Category: Wine of the Week

May I…?

Published 21. August 2015 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Some times you doesn’t want your wine to bother you with big questions, nuclear weapon threats and difficult international issues. Some times it’s ok that it comes to you, tickles your taste buds, and slides down – like a polite question, or maybe just to confirm that all is still well.

Karl May has a lot to offer, from single vineyard rieslings to easy drinking reds and whites.

He manages 20 hectars of organic vineyards in Wonnegau, Southern Rheinhessen. The grapes are handpicked. In the cellar he lets time do the rest. Thus fermentation occurs by its own and when the time is right.

Spätburgunder 2012 (Karl May)

Bright red. Aroma of raspberries and cherries, a touch of spice. Luscious, cool, with a fine rounded acidity, quite slender if you think of it. Not very complex, fruity, easy-to-drink, and just lovely!

Price: Low

Food: Light meat, hard cheeses, salads… and try to bacalao

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Wine of the Week

Take a Spanish cab

Published 14. August 2015 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

So you don’t think a Spanish cabernet can be much fun? This one is, at least for me. Lately I have tasted through most of Dominio Buenavista’s portfolio again, most of it under the Veleta label, from the (in Spain at least once) ever-present cabernet, via the obscure local variety vijiriega, a tinto jóven made of tempranillo, to the most fascinating not-very-sweet red dessert wine Don Miguel.

Juan, Nola and Nolita (front) Palomar (credit: Dom. Buenavista)

Dominio Buenavista is located 650 meters above sea level, in the Alpujarras, a mountaneous area in the province of Granada. This is one of the Spanish centers of natural wine, with Barranco Oscuro as one of the leading producers. Their good friends at Dominio Buenavista is another. We are in the village of Ugíjar, in the southeastern Contraviesa subzone, with a view to the Mediterranean and at the same time to Veleta, one of the highest peaks on the Spanish mainland. Planted here are cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, tempranillo, chardonnay, viognier a.o., not to forget the exiting white variety vijiriega. The work in the vineyard is biodynamic, only natural yeast is used and the quantities of sulphur are very restricted. Red wines normally undergo a ten days maceration, where the must is pumped-over one or two times each day before pressing. They are then typically aged for a certain time in French and American oak up to five years old.

Veleta Cabernet Sauvignon Roble 2013 (Dominio Buenavista)

The grapes for the Cabernet Sauvignon Roble 2013 were picked mid-September, and the wine aged for three months in oak.

Dark, bright colour. Aroma with elements of ripe fruit, plums, some pepper, quite balsamic (menthol). Rich with a smooth texture, but not without tannic structure either. The balance between fruit, oak, tannins and the other elements is already intact, but the wine will develop positively for 4-5 years too.

Price: Low

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Wine of the Week

Brezo from Bierzo

Published 7. August 2015 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Grégory Pérez produces highly original wines, but also with respect for terroir. They are natural wines made in a sustainable way, with knowledge of soil and protection of biodiversity as key elements. Low yields secures ripeness and concentration, and cluster thinning and organic fertilizers is only used if absolutely necessary. Selection always takes place in the vineyard. The fermentation is carried out by indigenious yeasts, different yeasts for each vineyard.

The really like his unoaked entry level wine called Brezo made from 85% mencía and 15% alicante bouschet, a grape associated with warmer climates. It’s made from 30 year old vines 550 meters above sea level in Horta and Villafranca del Bierzo.

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Mengoba Brezo 2013 (Gregory Pérez)

After a lot of airing (this is mencia, a truely reductive grape, remember):

Dark red, bright with a violet tinge. Balsamic notes in aroma, forest fruits and flowers. Fleshy, full, with a nice acidity. A charming red bierzo on the «wild» side.

Price: Low

Food: Try with light meat, game, and a variety of cheeses

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Wine of the Week

Austrian with great personality

Published 31. July 2015 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I met Eduard and Stephanie two years ago in London. In fact, the first time I had contact with Eduard Tscheppe he was doing a range of more conventional wines in Südsteiermark, so I was surprised to find him there. But at the RAW (fair for natural wines) I tasted through a whole range of Burgenland wines with great personality. Yesterday, by coincidence, I was presented to a bottle at my local wine store. This is the only shop in my country where it can be found at the moment, and there is only one bottle left. But luckily this one and other Tscheppe wines can be ordered from anywhere in this strange land.

