Category: Wine of the Week

Mysterious Muscadet Melon

Published 21. August 2020 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Melon de Bourgogne can be difficult to get to grips with. Not long ago there was a Muscadet tasting in my private wine club, and after having tasted through some 15 lightly coloured white wines one of the members observed that nobody had yet said a word about citrus.

The other day my student had trouble in describing this wine. And so had I, to be honest. I often start placing the aroma along the “apple scale”. Nothing obvious here. Citrus: Nope. Herbs and spices were difficult to detect, no butter, and wood: not at all. In the mouth it was quite full, but there was no particular acidity to talk about. I was thinking, maybe is this the perfect wine, when words… don’t come easy, but what you have in the glass is just delicious and, yes just wine, and just right.

In the Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine appellation mother and daughter Véronique & Aurore have 75 hectares of vineyards. The Château du Coing vineyard is a south-facing one. Then, it’s a lees-aged wine typical for the area.

Château du St. Coing de Saint Fiacre l’Ancestral 2015 (Günther-Chéreau)

Straw yellow. Mature apples, some bread, white peach and maybe ginger. Full on the palate, a creamy lees character, medium length.

Price: Low-medium

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Wine of the Week

Monastrell from Bodega Monastrell

Published 14. August 2020 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Here is a 100% monastrell from Murcia, certified organic and very good value.

This bodega, led by Alfonso J. García, takes pride in reducing the carbon imprint, a fact that also is shown by the light weight of the bottle. They are found in the center of Bullas town. Of 22 hectares of vine most is monastrell, with some petit verdot and tempranillo, and 3 ha. macabeo from which they elaborate a white wine with the same name as this one.

The grapes were dry-farmed in the Valle del Aceniche between 800 and 900 meters of altitude. It was fermented in inox tank, and has underwent a gentle extraction.

Salto del Usero 2018 (Bodega Monastrell)

Bright red with violet hints. Forest fruits (blackberry), lickorice, some balsamic. Juicy, quite fresh and lightly textured in the mouth, a “cool” wine from a warm region.

Price: Low

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Wine of the Week

Finca Genoveva with Rodri Méndez

Published 7. August 2020 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Last Friday I visited Rodrigo Méndez and Forjas del Salnés. We started in the precious Finca Genoveva in Barro and ended at a delightful restaurant A Curva in Portonovo, all in the province of Pontevedra.

Finca Genoveva, a countryside “pazo” with a chapel seen in the back

Rodri is the nephew of another great producer, Gerardo Méndez of Do Ferreiro (that means “from the blacksmith” in gallego language), and Forjas (forges) de Salnés is named after the iron business that his grandfather had set up a long time ago.

Forjas del Salnés sources the wines from 7.5 hectares of vines in the villages of Meaño, Sanxenxo and Barro. Of these they own 4 hectares, the rest are rented from local growers. Genoveva is one of these. It is a 2,5 hectares farm in the municipality of Barro, and 1 hectare is planted. 70-80% is 200 years old albariño, and there is also caíño tinto and other red grapes. The caíño tinto grapes go into a single plot red wine without DO.

This wine is produced from the bicentenary albariño vines in sandy granite soil. It was fermented with whole clusters in big 2.500 liter oak foudres, and matured in them on lees for a year before bottling. Note: There is no oaky character in the wine. Other than that, minimal intervention is employed, no temperature control, only some SO2 when the grapes come in and later to block malolactic fermentation. Typical total amount is 20 mg, according to Rodri. Both 2017 and 18 were hot years, so the harvest was early (normally it’s late august).

Served with “vieiras”, the scallop shell associated with the pilgrims, at Mesón A Curva, Portonovo

Leirana Finca Genoveva Albariño 2018 (Forjas del Salnés)

Straw yellow. Aroma of flowers, red apples, minerals. It has concentration of flavours, but is very balanced, fine-tuned and elegant, with a super, mature acidity and a saline finish. We have seen it more “wild” or edgy in previous vintages (such as 2015), but this is delicious.

Price: Medium

Food: White fish, seafood (oysters, clams, pulpo), rice dishes, chicken and salads

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Wine bars and restaurants and Wine of the Week

Caíño Longo at Malauva, Vigo

Published 1. August 2020 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I am back in Vigo for the Emoción dos Viños fair to be held this weekend a bit further down the coast. A stop at Malauva is then mandatory. (Read about my last visit here.)

This time Josiño first recommended Monte Pío 2019, a very nice Salnés albariño from the bodega of the same name. It had all the typicity intact, which means aromas of apple and citrus from indigenous yeast, low sulphur, creamy after long time on lees and a clean citric aftertaste. Then a very different albariño, biodynamically grown, from Alberto Nanclares, Soverribas 2015. It had very typical aged albariño character, at least from my experience. This includes mature apples that hints to oxidation, just hints!, nuts (direction almonds/hazelnuts), and full, glyceric, dry and long in the mouth.

