Author: sharquillo

Other wines of 2015

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Been a lot of chat about this in various spheres so I thought that by way of establishing wider wine world credentials I would record for posterity some of the non sherry triangle highlights of 2015.

Here would be the top 20 wines from outside the sherry region that I have notes of or can otherwise remember (there were several that slip through the net – in particular two Cotes du Rhone and a Raul Perez white wine that were extraordinary but I just cannot remember them).

Just impossible to choose the very best so not really in order but maybe slightly more impressed as the list goes on.

  • Ceretto Barbaresco Bricco Asili 2008
  • d’Arenberg Dead Arm 1998
  • Rauzan-Segla Margaux 2000
  • Casa Ferreirinha Reserva Especial 1990
  • Chateau Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc 2007
  • Luciano Sandrone Barolo Cannubi Boschis 2008
  • Francois Chidaine Montlouis les Bournais Franc de Pied 2011
  • Domaine de la Janasse CdP Cuvee Vielles Vignes 2005
  • Guigal Cote Rotie Chateau d’Ampuis 2009
  • Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Cannubi (San Lorenzo) / Ravera 2007
  • Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet Grand Cru 1983
  • Pichon-Longueville Baron 2000
  • Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay Clos des Chenes 2008
  • Thierry Allemand Cornas Reynard 2009
  • Vieux Chateau Certan 2009
  • Leoville-Barton 2003
  • Vega Sicilia Unico 1999
  • Henri Abelé Millesime 1990
  • Leoville-Poyferre 2000
  • Chateau Lafleur Petrus 2010

Not bad quaffing that when you look at it!

   
    
   
 

 

The mistake I make when tasting wine

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Going back a good few years I used to play snooker with a mate in a smoke filled cafe in downtown Brussels. We would rock up after work and play a few frames with several nice Belgian beers, of which our favourite at the time was Duvel, a masterpiece of brewing that is incredibly dry and an impressive 8.5% proof. Anyway, there was a waiter there who was also an excellent player and one night, frustrated by our poor play, we asked him if he had any words of advice to improve our snooker. He shook his head and said: “don’t drink Duvel”

We didn’t take his advice of course – without the soothing liquid I could never have borne the outrageous fortune and underhand tactics of my competitor, but years later I can see that that anonymous guru was onto something. There are several clues. First, there are recent incidents when at the end of a long night I just don’t have sufficient recollection to write a report worth the name. Second, when I look back at some tasting notes I have written I sometimes wonder “what was I on when I wrote this?” (the answer, generally, is about 8-10 units). In fact, on the many occasions I was fortunate to have had great nights dining with great friends and lovely wines (this in particular, but you can see evidence of another here), I can’t honestly remember the details of the wines involved with any precision.

On the other hand, when asked to name my favourite wines of 2015 it was really noticeable to me that the wines that stood out most in the memory (aside from the stellar sherries on here) were generally wines I tasted in either a formal setting in which I even used a spittoon (or, appropriately enough, around the snooker table).

I suppose it is a paradox of wine blogging – the more you enjoy your wine the more your ability to appreciate it, or at least to remember what you thought of it, diminishes.

Toneles again 

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It is always a risk to go back to a wine that has made such an impression the first time. Also, given that only 100 of these are produced a year it seems a little indulgent to have consumed 2%. Nevertheless, since it was Christmas I wanted to bring a showpiece bottle home and well, here we are.

An opaque, black brown in colour it flows out like a fine syrup and coats the glass. I still get a lot of the Christmas pudding, raisins, sweet spices, and chocolate, but coming at it a second time I notice a lot more of that 100 year old wine aroma of pine trees and pipe tobacco.

In the mouth too it is all intensity. Maybe it is the recent experience but I get a syrupy mouthfull of the blackened edges of a Christmas cake – juicy currants and sweet spices in burnt sugar, followed by chocolate, then tobacco, then cedar and a tail of spicey black treacle. It really has immense length – the spicey, bitter black treacle flavours carry on for an eternity.

Not as absolutely bowled over this time. It may be that that first bottle was such a surprise, that it came at the end of a long dinner, or that it was a few degrees cooler on an evening that was a few degrees warmer. It may also be that in the intervening months I have learnt a lot more about the effects of concentration and barrel ageing and that familiarity has stolen some of the wonder. Nevertheless, an absolutely exceptional wine by any standards.

