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Month: July 2023

Wine of the Week

Lancelot’s Champagne

Published 28. July 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

At Raw Wine Copenhagen I met Philippe Lancelot, maker of natural wine in Champagne. The estate was created by his parents who both inherited some vineyards, then bought new ones together. Philippe had introduced biodynamic practise for all vineyards by 2012. He wants to express the individuality of each cru and village, almost always completely dry and in most cases without any added sulphur. He showed five magnificent wines, among them Le Fond du Bâteau 2018, from the lieu-dit (named vineyard) of the same name in the surroundings of Choully, a grand cru village in Côte des Blancs. 100% chardonnay, no dosage and zero added sulphites. Light golden, aroma of green apples, citrus, chalk and brioche, concentrated, mineral, long, pure.

The oldest wine he presented was the 2014 vintage of Les Bas des Saran 2014, also pure chardonnay, with no additions. This one comes from four lieux-dits of various grand cru villages, among them Cramant (his home village). It’s vinified in oak barrels and vats, and spent 5 years in the cellars before launch.

Les Bas des Saran 2014 (Phillipe Lancelot)

Light yellow. Discreet floral nose, expressive citrus, brioche. In the mouth it has a dry and tense attack, but develops both creamy and fruity. Concentrated, long, salty.

Price: High

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Wine of the Week

Noble Zweigelt

Published 21. July 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Maria and Sepp Muster of Südsteiermark I met a few years ago at a wine fair in London. I was hugely impressed by their range, and the orange wines I regard as some of the best there is. Last Saturday I visited a new wine bar in the unlikely place of my hometown (sorry, Sandnes!). And this masterpiece of a zweigelt was served blind by Pål, managing director of Tempo vinbar. The bar takes its name from the historic bicycles that were once made right in the same quarter. 

Maria and Sepp Muster make vital and beautiful wines in Gamlitz of Südsteiermark, Austria. The soil is composed of stony clay and silt over calcareous marl subsoil. 
The grapes for this wine were harvested by hand, de-stemmed and gently pressed. They spontaneously ferment in 2,400-litre wooden barrels. The wine is then stored for approx. 2 years in old wooden barrels. Unfiltered. Nothing added.

Graf Zweigelt 2019 (WeinI. Maria & Sepp Muster)

Cherry red. Aroma of cool red and black fruits (raspberry, blackberry), cranberry, fresh herbs and some earth. Medium-bodied, fine-grained tannins, a lovely integrated acidity, and a long finish. 

Price: Medium

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Wine bars and restaurants and Wine of the Week

Asturianos revisited

Published 14. July 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Last evening in Madrid: I haven’t been to the Asturianos restaurant since many years, when I had a tasting of Gredos wines with Belarmino Fernández. Belarmino’s family runs this restaurant in the Chamberí neighbourhood, and he is also in charge of Bodegas Canopy in Méntrida (Toledo province, at the foot of the Gredos mountains) together with his friend Alfonso Chacón.

I had celebrated and good wines like Esporão Reserva Branco 2021 (Alentejo) and Predicador 2020 (B. Romeo, Rioja), of which the restaurant is a distributor, and also Canopy’s varietal syrah Malpaso 2021. Still, when sommelier José Antonio offered me a tasting of their garnachas, this was unquestionably the highlight of the evening. 

Belarfonso is put together from the names of the two owners of the bodega. The wine’s origin is in El Real de San Vicente where old garnacha grows in granite soil. It underwent a pre-fermentative cold fermentation, before a malalactic in oak, and spent a short time in French barrels of 500 and 700 liters.

Castillo de Belarfonso 2019 (Bodegas Canopy)

Garnet red. Cherry, herbs, scrubland and a typical ethereal note. Fresh in the mouth, well-integrated tannins, some earth and a hint of coffee and black pepper.

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Wine of the Week

Ponce by Ponce

Published 7. July 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Just back from Bobal country I look back on the best wines during the week. In Manchuela I was welcomed by Juan Antonio Ponce in Villanueva de la Jara (province of Cuenca) a real master of the art.

Bodegas Ponce makes super-elegant and drinkable wines with a very light extraction. Juan Antonio uses only big old wooden containers, whole cluster, and the presence of oak in the wines is zero. He also has a good hand with other varieties such as monastrell that he also makes in a surprisingly elegant style.

The self-titled wine is one of the latest additions to the portfolio of the house, first made as a tribute to the first 15 years of Ponce’s project. It has in short time become something of a prestige wine, and as such maybe surprisingly only 85% bobal, while the rest is moravia agria.

The two varieties ferment separately with native yeasts in wooden vats and with a short maceration. The wine ages for 17 months in large in 600-litre French oak barrels. It’s bottled without filtering or clarifying.

Ponce 2020 (Bodegas Ponce)

Cherry red. Red and black fruits, herbs, a touch of smoke. Medium-bodied, concentrated flavours, mineral and long. Elegant.

Price: Medium/high

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