The first of two albariños, Josiño preparing some bread and tapas in the background

Our wine of the week is a wonderful Atlantic style red from the Ribeiro area. Cume do Avia is the producer (also mentioned here), and it’s also the name of the highest hill in the Ribeiro subregion of Avia. It is Diego, Álvaro and Fito, all relatives, who are Cume do Avia. They come from a family of vignerons, and started for themselves in 2005. They went organic from the start, with some biodynamic practises. They count on 9 hectares with 13 autochthonous grape varieties in Eira dos Mouros.

The soil consists of clay, schist and granite, east facing, with good sun exposure and ventilation. In the cellar they use indigenous yeast, no filtration, clarification with gravity and only a small amount of sulphite before bottling. The reds are made with low extraction.

Dos Canotos Caíño Longo 17 (Cume do Avia)

Light cherry red. Fresh red fruits, slightly herby. Juicy, but concentrated, with lots of integrated natural acidity, traces of iodine, salt. It’s not powerful, but very long, and so full of energy!

Price: Medium

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Wine bars and restaurants and Wine of the Week

Coruña del Conde at Carlos’ Cascorro

Published 25. July 2020 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I met Julien and Angélica at Barcelona’s Vins Nus fair for the first time. (See here.) This time a meeting in Madrid called for a festive start of a wine trip, even though the city itself was calmer than usual due to the coronavirus and the heat. Carlos Campillo at his Cascorro Bistrot never fails to deliver, and Coruña del Conde‘s rosé pét nat was one of his best offers. It was strange to see the Plaza de Cascorro that empty though, and he admittedly said it had been a tough time too.

Carlos in his masque first served *Julián Ruíz’* **Pampaneo** **2019**, a fresh, uncomplicated La Mancha airén

Back to Coruña del Conde: The vineyards are located on the slopes of Alto Otero, in the village with the same name as the wine company. Coruña del Conde, at a height of around 1.000 meters above sea level. They now have 9 hectares, divided into 36 parcels, in a calcareous clay terrain with a typically continental climate. The viticulture is organic since 2007, no pesticides, only copper and sulphur.

The rosé pét nat is made from 100% tempranillo. After 24 hours of maceration, the grapes are pressed, and fermented in vats without any additions.

Rosadito 2019 (Coruña del Conde)

Light cherry red, a little bubbles. Full of red fruits (raspberry, cherry), some herbs. A little residual sugar and lots of fruit. Very juicy, with a slight texture and a nice natural acidity.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Goyo’s Young from Old

Published 17. July 2020 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Goyo García Viadero has become one of the most respected winemakers in the natural wine field of Ribera del Duero. I would in fact say that for me these are some of the most inspiring wines of the whole area. And not only the Ribera DO, he also makes wine from Cantabria, from his mother’s birthplace high up in the Picos de Europa. One of these is an amazing, fruit-packed field blend of mencía (red) and palomino (the white sherry grape that is found to a certain extent near the northern coast), called Cobero.

Inspired by natural winemakers, like some from the Jura, Goyo started making his own wines in 2003. Together with his wife he farms small plots in the central part of Ribera, basically field blends with white grapes amongst the red, in varying altitudes and soil types. The focus is thus on the peculiarity of the vineyard rather than the grape varieties themselves. He harvests several times, to get some wine with acidity and some with body, to finally blend it all together. All this is a nod to the past of this area.

As indicated in the beginning, these are minimal-intervention, natural wines. This means fermenting with wild yeast, no additions (almost never SO2), no fining nor filtration. Most wines are raised in old French oak though, in an ancient underground cave in located in Gumiel del Mercado. Add to the story that Gumiel’s Bodegas Valduero is run by his family, with his sister Yolanda as winemaker, and we are a step nearer to a complete picture.

The Joven is his non-oaked red, from a dry-farmed tempranillo vineyard planted some 40 years ago at 860 meters altitude. The grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed and fermented with wild yeasts in steel tank with 3 months of skin-maceration, with little extraction. It’s then raised in tank before being bottled without fining, filtration or any addition of SO2. Don’t be fooled by the word “joven” (young), this wine is as serious and well-made as they come.

Joven de Viñas Viejas 2018 (Goyo García Viadero)

Dark cherry red. Aroma of dark berries (blackberry, morello), and some wilder red ones too (cranberry), flowers, and some mineral notes (crayon). Quite fleshy in the mouth, with young, elegant tannins, and a vivid acidity. Wonderful drinking now, but will keep.

Price: Medium

Food: Lamb, other tasty and light meats, tapas that includes hams and sausages…

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Wine of the Week

Vielfalt: Diversity in a bottle

Published 10. July 2020 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Matthias Hager is found in the Kamptal region of Niederösterreich. In Molland, in the northern part of Kamptal, he produces terroir-driven wines from his 14 hectares of vineyards.

I met him in London earlier this year, and here you can read a little more about his winemaking and some of his other wines. He did not bring this wine, but I tasted it when I came home, because it had won a tender within the Norwegian monopoly.

