Category: Wine of the Week

Guillot’s natural Mâconnais

Published 9. June 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Clos des Vignes du Mayne in the Mâconnais (southern Bourgogne) has been owned by the Guillot family since 1952. The land has been used for farming for more thousand years, and no chemical products have ever been used. Now Julien Guillot makes the wines in the most natural way possible, and according to a biodynamic philosophy.

The Bourgogne Rouge Les Crays comes from a small plot of vines aged around 40 years old in calcareous soil. Certified by Demeter, Guillot uses natural treatments and preparations. The harvest is manual and the grapes are selected in the vineyard itself.

The pinot noir grapes are macerated in whole bunches for about 8 days. Following spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts, the wine ages in wooden barrels for 12 months. It is finally bottled without being filtered, clarified or any sulphur added.

Bourgogne Rouge Les Crays 2020 (Julien Guillot/ Clos des Vignes du Maynes)

Cherry red. Dark and red fruits (dark cherry, raspberry), tart plum and tea against a mineral background, and a hint of acetone. Good volume, meaty, lovely texture and good length.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Águila of La Aguilera

Published 2. June 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Dominio del Águila, in the village La Aguilera, was founded in 2010 by Jorge Monzón and Isabel Rodero. Here, in the Burgos part of Ribera del Duero, they cultivate 30 hectares of vineyards, all organically.

Pícaro del Águila is made with vines between 35-60 years old, on sandy-clay soil, 900 metres above sea level in a north-facing vineyard. The main variety here is tempranillo with some albillo, bobal and garnacha. These varieties are co-fermented whole bunches in concrete lagares and aged in French oak. This is a nod to the past; a wine made with a blend, with a good balance between the fruit and wood and a vibrant acidity.

Pícaro del Águila 2020 (Dominio del Águila)

Ruby red. Expressive aroma of dark and red berries (blackberry, cherry), autumn leaves and spices. It’s in a way powerful, but the tannins are soft and rounded,, there are ripe fruits, and a fresh lingering acidity.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Palmirinha’s Azal

Published 26. May 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Here is a rarity, an azal monovarietal. Fernando Paiva runs his Quinta da Palmirinha in Amarante, Vinho Verde. He is a pioneer of biodynamic farming in Portugal and also of using chestnut flowers in the fermentation so as to avoid addition of sulphur. (Fernando has many times been featured in this blog, such as here.)

The soil consists of clay, shale and silt. The age of the vines are approximately 30 years. The pressing was carried out with whole clusters for 2.5 hours. Fermentation spontaneously with bâtonage, and with chestnut flowers without the temperature exceeding 18 degrees. The ageing was in stainless steel, in contact with lees. Unfiltered.

Note that it’s not labeled as a Vinho Verde. The DOC’s in Portugal tend to be conservative (of what, you might ask) So this is a “Product of Portugal”.

Azal 2021 (Quinta da Palmirinha)

Light yellow. It’s fresh and aromatic, with white flowers, apple and lemon. It has a vibrant acidity, but abundant supple fruit wrapped around it, good concentration, long.

Price: Low

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Wine of the Week

Croatian fascination

Published 19. May 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

As it draws closer to summer I have tested some rosés. Here is one with a strong personality, and indeed a gastronomic wine that’s not restricted to be enjoyed on beaches and balconies.

The Roxanich winery has been a favourite after several fairs for natural wine, most recently at London’s Rawfair, where I took this picture of Mladen Rožanić.

It was created as a hommage to the Adriatic resort of Portorose, to smell like the freshly cut roses in its chic gardens. Now it has, in the words of the producer, “matured into a wine that can be enjoyed year-round for a refreshing reminder of summer”.

It’s made from the indigenous grape varieties borgonja istriana and teran in western Istria. The vineyard has an elevation of 167-188 m and the facing is more or less south. The must was macerated with only 1-2 hours of skin contact. The malolactic fermentation was completed; and the wine was bottled without filtration.

Portorose 2021 (Roxanich)

Dark rosé with a peach coloured tone. Aroma of sweet fruits (melon, ripe raspberry), roses, herbs, onions, earth. Vivid, tasty, with a light tannic grip, slightly sweet nuances and a fresh acidity to balance.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Caparsa’s Chianti Classico

Published 12. May 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Caparsa is run by Paolo Cianferoni and his family since 1982. Paolo started in 1999 a renovation process. The estate now covers 11 hectares of vineyards in Radda in Chianti, all certified organic and worked biodynamically.

Paolo believes in acidity as a key factor for quality and the wine’s ability to age. In his interpretation of tradition, wine is complementary to food. To achieve the best balance he is a strong believer of cement vats, to avoid oakiness in the wine.

According to Paolo’s philosophy, healthiness means quality. “It’s the territory that gives originality to all [our] products”, he says, “flora, fauna, insects, fungal, microorganisms, soils, weather conditions, fields exposure, together with the workers and [ourselves]’, all of this make the wine unique”.

Chianti Classico was first bottled in the 2016 vintage. It is made from 100% sangiovese of 60 year old vines. The grapes are spontaneously fermented. The wine spent two years in cement and has been just lightly filtered.

