peat with lots of oak smoke. Not 'traditional' style of Bowmore, but a really good, interesting malt. 88pts

Gordon & Macphail's 1998 Caol Ila Connoisseurs Choice

Big, sweet smoke with lots of rich, honey and pineapple skin. A bundle of rich pear drop and pipe tobacco with a creamy, chalky element. The palate is all medicinal, fishy and with sweet flavours of peat smoke, honey and tar - classic Islay. Very tasty. 90pts

#503 I wish...

2012-08-11T16:06:00.002+01:00

One of my colleagues brought a bottle of Champagne back from France that cost him €10.00. That is eight and a half quid to you and me. It is called Philippe Martin Cuvee Speciale and is pretty good. Soft bruised apples on the nose, a little bit of tart, home made lemonade and then a clay like aroma. The palate has again some lovely citrus, pencil shavings and a little bit of grapefruit pith. 84pts.

The problem we have in the UK, is that we would have to pay £20 for it. That is after factoring in duty, VAT, carriage and retailers profit margin. Now as a retailer, I'm not begrudging the retailers' profit margin - it keeps me employed! The carriage (around 42 pence per bottle) is a necessary evil, but the balance (over a fiver) goes to HMRC. I know we have an NHS, I know we have clean streets, the police force and a military and we've all enjoyed the Olympics, but I would like good bottles of Champagne a bit cheaper.

#502 Three Austrian Wines

2012-08-04T22:29:00.001+01:00

Josef Lieberl first made wine in Burgenland in Austria in 1969 and only a year later took over the entire winemaking process from his father. Known as 'Sepp', he decided to change the way his family company made wine. He stopped chaptalising the wines, preferring to produce lower alcohol wines and found that these were very popular. He also took the wine out of two litre bottles, as was the norm in the early seventies, and put the wines into 750ml bottles. When he took over the whole company in the early 1980's, he travelled extensively learning how wine was made in regions such as the Mosel, California, Alto Adige and countries including Australia and New Zealand. This had an effect on the wines he made, and similarly, his son Gerald - who has been making the wines since 1997 - did his apprenticeships in Australia and America.

Starting with the single varietal 2008 Josef Leberl Zweigelt Alte Rebe, with grapes from forty year old vines, I really enjoyed the smoky fruit with a lot of tobacco and menthol coming off. Violet then emerged with a bundle of raspberry and cherry. The palate has more of that smokiness, a bit of cherry, lovely savoury notes and a bit of tannin and almond. Liquorice on the palate but very well balanced. A bit of earth on the finish with some manure aromas. Not bad and a good example of this Austrian grape. 80pts

Taking Cabernet Sauvignon and mixing it with Blaufrankisch and Zweigelt isn't normally what a winemaker might do, but that is exactly what the 2007 Josef Leberl Peccatum is. Sweet menthol and chocolate on the nose, a bit of raw beef too and then a lot of Mr Sheen furniture polish. Vegetal green pepper coming off as well. The palate is quite chunky, a bit of sweet coffee and chocolate coming through. Nice veggie elements and more floral note coming off. Nice balance, fresh and a bit chunkier. 82pts

Finally I tried a sweet wine, the 2009 Josef Leberl Beerenauslese Samling. It had delicious rich, sweetened grapefruit with a lot of honey coming out of the glass with a bit of citrus pith coming through as well. A lovely turkish delight element coming through followed by peachy elements, more rounded fruit with a tangerine flavour. It is very nice and gentle, cleans up with a lovely floral sweetness, but lacks the zing you need to combat the sweetness which spoils this wine. I can't help thinking it needs a bit of Riesling to cut the rounder, sweeter flavours. 78pts

I liked the wines from this producer, you can see the traditional Austrian style but also the new world influences in their reds. Careful winemaking has made them good, solid wines and, although they produce sixteen wines, I'm glad that they focus on red as it is what they appear do well.