This is a grüner veltliner-dominated wine from grapes grown in loam, loess and schist and aged in old, neutral oak. It is a low-sulphite wine (less than 25 mg in total), unfined and unfiltered, and the 25% skin-fermentation for up to 8 days places it just inside the orange wine category.

Vielfalt means diversity, and the grapes were selected from various plots with different soils.

The picture on the label was painted with self-made earth-colours. As Matthias explains, “The earth comes from our Mollandser sites and was prepared and used for painting in a workshop with Caritas Schloss Schiltern – a dormitory for handicapped people.” The one for the Vielfalt was chosen because it shows strength and complexity, just like the wine itself. “For every sold bottle Caritas gets a part for its participation on this project”, concludes Matthias.

Vielfalt 2017 (M. Hager)

Golden colour, turbid. Aroma of citrus (lime), pineapple, some spice (like white pepper), a bit nutty. Full on the palate, slightly textured, a bitterness that hints to grapefruit, concentrated, long.

Price: Medium

Food: Tasty fish, light meat, rich salads, cheese and ham selections

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Wine of the Week

A pét-nat classic of Robinot’s

Published 3. July 2020 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Jean-Pierre Robinot is for many one of the most classic in the pét-nat style, and his wines are for every producer, call it old or new world, or whatever, to look up to and seek inspiration from.

Robinot used to run one of the very first natural wine bars in Paris called L’Ange Vin, implying that he is from Anjou in the Loire. After deciding that he wanted to make wine himself, and searching all over for vineyards he finally ended up in Chahaignes, Coteaux du Loir, the village he was raised, just north of Saumur.

There he makes many different wines from chenin blanc and pineau d’aunis, some from own vineyards, others from bought-in grapes. Everything is without additions. He makes a number of sparkling wines from the methode ancestral, nowadays mostly called pét-nats.

Fêtembulles is made from chenin blanc, mainly from 60 year old vines in chalky clay and old marine soil. They are located within AOC Jasnières, but the authorities consider the wines to be atypical, so Jean-Pierre label his wines just Vin de France.

The yield is low (20 hl/ha.). It stayed almost a year on the lees, was degorged by hand, and only topped up with more of the same wine. Unfined, unfiltered and without any additions.

Fêtembulles L’Opéra des Vins 2018 (Jean-Pierre Robinot)

Golden, light amber, small bubbles. Mature fruits (yellow tomatoes), mature apples, breadcrumbs and flowers. Quite full mouthfeel and lightly textured, very clean, lovely acidity, mature apples, long.

Price: Medium

Food: Apéritif, fish, shellfish, salads

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Wine of the Week

Pure fun, Frankenly speaking

Published 26. June 2020 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

This Franken wine is maybe perfect to exemplify the natural wine movement. Not only are the words Pure & Naked that make up the name among the most dominating when describing these wines. It’s also a pét-nat, a style that has come to prominence in this era, and it’s un-filtered, murky as a morning mist.

Ludwig and Sandra Knoll can be found in Würzburg, on the river Main, where they practise bidynamic vituculture. Among their most important vineyards are Würzburger Stein, and maybe even more famous: Stettener Stein, hence the name of the company.

The wine is made from sauvignon blanc and cabernet blanc (a Swiss hybrid) in equal parts. It was cold-macerated 6 days, un-filtered and un-sulphured.

Pure & Naked 2019 (Weing. am Stein – Ludwig Knoll)

Cloudy yellow-greenish, lightly bubbly. Aroma of pineapple, going towards lime and grapefruit, a flowery component too. Juicy, lovely acidity, nice grapefruity aftertaste. Pure fun!

Price: Medium

Food: Fish, shellfish, sushi, salads, some strawberries, on its own…

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Wine of the Week

Lifted Lambrusco

Published 19. June 2020 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Who has not experienced that sweet, uninspiring stuff called lambrusco? Now thankfully more and more producers try to lift it from that bad reputation. In the past it was made by what is now dubbed the ancestral method, that involves bottling before it is finished, sometimes with a small addition of unfermented must, and the bubbles were developed during this process. Some are also made by the “traditional” (champagne) method. But most are made with the second fermentation in steel tanks.

Lambrusco is a family of grapes that has also given name to several DOC regions in Emilia-Romagna. This wine here comes under the less specific designation Lambrusco dell’Emilia.

Camillo Donati is found in Langhirano, just south of Parma, where he cultivates 21 hectares of vines biodynamically. It was his grandfather who first planted vines. The soil here is calcareous clay, and this particular vineyard was planted in the 1970’s. They were spontaneously fermented, with the secondary fermentation in bottle. It’s unfined and unfiltered, and the certification is organic.

Il Mio Lambrusco 2018 (Camillo Donati)

Dark red, bubbly. Aromas of cherry, raspberry, flowers. Fresh, slightly textured, yet juicy and appealing in the mouth, with a good natural acidity.

Price: Medium

Food: Characuterie (don’t forget the prosciutto of Parma), light meat, pasta, salads, aperitif…

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