Chianti Classico 2019 (Caparsa)

Ruby red. Red fruits (cherry), wild berries, autumn leaves and earth. Bold and textured (a slight dryness from the clay), medium-bodied, layered, good acidity, quite long.

Price: Medium

Best cellared a few years or paired with roasts and other tasty meat (and rich sauces)

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Wine of the Week

Muller-Koeberle at Vinmonopolet’s tasting

Published 5. May 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Muller-Koeberle of Alsace was one of the big revelations at Vinmonopolet’s tasting of new listings and vintages last week. Martin Paulsen of importer Autentico Wines presented two wines from this producer. Here we chose the Symbiose as the Wine of the Week, but the other, Schlossreben, a blend of six grapes, was equally good.

David and Marianne Koeberle took over the family’s 27 hectares of vineyards in the village of Saint Hippolyte in 2005. They converted early on to organic and biodynamic practises. The latest years they have taken further measures too meet the strict demands of the Vin Méthode Nature (see article about certification of natural wines here).

Symbiose comes from a single vineyard co-planted on granite soil, surrounded by trees and forests and vegetation. Saint-Hippolyte is located at the foot of Haut Koenigsbourg and is a typical wine-producing village, particularly famous for Rouge de Saint Hippolyte (pinot noir) with its own appellation. The best vineyards are located at 250-400m above sea level on the slopes towards the Vosges in the west.

Here one hectare of the various grapes is co-planted. The grapes were hand-harvested and co-fermented with 6 days of skin-contact before pressing, matured for 6 months on lees before bottling without filtration.

The grape varieties are pinot gris 20%, riesling 20%, pinot blanc 15%, auxerrois 15%, muscat frontignan 15%, gewürztraminer 15%.

Symbiose 2021 (Muller-Koeberle)

Light amber with a red hue, somewhat cloudy. Aroma of reaches, flowers, citrus and aromatic herbs. Good volume and concentration, long.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Kritt from Kreydenweiss

Published 28. April 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I was lucky to get a table at Vinkontoret (The Wine Office), Stavanger, Norway on their last day. Now they have closed the doors.

This is a biodynamically farmed pinot blanc, also with some auxerrois. The vineyards sit on iron-rich clayey soils outside Andlau village. Some keywords: Hand-harvested, whole bunches, natural fermentation in old Alsatian foudres without additives, aging on the lees for up to a year, bottled lightly filtered with only a tiny quantity of sulphites.

Kritt Pinot Blanc 2019 (Marc Kreydenweiss)

Light golden. Flowery, with pear, mature yellow apples and some herbs. Concentrated, round, creamy and somewhat buttery in the mouth, a small quantity residual sugar well balanced with the acidity. Long salty finish.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Monkeys in the mountains

Published 21. April 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

4 Monos are four friends who all had fallen in love with the garnachas and the freshness of the Sierra de Gredos mountain range. Javier García and Laura Robles are a married couple, and their friends David Velasco and David Moreno are the two other monkeys.

We are in the town and the Madrid subzone of San Martín de Valdeiglesias. Here is a high proportion of clay in the soils. The wine is made with garnacha from three different plots at 750 to 840 meters of altitude. In short, it’s made with whole bunches, fermentation with native yeasts and maturation in barrels for 15 months.

Tierra de Luna 2017 (4 Monos)

Ruby red. Aroma of mature red fruits (raspberry), herbs (rosemary), earthy notes and a tiny sweet sensation (caramel). Medium-bodied with fine tannins, a taste of ripe cherries, good acidity.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Delicate Chilean bargain

Published 14. April 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

This week’s wine is a bargain, a delicate Chilean red at an exceptionally low cost. I really don’t understand why it retails this cheap (149 NOK, 10.000 CLP in winery). Maybe that is why it hasn’t got more recognition.

Juan Segura is a family-firm, now in its 5th generation, in the Itata valley, not far from the city of Concepción. They make wines in the same line from cinsault and carignan. This one is from the variety país, from up to 200 years old bush-pruned, dry-farmed vines. The wines are labeled with DO Secano Interior.

Juan Segura País 2021 (Empresas H. Segura)

Ruby red. Aromas of red fruits (cherry, raspberry), red apple, herbs (nutmeg). Fresh and vibrant in the mouth, juicy, with a delicate structure, quite long. Serve a bit chilled.

Price: Low

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Wine of the Week

Premsal at Zaza

Published 7. April 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I tasted this wine with its maker Carlos and his wife at wine bar Zaza in Barcelona during the Vins Nus and Vella Terra fairs of April.

Carlos Rodríguez Furthmann began his project in 2015, focusing on native varieties made by minimal intervention. He is found in the small settlement of Selva in north-central Mallorca, where he farms around one hectare organically from clay and limestone soil, while purchasing a small amount of other grapes from local growers.

Premsal is a native Majorcan grape variety, here grown in a single vineyard in Felanitx. The winemaking process involves spontaneous fermentation, with part of it kept on its fine lees for two months. A small percentage of the wine is fermented in a Mallorcan clay amphora. Only a small quantity of sulphites were added. The wine is not clarified or filtered.

Premsal 2018 (Selva Vins)

Light straw colour. Aromatic, red apples, melons and citrus. Medium-bodied, dry, with good acidity.

Price: Medium

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