Getting the most from your wine (Part 2)

Having now sorted out the temperature issue, we can now take a look at glasses or stemware as some of the more pricey manufacturers call their products.

For the past 15 years or so I have been a big fan of the Riedel Vinum range which is their mid market offering. If you go on their website you will see they seem to have a specific shaped glass for each major grape variety.

As you can see from the photo above  I have settled upon two of their range. The bordeaux for reds and the chardonnay for whites and this suits my pocket and my available storage.

Irrespective of the manufacturer you choose, I think you need to look for a red wine glass with a larger bowl so you can swill it around and this definitely adds to the bouquet. For the white, a smaller more narrow bowl to concentrate the flavours. Relatively thin glass is also beneficial.

Overall you are looking to enhance the smell, taste and visual aspect of your wine and there is no doubt in my mind that good glasses are a very worthwhile investment. If you don’t believe me, watch this youtube clip below. I hope I am not too much like him although we do reach a similar conclusion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl_QnOO_xS4

The big problem is washing these beauties. In the early days I probably smashed one a month which is an expensive habit. So having learnt from this, we bought a special basket that sits in your dish washing machine so you can stack them safely. We collect all the glasses over the course of a weekend and wash them all in one go.

The final pointer from me is DO NOT attempt to wash if you are a bit tipsy as this WILL result in breakages.

Next time, a wine I just like to say the name of…..

Getting the most from your wine (part1)

As well as trying my best to source interesting wines I have for a long time realised the importance of serving wine at the correct temperature and serving it in a decent wine glass. We will tackle temperature today and stemware next.

Most of us drink white wine straight out of the fridge where the temperature is approximately 6 Degrees C. This is way cooler than most experts recommend. For a half decent dry white wine, about 10 C is right and for a better quality Chablis, about 12 C. It is easy to lose much of the flavour at too low a temperature, most taste dull and insipid.

I have conducted a simple experiment to see how  long a wine would take to reach 10 C from 6 C. For the record, If your room is 20 C then it will take 37 minutes to reach the correct temperature. So all we need is a little forethought.

When eating out, I have had ongoing battles with waiters who will serve your white or rose in an ice bucket when it is clear to me that the wine is becoming too chilled. I remove it from the bucket and place it on the table, yet they keep hovering over you trying to put it back at any opportunity. I have taken to placing it in the most inaccessible part of the table so they cannot reach !

Whilst I am having a moan, I have only just recently realised that they top up your glass so frequently in order to speed up your drinking, hoping your will order another bottle.

Anyway, conversely, most reds are served at too high a temperature. If you think your home is probably 20 C and most bars and restaurants are probably substantially warmer than this. Only the best quality Bordeaux’s should be served at no more than 18 C. Reducing the temperature of a Cote du Rhone or any standard wine by a few degrees to 15 C can knock off a few rough edges and add to your enjoyment.

If you are dining out, don’t be shy and insist on an ice bucket if you think your red is too warm. I am sure the waiting staff  will look at you as if you are a madman but remember who is paying the bill. I remember seeing a frighteningly urbane Parisian doing just this on a £250 bottle of Chateau Palmer on a barmy night in the south of France a couple of years ago with no hint of embarrassment

So next time, glasses

Wines of The Rhone

I have recently taken delivery of my 2009 en primeur Rhone wines which I purchased back in 2011.  As you can see I bought a couple of Crozes Hermitages and a couple from southern Rhone.

I am really beginning to see the benefit of buying wine in this way. I estimate I am saving about 20/25% on the retail price of these wines which is great. It is a bit of a treadmill though as soon as these are stored away I receive details of the 2010 offer, another brilliant vintage !

I  have been weak-willed again and bought two of my favourites.

Vinsobres Rouge, Domaine Chaume Arnaud

Les Trois Chênes, Domaine Emmanuel Darnaud

That should keep me going for several years to come…

If I had to choose just one region to drink from, it would be the Rhone. It’s affordable, most wines are drinking well after 4/5 years but above all it is easy to understand.

Simplistically, The northern reds are produced using the Syrah grape whilst the south tends to use GSM. Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre.

I really like the southern ones that hail from the AOC villages such as Vacqueyras, Rasteau and Gigondas. They really reflect the terrior more than most. The limestone, the baking soil and the wild vegetation.

The big exception to the grape rule is of course Chateauneuf du Pape. The region is situated 10 miles north of Avignon, it’s where the Popes used to hang out in 14th Century, hence the Pape bit.

In 1308, Pope Clement,  relocated the papacy to Avignon and subsequent Popes  were said to be great lovers of wine. Here is the Palais des Papes in Avignon.

It is often said that you need to spend more than £20.00 for a good Chateauneuf, I believe Robert Parker is responsible as the price of a bottle was gone up four fold since he made his pronouncements.

To me it just seems too complicated, up to 14 different grape varieties are allowed into the mix. Imagine a UK christmas dinner with 14 items on your plate. Some are cold, some are overcooked, some you have forgotten, it’s just too much.

I’ll stick with a more simple mix.

So, in summary keep you eye out for the 2007, 2009 and 2010 vintages.

From Vineyards Direct

Regular readers will know that I had a bit of a pop at FVD recently. I try to be balanced with my comments so I would like to praise them for the service I have received from them this week.