Stephanie Tscheppe-Eselböck and Eduard Tscheppe

They took over the winery Gut Oggau some years ago. It’s named after the village Oggau am Neusiedler See, close to both the Hungarian and the Slovakian border. From 13 hectars biodynamically cultivated vineyards come a range of wines. These are all vinified with grapes from a single plot, and each cuvée is named after a fictional character, together forming a whole family.

In short, the winemaking includes some time on the skins and lees for both red and white wines, indigenous yeasts, no filtration or fining. It may sound frightening to some, but the results are elegant wines full of life. The wines most often get used to oxygen early in in their development, contrary to the modern norm, where all contact with oxygen must be avoided.

Timotheus then, we learn from the back label, is a representative from the elegant elderly generation, powerful and self-confident, and with both feet planted «in life». You can maybe see this from his portrait, but to get the whole presentation you must buy a bottle.

This wine is made from grüner veltliner and weissburgunder and aged for 9 months in used 500 liter barrels.

Timotheus 2013 (Gut Oggau)

Misty yellow with a brownish-greenish hue. Expressive (but by no means ‘boasting’), quite complex aromas with elements of clementine, flowers, almond… In the mouth it’s round, fleshy, a bit appley, and with a slightly bitter aftertaste that often comes with the grape variety.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Low-price, low-sulphite from Navarra

Published 24. July 2015 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Lezaun is a family bodega located in the tiny village of Lakar in the sub-region of Tierra Estella, Navarra. We are near the mountain ranges Urbasa and Andia, and the vineyards give wines that show both Atlantic and Mediterranean influence. The bodega has more than 200 years of history, and today the responsible for oenology is Raúl Lezaun. In-stead of chemical fertilizers they use compost from sheep, and diseases such as mildew and oïdium are fought with sulphur and copper.

Among the wines there are two lines, Lezaun and Eguiarte. There are many interesting wines, but I particularly like the lesser-oaked wines, such as this one. It’s made solely from tempranillo grapes from a vineyard called Zabalartea, completely un-oaked, un-sulphured, and it tastes delicious.

Lezaun

Lezaun 0,0 Sulfitos 2014 (Bodegas Lezaun)

Deep red with a blueish hue. Smells of dark berries, underwood and spice, it has a balsamic coolness, but also hints of something sweeter (mature fruit and the richness from the alcohol). It’s a full wine, with a nice tannin grip and some warmth in the aftertaste.

Price: Low

Food: Red and light meat, tasty sandwiches, tapas

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Wine of the Week

Marenas Lucía of Cordoba

Published 17. July 2015 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

We often hear that natural wines cannot age. Libenese Musar is an example that this isn’t true, though it’s maybe not strictly natural either. Here is a more hard-core natural wine from the current leader of Spain’s organization of producers of natural wines PVN, José Miguel Márquez of Montilla, Cordoba.

Some of his wines age under flor, to honor the tradition of the area. After all Montilla is the town that inspired the name of the famous sherry style amontillado. All Marenas’ wines come from vineyards with nearly the highest insolation in Spain, maybe in Europe, and the sunny character is evident in the wines. Still José Miguel achieves a good sense of balance and harmony, and wines that last at least mid-term.

Marenas Lucía Tempranillo-Monastrell 2005 (Bodega Marenas)

Dark with brownish, developed tones. Mature fruit, cherries, coffee, marmelade. In a good harmony between fruit, wood, and age. Will not improve however.

Price: Medium

Food: Red and light meat, roast, hard cheeses

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Wine of the Week

About flowers and bees

Published 10. July 2015 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Ribeiro is one of Galicia’s inland DO’s. Coto de Gomariz overlooks the river Avia, and counts nearly 30 hectars on schist, granite and sand. The land is mainly steep, and the yields are naturally low. Gomariz has surely come a long way since Ricardo Carreiro’s father founded the estate a few decades ago, and has been one of the leading estates in Galicias Ribeiro for several years now, one of the major awards so far is «best white wine of the year» by Spanish wine website ElMundoVino. Many good wines mainly from treixadura and sousón have emerged, terroir based wines full of expressive fruit and a great deal of minerality.