#501 Tempus Two

2012-07-31T20:28:00.002+01:00

When you are born as a fourth generation of a wine making family, and you want to do something other than make wine, what do you do? Lisa McGuigan had that problem and went off to run hotels and restaurants around Australia. But in 1996, the call to get back to wine came and she decided to do things her own way. Starting in a garage in Sydney she formed Hermitage Road, named after the road that runs past some of the family vineyards. The French got a bit narky regarding this, so they changed the name to Tempest Two. I tried their range and here is what I thought.

2010 Tempest Two Semillon Sauvignon

Soft citrus, a lot of booze coming off, a little plasticine as well. The palate is simple, a touch lemony with a bit of lime juice, though watered down. Simple and a bit thin. A bit high priced at £10. 78pts

2011 Tempus Two Copper Series Sauvignon Blanc

Spending two months in french oak, it smells quite nice. A bit of green chilli coming off with just a touch of oak emerging. The palate has more veggie flavours - green pepper and a little bit of dry wood coming off. A nice wine with good balanced acid on the finish. I'd like a bit more character for it's fifteen pounds price point, but still it is nice. 81pts

2011 Tempest Two Copper Series Wilde Chardonnay

Nice gentle oak - some charred wood and then a creamy element coming off with some peach and pear. A little bit hard on the palate, some oak first but the fruit is a little flabby. Alcohol comes on on the finish as does a lot of oak but, fortunately then it settles down. It is just a bit unbalanced and too expensive at fifteen pounds. 76pts

2009 Tempest Two Cabernet Merlot

Big sweet fruit with a dark aniseed coming through the medium weight berries. There is a violet element coming off, but a bit confected. The palate is pretty much what you expect at a tenner, some greenery coming off and a bit of white pepper at the end. 80pts

2010 Tempest Two Copper Series GSM

As near as makes no difference, toilet cleaner on the nose. More of a baked berry pie from Tesco's Value section filling following it up so things are not going well. The palate has a bit of up front spice, some bitter, dark liquourice flavours and then an earthiness, but there is that chemically note coming all the way through. High acid, a bit punchy and although the finish is clean and short it doesn't make up for the rest of the wine. 64pts

2008 Tempus Two Pewter Series Shiraz

Big, sweet berry but with some more vibrant, raspberry aromas cutting through the jam. There is some black pepper there as well on the nose. Big, menthol, with some jamminess, but a backbone of spice, savoury and charred meat. A black pepper fest on the finish which is quite nice but MAN, the tannin and alcohol is big. Not bad though for a ballsy Shiraz at £16. 80pts

2011 Tempus Two Copper Series Moscato

Very bright, fresh and clean with some lovely light lemon and melon aromas. A clean style of Moscato with some sweet, fresh aromas. There is a nice, simple mousse, a lovely bright melon and peach flavour but without too much sweetness. Acid cleans things up nicely. 83pts

I can't help but think that making these wines a few pounds cheaper with less fancy packaging would make these wines a bit more sellable. Apparently Lisa McGuigan's plan was "to create something that had appeal to a niche market, a generation of wine lovers who had an appreciation for the finer things in life". To say these wines were all style and no substance would be unfair, they are just a bit too fancy and a bit too pricy for the contents of the bottle.

#500 Six Questions with... Angelo Gaja

2012-07-29T21:30:00.000+01:00

Angelo Gaja is a living legend! The current owner and president of his family company, Gaja is credited with revolutionising Italian winemaking and is known as "the man who dragged Piedmont into the modern world"!

Born in 1940, he started working for the company at the age of 21. He immediately got to work, experimenting with green harvesting in his first year, single vineyard production half a dozen years later and introducing malolactic fermentation in the 1970s. He planted Cabernet Sauvignon as he reasoned that Italy would only be taken seriously internationally if they produced world class Cabernet. His attention to detail has made Gaja one of the most highly acclaimed Italian wines and their Barbaresco is one of the world's truly great wines.

