Recycled recommendations

Some of these wines may no longer be available, for which I apologise, but I have provided links to winesearcher.com where appropriate to help you find them elsewhere. In any case I hate waste and in the spirit of recycling offer them below. March 2007 was the last edition in which these recommendations appear; I now write briefly at the beginning of most issues of BA’s international in-flight magazine High Life instead although Nick still writes at some length in Business Life, useful articles such as Eating out in Belgium that are published in nick’s food news.

 

A white wine at £13.50 a bottle may not seem like much of a bargain but I can assure you that this wine is underpriced, a relic of a most unfortunate episode which resulted in its previous UK importer (Mayfair Cellars)’s going belly up. Genesis have actually priced this wine very generously. California wines of any quality are generally horribly expensive in the UK – partly because the American market is encouraged to believe in a direct relationship between price and quality which encourages producers to price their wines particularly, erm, boldly. The Sonoma Coast encompasses some of the coolest parts of northern California and you can taste those chilly Pacific fogs in the crisp, refreshing acidity of this wine, complemented by winning coffee and toast richness of fruit. There’s no doubt that it was treated to some top quality oak, but it’s not overwhelming. In California it would not be difficult to find dozens of wines that are not as delicious as this and cost twice as much. Drink in the next year or so, with full flavoured Mediterranean-influenced dishes.

 

This is expensive, but then good Barolo is always expensive. I’m recommending this for the cellar as it strikes me as a perfect example of Barolo, arguably Italy’s most famous wine, and yet it is a good five years off being ready to drink. Barolo is made in relatively small quantities from Nebbiolo grapes grown on the Langhe hills near the truffle town of Alba in Piemonte (Piedmont) in the hinterland of Turin. Nebbiolo is a very particular, fussy grape that has so far failed to thrive anywhere other than in north west Italy. It makes ageworthy wines with a particularly haunting aroma that has been described as ‘tar and roses’. Nebbiolo is not naturally especially deep coloured and the wine is not particularly full bodied compared with a typical New World Shiraz or Cabernet. Comparisons are often made with red burgundy, another perfumed but not heavy wine. This one already shows hints of autumn scents, damp mulched leaves and woodsmoke. Drink it at the end of a special meal, perhaps with nothing more distracting than slivers of fresh parmesan.

 

 

 

Gather ye 2005s while ye may. This was a great, great vintage throughout France and this wine from the south-east, a new vintage of an old favourite, is no exception.

 

The warming reds of the southern Rhône Valley still seem comforting at this time of year and Marks & Spencer have this particularly succulent little number carrying the name of one of four new areas or villages that have recently been promoted in status there. Plan de Dieu joins names such as Valrééas, Visan, Sablet and Chusclan that can be cited on the labels of Côtes du Rhône Villages wines, those from villages recognised as producing superior wine.

 

As is usual for the wines of the southern Rhône such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape and all its satellite appellations, this full-bodied, rich, super-powerful wine is made from a cocktail of different grape varieties: 67 per cent Grenache, 22 per cent Syrah and 11 per cent Carignan in this case. I would serve this wine any time over the next 12 months with a dish with a rich mix of flavours too – casseroles, daubes and stews.

 

 

 

Burgundy is a bit of a minefield. There are hundreds of individual vineyards shared, sometimes row by row, between hundreds of growers, an increasing proportion of whom make wine themselves rather than sell to the big merchant bottlers.

 

Famous domaines, as burgundy wine holdings are called, tend to have relativelyi high prices to reflect that fame so I am always on the look out for less well known producers who turn up on my radar and seem to be offering reliably superior quality.

 

At a recent tasting of 2004 burgundies imported into the UK by Burgundy specialists Haynes Hanson & Clark, I was struck by the unusual consistency of red burgundies from Domaine Lignier-Michelot. This well-connected young producer Virgile Lignier, is based in the village of Chambolle-Musigny and can offer 2004s such as a sumptuous Chambolle from especially old vines and two even more complex, and slower-maturing, wines from Morey. Definitely a name to watch, and these 2004s are designed to be drunk over the next five to 10 years.