La Bota de Pedro Ximenez 36

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I tried this in the summer and am now drinking up the remains.

It has all that raisin and sugar on the nose and the palate but I am finding it a bit more acidic and peppery than I remember (white pepper – remember seeing it in the note by Luis Gutierrez and it is bang on the money). 

I like it all the better for that spice but I still find it a bit too sweet and sticky. 

Vermut Jerezano Amillo 

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A lot of chat about vermut jerezano recently – mainly due to the release by Lustau of theirs – but contrary to much of the publicity theirs isn’t the only show in town.

Here we have a classic, old school vermut jerezano from a relatively new label – the Coleccion Roberto Amillo. Roberto Amillo is a guy from Logroño in la Rioja (pretty much as far as you can get from Jerez in Spain) who is said to have the biggest private collection of sherries and brandies, and sherry and brandy artefacts, in Spain. Never met the chap but can’t be much wrong with anyone with hundreds of sherries in their cellar. Apparently out of his collection he took to selecting and bottling his favourite wines and brandies and, as it happens, vermut. I first came across the Coleccion when trying his palo cortado in a big hitting line up at Enoteca Barolo and although I found it a touch on the acidic side for my tastes it was a special wine alright.

I find it hard to judge vermouths against each other although I have had plenty of them. In particular I was fortunate enough to experience an absolutely historic cata of bottle aged vermuts (and similar) from Ignacio Villalgordo’s collection (in Vila Viniteca) even if it served only to prove how little I know. 

As for this one, first up this has a strong, old oloroso vibe to it – reminds me a little of an old Barbadillo Quina I tried once (but not quite as concentrated or bitter). It is made with oloroso and pedro ximenez and 30 botanicals (it says on the label) but certainly isn’t sweet or sticky. Neither is it over-bitter – in fact it is very tasty but still pretty refreshing stuff. 

Overall this is very nice in fact – seems to me to have a bit more bite to it than a lot of vermouths but isn’t overdone. Well worth trying.

Dear Reyes Magos, I have been a very good boy this year …

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Specifically, I have kept my new blog reasonably up to date, I have tried a goodly number of wines of every kind of feather and fur, I have shared my thoughts whenever I could remember them, I have shared pictures, some of them in focus, and I have included links to more knowledgeable/thoroughly researched blogs whenever possible.

On the other hand, I don’t want to be greedy. I wouldn’t dream of asking for more of the wines I have already had (the Privilegios, Toneles, 1874s, 34s, Panesas, Santa Anas, El Cerros, etc, etc, etc – see previous posts ad infinitum).

So please can I have:

  1. Saca 2/11 of the 2012 Callejuela Manzanilla de Añada
  2. Volume II of the Pitijopos
  3. Willy Perez’s Barajuela fino (and the oloroso, the Samaruco and the Garum while you are there)
  4. Primitivo Collantes’ new wine from Finca Matalian
  5. The 2015 Palmas (and a fino en rama etc)
  6. Ramiro Ibañez’s Pandorga (and the new Encrucijado when she comes)
  7. The 2004 Savagnin Vignes de Mon Pere de Jean-Francois Ganevat
  8. A 70 year old Toro Albala Convent selection (ahem, “the” 70 year old)
  9. The Barbadillo Reliquia Palo Cortado
  10. One of these biologically aged, oxidized Ruedas that are said to be hidden in family vaults up there

Yours &C,

Sharquillo

Manzanilla en rama Solear – Saca de Otoño 2015 – again

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Picked up a couple more of these and am glad to report that this one is just as juicy as the first one I opened a few weeks ago.

First, an apology. When I last wrote about this I referred to a “rat” – a reference which was a long way from the mark. The label is in fact a dormouse or “liron careto” aka “dormilon del antifaz” (masked sleepyhead) and a handsome little beast.

More importantly, the wine is a little beauty too. Lovely rich old gold in colour and a big aromatic nose of salty hay bales and sweeter kitchen herbs like oregano. The mouthfeel is fatty and lush and it is really juicy: lovely herbal, yeasty, vegetable flavours – a long toasty taste like a vegetable pastry.

I really like it – will have to hunt out a magnum of this one.