Now in his seventies, he has handed over the routine running of the company to his daughters, but still works full days. I asked him six questions...

Describe yourself in three words

A wine artisan

What is the best, and worst, wine you have ever made?

A wine quality depends in a large part on the vintage's weather conditions. If they are awful, like in Piedmont in 1960, 1972, 1980 and 1992, it would be very difficult to produce a good quality wine. If they are perfect, such as 1961, 1978, 1989, 1997 and 2004, then there is the possibility to produce a wine of great elegance. The elegant wines are those which are best at matching with food and making your table guests happy.

If you weren't in the wine trade, is there any other job you would like to do?

I would have been a photographer, to catch the reality which is surrounding us, to focus on only one aspect of it through the lens.

What is your first memory of drinking wine?

I was told that when I was six years old, I drunk a drop of Barbaresco and I was disgusted. I was expecting a sweet and creamy taste, instead dry and austere. I improved a lot with age!

What is your favourite book?

I do not own a TV and purchase ten daily newspapers to read the articles of the journalists which I follow - spread throughout 10 to 12 hours of work each day. Only during the short holiday periods I have do I get to read, I usually choose from the classics, not looking at the top ten bestsellers list.

Name three people, real or fictional, living or dead, that would be guests at your dream dinner party and what would you be drinking?

Winston Churchill for the pleasure of smelling his cigar's perfume at the end of the meal. Mahatma Gandi to suggest he enjoy the Gaja Barbaresco as a way of returning after his long fasts. Finally, I would pick a poor unknown man, taken randomly from the street to see how it feels to him.

We'd drink Dolcetto d'Alba, Barbaresco and Barolo (all served at 14-15°C), a Moscato d'Asti (at a cooler temperature) combined with authentic, old fashioned, seasonal food without a waiter near to reveal the mystery of how it is made or what the ingredients are.

Thanks to Vinum Wines

#499 100 Grapes - Baga and Vital

2012-07-28T20:35:00.002+01:00

Grown in western Portugal, Vital is a white variety that is a bit boring with low acid unless it is shoved high up a hill! Permitted in numerous regions, putting it into oak can benefit the grape as it actually gives it some flavour. The wine I tried today had this treatment and, i'm pleased to say, it was quite tasty.

2010 Casal Figueira Vinhas Velhas (50-100 year vines)

Some lovely peach but with a bundle of vibrant ginger - a touch of oak but very much acting as seasoning rather than flavour. The palate is very nice, clean, apple and stoney fruit, again just subtle use of oak and a lovely bright, crisp finish. Slight saltiness too, and clean on the finish. 86pts

Baga produces a tannic wine with high acidity, which is a bit strange considering that one of Portugal's most famous wines - Mateus Rose - had a high percentage of Baga in it, and the wine was neither tannic, nor high in acid. The Bairraida region is the grape's homeland and I've always loved the hard, tannic reds that it produces, but the wine I tried for 100 Grapes was a sparkling rosé.

2010 Luis Pato Informal Espumante Rose

Lots of strawberry and raspberry pavlova - creamy, meringuey and fruity. The palate has more of that raspberry coming through with some nice biscotti flavours. Good balance, nice fresh fruit and clean acid. Very tasty, clean and with a lovely, lingering finish that gives you that raspberry to the end. 84pts

#498 An Ol***ic Ceremony wine trio

2012-07-27T17:05:00.001+01:00

There is athletic opening ceremony tonight and due to the lack of 2012 vintage wine, particularly from the London area, I decided to to try three wines from Olympic nations - England and Greece. None are medal winners, be it gold, silver or bronze, but are summer drinks that I thought were rather tasty. Neither cost twenty or twelve pounds, but are around the fifteen mark.