 

 

 

This is a cracking price for belt-tightening January. Along with Bordeaux Rouge and Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhône is one of France’s standard reds, produced in almost unbelievable quantity. In general it’s a better bet than either Bordeaux or Beaujolais because it is made from hearty grapes grown further south, so benefiting from extra ripeness and flavour. Nevertheless the quality of Côtes du Rhône varies enormously but this is an extremely good one for the price. Waitrose have put together their own blend of 90 per cent Grenache and 10 per cent Syrah grown around Tulette in the southern Rhône where the most famous wine is the cockle-warming Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This rich, warming red has no rough edges and is as comforting as your favourite pillow.

 

As practically everywhere else in France, and in much of Europe, 2005 was a superlative vintage. Drink this unoaked wine – full of relatively simple fruit – straightaway, and certainly by next Christmas.

 

 

 

The 2001 vintage is one of those that has been overlooked and underpriced in Bordeaux. It followed the 2000 which was not only numerically memorable but climatologically too so that the wines were plump, ripe and concentrated and are extremely robustly priced. The 2001s are less bumptious and alcoholic but many of them are very fine with great structure. It was particularly successful in St Emilion and Pomerol, the so-called ‘left bank’ of Bordeaux (as opposed to Médoc and Graves on the ‘right bank’ of the Gironde estuary). Here we have delicious proof in the form of a blend made by energetic Bordeaux vigneron Jean-Louis Trocard from 80 per cent juicy Merlot grapes and 10 per cent each of Cabernet Sauvignon and 10 per cent Cabenet Franc – a typical right bank blend. It’s already full, round and flattering to taste in the plummy, velvety way of Pomerol. (Lalande de Pomerol is a less expensive but increasingly fashionable appellation to the immediate north of the château-dotted plateau of Pomerol.) There’s even a hint of game in the bouquet which should continue to give pleasure for the next four years or so. Drink it with substantial main courses.

 

 

 

You may have read about Patricia Atkinson, the plucky Englishwoman who took over an ailing vineyard in south west France and personally transformed it into a going concern making stunning sweet wine, Clos d’Yvigne Saussignac which posh wine merchant Justerini & Brooks sells for £20 a half-litre. She has written two books, The Ripening Sun and La Belle Saison, about her adventures.

 

This is the first of her dry wines I tasted and it hit me between the eyes with its wonderfully vibrant, deep-flavoured fruit positively vibrating with life and health. It doesn’t suffer from the common fault of so many European wines made in the heatwave vintage of 2003, heat on the finish, hollowness in the middle and raisined, dead fruit flavours. It’s made of the two less famous Bordeaux grape varieties, Merlot with Cabernet Franc rather than Cabernet Sauvignon, and actually tastes almost more like a super-ripe Loire red made from Cabernet Franc than like a wine from the neighbouring Bordeaux region.

 

Delicious now, it should drink well over the next two or three years. Ridiculously underpriced.

 

 

Stunning value, this single quinta wine from Quinta dos Malvedos, the isolated estate in the Douro Valley in northern Portugal that provides most of the best grapes for Graham’s vintage port, is well up to the standard of most vintage port. It is widely acknowledged that 1996 would have been ‘declared’ a year in which full-blown vintage port was made if it hadn’t been for the fact that 1994 had been declared and it was felt the market couldn’t bear another vintage so soon.

 

This wine is looking gorgeous now – just right for winter sipping. Wonderfully mellow yet refreshing super-ripe fruit too. Stand the bottle upright for a quarter of an hour and then, ideally, pour the wine off the thick sediment into a jug or decanter before serving. This and some good farmhouse cheddar would make a great end to any December dinner, or Christmas lunch. This port should also continue to develop in bottle for another 10 years at least.