Oloroso Villapanes 

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Thanks to a tweet by el Colectivo Decantado recently I was lead to a review of this by the guys at http://www.enoarquia.com and when I went to check it against my own post was shocked to find I hadn’t done one. Been a priority since then to make good this omission.

It is a beautiful crystal clear mahogany brown – not really a great picture above (poor background, poor focus) but there are red and orange hues in this that really stand out in the light. The nose is big and imposing – concentrated, some alcohol but aromas of toasted nuts and burnt toffee. (Compared to some younger olorosos the absence of overripe fruit is noticeable – in fact I find there is a real nutty, savoury quality to these Emilio Hidalgo wines in general).

It is acidic and concentrated on the palate and really follows through on the nose. It is actually a gentle, elegant beginning but then the acidity takes over in a big big wave of intense toasted nut and burnt caramel. Then a long, long finish, in which the burnt and toasted flavours come through even more. That burnt, toasted character gives it almost a mineral finish in fact.

A class wine. I cannot believe this is my first bottle since Easter.

Sherry Christmas

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Just about everyone is having a go at recommending sherries for these next couple of weeks so I thought I might share my tuppence worth even if, as is certainly the case, I will certainly not be allowed to choose the wine chez mes parents.

With nibbles you of course want a nice light, refreshing fino or manzanilla I reckon the optimum wine would be the Callejuela Manzanilla de Añada 1/11 but given the scarcity it might be better to settle for a nice elegant fino like Tio Pepe or the Fino Maestro Sierra I had the other day. There are a lot of more intense wines (such as my favourite fino) but you probably don’t want to start too big.

The prawn cocktail and its marie rose sauce are a famously tricky pairing and in theory you would want something nice and fruity. Riesling is the classic and along those lines the fruit and suggestion of sweetness of the Exceptional Harvest might be a good bet (I had originally thought of the Forlong blanco for this role but going back to it I don’t think it has enough sweetness) or, just maybe, the Alba Sobretabla (Lot I).

With the turkey, taters, carrots, sprouts, gravy, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, stuffing and chipolatas  I would go Amontillado Fino. Specifically, my number one call would be el Tresillo, but a Fossi or a classic Viña AB would go down very nicely too. You could also try a manzanilla pasada but you would want one at the fruitier end of the scale like the lovely Maruja.

With the Christmas pudding, and all that brandy, brandy butter and cream, you need something that will stand up to it and as balance you might even want a big dry oloroso – a Villapanes or an El Cerro. If you can cope with the sugar rush it could also be an excuse to go sweet: my top pick would be the majestic Noe, which has masses of backbone to balance up all that sweetness. A happy medium might be one of the excellent PX olorosos: Gran Barquero or the Asuncion.

Don’t ask me why, but quite often in our house a second round of dessert then appears – Christmas cake or a Yule log. If it is a log, then this is your chance to definitely hit the Noe (or maybe the Callejuela PX), but if it is a Christmas cake I reckon it would match up pretty well with an Apostoles.

With the stilton, a decent Port and some walnuts (some things just can’t be improved upon). However, once the cheese is cleared away it may be time for a drop of Privilegio or even some Toneles. At the very least, a spot of Tresillo 1874.

And then it would be time to rest one’s eyelids for a few moments while enjoying a comfy sofa.

Piñero Cream 

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This is one of the wines that came too late to catch up with my faculties in the night of the Pitijopos and I really wanted to give it another shot. I have commented before on my predisposition against sweetened, blended wines – maybe a reaction to the sherry I get back home. but I had hopes for this one – it is 75% palomino (an old oloroso), 25% pedro ximenez (old again). It has been aged 15-20 years in botas of american oak.

The colour is a dark, reddish amber, clear but not fully crystalline – a little thick looking. I don’t find it particularly intense in the nose, but there are definite nuts, toffee, citrus, wood, and wood polish/alcohol – the oloroso really makes its presence felt – and maybe just a bit of raisin in the background from the PX.

On the palate there is more raisiny sweetness upfront, some dusty oloroso acidity then a long tail of black treacle/molasses. It reminds me a little of the Matusalem although less acidic, concentrated and astringent around the edges. More balanced, but still maybe a bit sweet for my tastes: the overall effect is black treacle or molasses, with maybe a bit of cedar.

Very nice stuff – would be cracking with a cheesecake.