(PS - Mr Trading standards person, I don't make any money from this website and I am simply reviewing wines that I have no commercial benefit from reviewing, therefore I'm allowed to use words such as Olympic, medal, London, 'twenty twelve' and so forth)

2010 Santorini Dry White Wine

Made with the Assyrtiko Grape this is very floral with a bright tangerine aroma coming through. The palate has more of the same, a little chunky, with some delightful clean fruit, sweeter citrus - almost blood orange - and with a lovely minerally, pencil lead and hot summer dust finish. Delicious. 88pts

2010 Stopham Estate Pinot Blanc

From Sussex, this is minerally, gentle with some hints of hot grass and gooseberry coming out. A lovely, grassy, gooseberry flavour with hedgerow, with hawthorn, lemon pith and slightly diluted lemon juice. A touch minerally on the finish with nice acid and very balanced. 89pts

And if you win a race, you could always try this English fizz

2007 Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs

A Kent producer, with round, biscotti aromas with citrus pith, pea pod and a lovely bright lemon aroma. A tiny amount of oriental spice as well. The palate is more of the same, delicious crisp apple followed by slightly underripe melon, and an awesome, Champagne-esque minerality and acid. Delicious. 90pts

#497 Second First Release

2012-07-24T16:50:00.002+01:00

A year ago I reviewed the 2010 vintage of Sedlescombe First Release and it changed how I viewed English wine. Before then, I'd always thought 'oh well, they are English wines so I'll be a bit lenient', but Roy Cook's wine changed that. He was producing a wine that was serious enough to be compared with with other nations, and subsequently I've discovered other super wines from England that can also compete on an international level. That First Release was a blend of Bacchus, Rivaner and Solaris and was a cracking biodynamic wine priced £13. I recently got sent a bottle of the second release of the First Release, the 2011 vintage and noticed a three things. Firstly, it had gone up to fifteen pounds, secondly it was now a blend of Reichensteiner (62%), Bacchus (21%), Johanniter (10%) and seven percent of other things. The final thing I noticed was that my note for the 2010 vintage was used on Sedlescombe's website for the 2010 vintage! I eagerly opened the bottle to write another note.

2011 Sedlescombe First Release Oh dear. It has intial light bright fruit with some slight buttered popcorn element, and I am not keen on popcorn. There is some citrus, summer hedgerow and a bit of Refreshers coming off the nose - quite sherbety and zingy. The palate has more hedgerow flowers, quite soft and yet there is a slight hint of lemon pith coming through on the mid palate. The finish has some herbal elements, but is a bit short. This isn't as good a wine as the first First Release, and is a bit more pricey. 79pts

I also tried the 2011 Sedlescombe Bodiam Harvest, a single vineyard wine from their vineyard at Bodiam Castle. It was a bit more savoury, some woodier notes coming off the nose and less fruit. A bit of pear juice comes of the nose which is nice - quite rustic. The palate has a bundle of fruit up front, more pear and a touch of peach. I find the mid palate a bit weighty and then the finish has a strange, banana skin flavour that I'm not certain I like, but am certainly intrigued by. A bit confusing but I wouldn't say no to a glass. 76pts The third wine I tried was the 2011 Sedlescombe Pinot Noir & Dornfelder Rose which smelled a bit like Croft Pink Port without the sweetness - a lot of cherry, raspberry and strawberry with a tiniest bit of cream coming through. It is a drinkable rosé, nothing spectacular, but, chilled down, not bad. 74pts

Roy Cook's wines are still nice wines, and I do think they are serious enough that I can judge them as an international level. My main complaint is that they are too expensive. I can suggest other wines from countries such as Georgia and Japan that I'd prefer to buy at around this price, and I'm not even thinking about the more recognised nations and regions. Putting them on a restaurant list, with restaurant margins, and I could maybe see the appeal, but at the lower margin retail level they would be tough sells. Sorry Roy.

#496 (part 2) Hooch is back!