One of the wines I ordered at Christmas was oxidised, this happens,  but I have noticed that it is far less prevalent with the wines purchased from good retailers where it has been stored properly. When I was buying wines from supermarkets I would think 2 out of 10 were not in great condition compare that to now where I think I have had 2 dodgy ones in the last 2 years.

I contacted FVD to inform them of the spoiled wine and by return I was offered a no quibble refund. Just type in a code, easy.

I was keen to buy some more of 2 of their wines so I ordered a mixed case. Two days later it’s here !

http://www.fromvineyardsdirect.com/wine/ronan2009.php

A lovely pomerol from the fab 2009 vintage. 100% merlot, this often disappoints as it smells brilliant but it’s thin on taste. Not this one !

http://www.fromvineyardsdirect.com/wine/les_coteaux2008.php

100% Syrah, as good as anything that comes from the Rhone at this price point

Credit is due.

The (Vaguely) prestigious Man et Vin 2011 awards

Well another year has flown by and here are some of my best memories.

FAVOURITE RED

LE VIN DES AMIS 2010, MAS COUTELOU

FAVOURITE WHITE

Estoras | Grüner Veltliner

BEST WEBSITE

For descriptions and ease of use

From Vineyards Direct

http://www.fromvineyardsdirect.com

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE

From Vineyards Direct

Ignored emails, wrong vintages and lately, completely mucked up my last order. Missed both Christmas and New Year deadlines. It’s so frustrating as I love virtually everything else about them.

BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE

Berry Bros and Rudd

Very knowledgeable staff and first-rate delivery

http://www.bbr.com/

BEST NEW TREND

Natural Wine. I will certainly be looking into this a lot more in 2012

BEST PLACE TO BUY A LAST MINUTE BOTTLE

Your local Co-op.

Has a great selection of fair trade wines for those vegetarian dinner parties.

If you keep your eyes open, the stock rotates quite quickly and they do seem to sell small batches of wines that you would expect to see in a more august establishment.

WINE MOMENT

After a tough day mountain biking in Zermatt with my friends, to sit on the roof terrace of the Petit Hotel gorging on Paprika crisps and the local red, Dole. If you haven’t tasted it before, it’s a little like a pinot noir. Bliss !

The Brilliant Brillat-Savarin

I will apologise to you upfront for this blog as it is more tenuous than usual.

It all starts with a picnic near Gsteig in Switzerland.

We had picked up a few bits and bobs from the local supermarket in the better known Gstaad.  In actual fact Pernet Comestibles is a bit more than just a supermarket, it’s like Harrods food hall on steroids with a wine selection to match.

Armed with our bread, cheese, tomatoes and fruit he headed for the hills. It was one of those magical moments, great simple food, cow bell’s ringing and a cuckoo calling from the forest. The cheese we had chosen was Brillat-Savarin , a soft white cow’s cheese. It was one of the best ever for us.

On further investigation  I found that Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin  was a lawyer, politician and gastronome of some note. As well has having this cheese named after him he came out with some corking quotes.

“A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye”

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”

But my favourite is when he was offered some grapes with his cheese. He exclaimed  “Much obliged,’  pushing the plate aside, ‘I am not accustomed to take my wine in pills.”

He also came up with the notion that you should add a tablespoon of water to a decanter before adding the wine as he felt this would open the wine’s flavours up. Now I know you do this with whisky so I will give it a go and report back to you.

Sauvignon Blanc, weed or wonder vine ?

Legend has it when the esteemed Hugh Johnson was about to be poured a glass of sauvignon blanc he uttered

“sauvignon blanc is a weed that should be eradicated. “

English wine writer Jancis Robinson wrote

“that of all the grapes among the nine included in the classic varieties section, sauvignon blanc has the weakest claim”.

She argues the ability to develop with age is an attribute shared by the world’s great wines and this is not something that Sauvignon blanc on its own delivers.

Both these views seem to rail against the huge popularity of  this grape in the UK. It’s certainly been a triumph of marketing in the 90′s when most of us were getting a little bored with the sweetish over oaked chardonnay from the new world.

New Zealand has been the muscle behind this, we can all probably remember our first bottle of Marlborough Montana and how zingy it tasted. We all remember looking for that elusive bottle of Cloudy Bay.

But, for me it is just too one-dimensional and quite often very acidic. However, in the interest of research and curiosity I have recently tried some differing examples.

 The first, Dog Point Section 94 from New Zealand. It is made by the former wine makers at the aforementioned Cloudy Bay.

It’s USP is that it is aged in old oak, but for me this just doesn’t work at all. Neither Madam et Vin or I could finish the bottle, and trust me this is a terrifying, unheard of, indictment.

I have always wanted to use the word egregious in one of my blogs, so I will.

I think the old world deals with the grape more sympathetically by either blending it with semillion as in bordeaux or the more subtle approach as found in The Loire.

Sancerre is where it’s at for me. They manage to balance the sugar with the acidity levels and the terroir of chalk and flint give it almost a smokey taste. A match made in heaven with simple seafood.

Whilst I don’t think sauvignon blanc should be eradicated like Hugh, it’s some way down my list of preferences.