Ricardo Carreiro in the Gomariz cellar

Ricardo has introduced biodynamic techniques. Recently, together with his winemaker Xosé Lois Sebio, he has also added some new wines. I think the main reasons for this were to secure some quicker income, and at the same time improving the grape material for the top wines. A basic white was released. Then there are the two varietal wines called The Flower and the Bee. There is a treixadura white, while this week’s special wine is red, and the one grape being sousón. This variety is thought by some to be an original Galician grape, but it is in fact the same grape known as sousão or vinhão over the Portuguese border.

2015-06-15 19.57.34 Unpretentious, lovely wine for a simple, tasty tapa

The Flower and the Bee (La Flor y la Abeja) Sousón 2013 (Coto de Gomariz)

Dark with a blue rim. Vivid aromas of blueberry and raspberry, some balsamic notes (mint), and a touch of sweet spice. In the mouth juicy, slightly carbonic, and very easy to drink. The 2013 has settled and is maybe at its peak right now.

Price: Low

Food: Salads, a variety of tapas, light meat and -why not?- bacalao

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Wine of the Week

White SP68

Published 3. July 2015 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Here is another delight from «natural woman» Arianna Occhipinti. She makes two wines named after the local road SP68. Read about the red one here. Near the town of Vitoria and Mount Etna Occhipinti dispose of about 18 hectars of vineyards.

The white SP68 is made from albanello and moscato di allessandria, from a vineyard 280 meters above sea level. The plants are just over 10 years old, and they are not subject to any chemical treatment. The fermentation is done with natural yeasts, the maceration 10 days with the skins, and the wine is then aged 6 months in inox and bottled unfiltered.

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SP68 2013 (A. Occhipinti)

Light golden orange colour (appearance almost like a fino sherry). Big aromas of white flowers, almonds and orange peel. In the mouth it is quite full with a touch of dryness, some tannin from the ten days with the skins, moderate acidity and dry finish. Just a little more skin-contact, and I would have called it an orange wine.

Price: Low

Food: Some cheeses and salads. Think of it as a moscatel wine when pairing with food.

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Wine of the Week

Mountain wine off Granada’s tropical coast

Published 26. June 2015 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

We took a trip from Almuñécar on Granada’s tropical coast and found Bodega H. Calvente in the village of Jete just 15 minutes inland. Here Horacio Calvente and his wife Josefina makes organic red, white, rosé and sparkling wines from two main vineyards in the sheltering mountain ranges Chaparral and Almijara. They ferment them with natural yeasts, and they play with the temperatures to achieve the desired qualities. The lights and whites are simply delicious. The reds are on the oaky side, but I believe that they have the power to come around.

When we were there on San Juan, a public holiday, they obviously had other plans. Still they kindly opened the doors for a brief visit. It’s wonderful actually that everywhere you turn there are small scale producers like these who love their land, their work and their wine.

The wine of this week is their signature white wine. Made from 50-120 years old moscatel de Alejandría grapes in the Guindalera vineyard at 750 to more than 1000 meters in the Sierra de Chaparral.

Calvente Guindalera (mountain wine) 2014

Light straw yellow. Expressive aromas of peach and pineapple, white flowers, some tropical fruit (chirimoya). Full on the palate, a slight hint of bitterness, and with moderate acidity, all this typical of the grape.

Price: Low/medium

Food: Fish, shellfish, chicken, fruits. The picture is taken at Almuñécar’s Los Laureles restaurant, where we had a blue cheese and cured ham salad, and it also went well with the chicken main and a strawberry, cream and peppermint dessert.

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Wine of the Week

Serious Beaujolais

Published 19. June 2015 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Jean Foillard was one of the disciples of Jules Chauvet, one of the fathers of modern natural wine. Foillard’s Morgons are from nearly 100 year old vines from the family domain grown on granite and schist soils. They are made according to strictly organic principles and with very little SO2, but there is nothing «strange» about them, and I suppose anyone can like them. Though accessible and delicious when young they have an ageing potential of several years too. They undergo a traditional whole cluster beaujolais fermentation for 3 or 4 weeks. Then are aged in old barrels, but oaky is clearly not a word to describe these wines.

Jean Foillard Morgon 2013

Young red colour, dark for a beaujolais. Lovely perfumed scent of raspberries and cherries. Delicious, juicy taste, still good concentration and just a slight touch of tannin. Good length. Complete finesse – Serious fun!

Price: Low

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