2012-07-23T11:55:00.000+01:00

Further to the last post about Dragon Soop, the original RTD, Hoopers Hooch, is making a comeback. Harking back to the Britpop era, Hooch came under stinging criticism for being a lemonade with 4% alcohol and the brand suffered a huge amount of bad publicity with phrases such as 'Alcopops sale led to death' being plastered all over the papers.

Looking back, with what has become the norm now, it all seems as innocent as Olivia Newton John at the start of Grease. Four percent alcohol is nowadays viewed as nothing and Hooch actually tasted of cloudy lemonade, if a touch on the confected side. The problem most people had was with the label saying it appealed to children.

Hooch is a bit like British radio DJ Chris Evans. I the mid 1990's it was the bad boy, promoting excess and debauchery, turning up for work late and hungover. Nowadays, with the success of Magners Cider and Crabbies Alcoholic Ginger Beer being served over ice in civilised company, Global Brands is hoping that Hooch can do what Chris Evans has done, grow up, become more presentable and become a part of the establishment - with just an occasional glimpse back at the naughtiness that went on two decades ago.

#496 Wreck the Hoose Juice - Dragon Soop

2012-07-22T20:24:00.000+01:00

I am not going to go all 'Daily Mail' on you and start campaigning for the banning of these drinks, but I really do not understand how drinks like 'Dragon Soop' are allowed to be sold. Forgetting about the debate over whether the colourful tins will attract children or not for a second, they are horrifically bad for you. With as much caffeine as four cups of coffee, and with four units of alcohol for £2.99, they are quite simply juice to get you drunk and buzzed as quickly as possible. High alcohol sweet drinks such as these are known is Scotland as 'Wreck the hoose juice' due to them being drunk by undesirable characters who have a compulsion to smash things when drunk. I sampled just a little of these in case Dragon Soop drove me to destroy a bus shelter. Here is what I found.

Dragon Soop Herbial Fusion

Smells like Red Bull - but with no redeeming features, almost a sweet, confected strawberry medicine aroma. The palate is a bit like 'Tesco value Red Bull' with a bitter alcohol element on the finish. Doesn't appear very alcoholic, but that is the problem as you could mistake this for a budget Red Bull and not know you were drinking loads of alcohol.

Dragon Soop Blue Raspberry

Rubber and a salty soy sauce aroma. Doesn't smell like raspberries. Doesn't smell like Raspberry slush puppies either which that would be a redeeming feature and remind me of summer holidays in Scarborough. There is a positive on the palate - it is less sweet than the Herbal Fusion. The negatives? This is so bad, everything I hold dear to me is tarnished by this beverage.

Dragon Soop Sour Apple

Smells ok, like confected apple sweets or apple Tango. The palate actually tastes like Granny Smiths apples, confected Granny Smiths apples, but Granny Smiths apples nevertheless. Then you get a bit of the core of the apple as well on the finish, and whilst this is the best of the three, it isn't saying much.

#495 21st Century Corn Laws - Whisky & Milk

2012-07-21T13:34:00.000+01:00

Back in 1815, the British Government decided to protect British farmers by introducing the Corn Laws. It meant that cereal producers in the UK were protected from imports of cheaper grain as it set a minimum price, making sure the British farmer could compete. Sure it stifled free trade, but what it meant was that farmers could continue to employ people in Britain's rural areas, and not have to lower their prices. Manufacturers hated these laws, as it kept their raw materials at an artificially high price. They argued that they wanted to provide cheaper food for the lowest paid, but the reality was that they wanted to maximise their profits by reducing the cost of living, and therefore pay their workers less. The debate as to whether this was right or wrong bimbled along for thirty years until Prime Minister Robert Peel, a firm believer in free trade, repealed the laws in 1846. After that, with British farmers no longer protected, there was an exodus of workers from the country to the cities and a poorer standard of living.

In early 19th Century Britain, life was hard in the countryside, but in the cities it was worse. If you were a labourer in the country, you had your own one room house, albeit small and often filled with three generations of your family. You could grow your own food, get clean air and your health was, generally, ok. Sure, if you got a serious illness, due to the complete lack of medicine, you were dead. A good outdoorsy life made you tough though, so you were less likely to get ill in the first place. There were problems, landlords increasing rent, bad harvests, modern machinery reducing the need for workers and so on, but you could forage for food, barter and scrounge out a living somehow. Oh, and you could poop away from your house in a designated 'poop hole' that you dug yourself. Things in the city were not so rosy.

You were stacked up in tenement housing, families living on top of one another, going to work in mills and factories where safety was non existent and machinery was dangerous. Exploitative factory owners making you work long hours for a pittance, and no trade union to even try and protect you. Unlike in the country, there was medicine available in case you were sick, but it was too expensive to buy and so when you did get ill, which was more likely due to your upstairs neighbour, Mrs McLafferty throwing her Feces out of the window, you were just as dead as you were in the country. So for all the bad that the corn laws did, there was an up side to them - better health and a better environment for the lowest paid.

from BBC Website

The reason I mention this is that there are two products that various trade bodies are debating price 'fixing' at the minute, the drinks could not be more different. Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are wanting the public to boycott supermarkets who are cutting the amount they will pay farmers for milk to below cost. According to Farmers Weekly, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose pay a decent price, whereas, according to the National Farmers Union (NFU), Asda and Morrisons pay below cost, and it is threatening the dairy industry. If you asked anyone on the street, everyone would want British farmers to be paid a decent amount, but they also want cheap milk. The chefs, NFU and Farmers Weekly want protection for the farmers instead of a few extra pennies in the public's pocket, and that is perfectly understandable. To sum it up, the people supporting this are pro-corn law.

The other beverage that is going to war is the whisky industry who claim that the government's planned 50p minimum pricing per unit will damage the industry and the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) is going to court to try and stop it. The SWA say that 85% of blended whisky will have to go up in price (likely to £14 per bottle), and this is apparently 'punishing those that drink responsibly'. The whisky industry is the anti-corn law camp.

There are reasonable arguments for and against each. You could argue that milk should be able to be available cheaply - milk is good for you and essential for bone and teeth development- and if all our milk has to be imported as British farmers can't afford to compete than tough luck for them. Nobody gave a hoot about the farmers in the 1840s when the corn laws were repealed, so why should we bother about the dairy farmers today? Similarly, you could argue that alcohol is not an essential and can be bad for you so you should be expected to pay more for luxuries. If it prevents a few people drinking themselves to death, then imposing a minimum pricing is a good thing. But what is clear is that two industries that employ thousands of people are convinced that their livelihood is threatened and everyone agrees that this is not a good thing.

So hows about this for a solution. Put a tax of 10p for every bottle of alcohol that goes under the £1 per 2 units threshold, and give that money to milk farmers. Everyone wins - the consumer doesn't get the price hike that would make their £10 bottle of vodka cost £14, farmers get the money that they are losing by selling to Morrisons, children continue to get cheap milk and everyone keeps their jobs. The spirits industry could also give all of their spent grain to farmers for cattle feed, thus reducing the costs of feeding the cows and make the farmer a bit more money too. The only people who would suffer are lactose intolerant whisky drinkers, and I think we all agree that those few people can be sacrificed for the good of the masses!

#494 Paradis(e)

2012-07-19T21:38:00.002+01:00

Speak to a whisky buff and they will say that proper whisky is made in pot stills, essentially a big kettle, where they dump a load of beer into it and boil it. You can also make whisky in a continuous still and are frequently used when making grain whisky, but these are often seen as lesser whiskies than single malts.

The same applies with brandy where Cognac (pot stills) is perceived as being a better spirit than Armagnac (continuous) despite the latter being older, indeed Armagnac was one of the first areas in France that started distilling spirits. There are two reasons for this, the first being that twice pot distilled Cognac is a smoother spirit compared to the once distilled Armagnac, and the second is that Armagnac tends to be made by smaller producers, whereas Cognac is made by big producers who have many millions of marketing Euros, and as we all know, perception is everything.

Having said this, when Armagnac gets old, it can have an outstanding beauty and balance, and I was presented with the chance to try a trio of old brandies and I wondered how an old Armagnac would stand up to some younger Cognacs.

First up was a 1982 Delamain Grande Champagne Cognac, landed in 1984 and bottled in 2007 at twenty three years of age. It had super aromas of dried tropical fruit - papaya and pineapple - with some zingy, fresh summer flowers and evaporated milk leaping out of the glass. The palate is very alive - some salty flavours mixed with dried fruit, a bit of tobacco and a lovely, leathery flavour. Dry on the finish and very elegant. 91pts

Moving a little older was a 1979 Hennessy Grande Cognac, landed in 1981 and bottled at twenty seven years old in 2006. Again, it lept out of the glass, bright honey and lemon aromas with some soft, peachy elements. Very pretty. The palate has a leanness to it, some old, polished wood meets dried citrus and a lovely spice coming through which warms throughout the palate. A gorgeous clean, pencil lead finish that is delicious. 92pts

i then moved onto an old Armagnac, a 1950 Paul Loubere Bas Armagnac bottled in 1998 at forty eight years old. It was a different beast! Dark, coffee and lots of demerara sugar soaked raisin aromas. A bit of pipe tobacco comes off the nose with a delicious perfumed, floral note to it, I really love this concentrated, dark aroma. The palate has initial sweetness, then some dark caramel and a concentrated coffee flavour with some dark cigar smoke. It is interesting, but not really that drinkable, and I think it has just got a bit too old. 86pts

In this case, the Cognacs won the day, but I really loved the nose on the Armagnac with it's dark, sweet aromas coming to the fore, the balance just wasn't there on the palate for me, whereas the Hennessy was delightful. With this in mind, I decided to try another Hennessy Cognac, their Paradis.

Hennessy Paradis is a cognac made by blending together very old brandies from the extensive library stock they hold. This brandy isn't their top spirit, but at £400 a bottle, it isn't cheap! The brandy had aromas of flowers, subtle sultanas and a gorgeous creamy, slightly sweet perfumed character. Tiny amounts of orange zest and orange oil come through as well and just a touch of toffee. The palate is very subtle with warm, slight spice and a nutty element coming through the dried fruit and aniseed flavours. Hints of clove and a beautiful dry, floral flavour. It is simply sublime. 99pts

The Paradis simply blew the other brandies out of the water, being as near to perfect a brandy as you could hope to get. It has elegance, grace and an ease of drinking, yet every time you put the glass to your lips it astonishes you how good it it. Goes to show that rather than focusing on vintage, blending various years together to create a masterpiece might be the best way forward for brandy producers!

#493 100 Grapes: Schioppettino

2012-07-16T21:12:00.000+01:00

Nope, I'd not heard of it either but I'm really glad that I have now. Nearly extinct after the phylloxera epidemic as farmers decided to focus on French grapes instead of their native ones, Schioppettino was given a leg up in the 1970's when the EU encouraged planting in the Udine province. Today it is still mainly seen in Friuli, but has some plantings in Sonoma County in California.

2007 Azienda Agricola 'La Viarte' Giulio di Ceschin Schioppettino

The nose has loads of ground coffee beans coming out and big, juicy dark fruit - lots of damsons and brambles. The palate is savoury, more of the coffee with a dark, raspberry and bramble fruit driven but supplemented with tarry, herbal woody elements. A strange, almost clashing style of wine. Lots of little points of flavours exploding in your mouth (I can see why the name 'Schioppettino' means 'gun shot') with sweetness and softness verses hard, black, charry flavours coming and then some gorgeous pure fruit at the end. A bundle of brilliance in a bottle. 94pts