Wine Chords

Mademoiselle M

Published 3. November 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Mademoiselle M is a sauvignon blanc from Kimmeridgian limestone soils (marl with oyster sediments), located in the appellation of Pouilly-Fumé. It’s made without added sulphites, aged in used oak vats for 18 months.

Alexandre Bain owns 11 ha in Tracy-sur-Loire. Like his friend and collegue Sebastien Riffault across the river in Sancerre, Alexandre harvests later than most in his region, which gives the wines a darker colour. To retain the maximum acidity in his grapes, Alexandre trains his vines low. Harvest is done by hand, and yields are small.

Mademoiselle M 2015 (Alexandre Bain)

Dark golden, slightly turbid. Aroma of mature apples, flowers, a touch of honey and a flinty minerality. Quite full on the palate, glyceric, concentrated flavours. Rich for a sauvignon blanc. Probably at its peak right now.

Price: Medium

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Introducing: Esporão’s Colheita

Published 27. October 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Esporão is an important and highly respected winery that has been featured here several times. This wine could well serve as an introduction to the company. It’s made from the varieties alicante bouschet, touriga nacional, aragonêz, cabernet sauvignon and touriga franca, from a 15 year old organic certified vineyard. The different varieties were co-fermented in concrete vats before malolactic fermentation. It stayed in concrete for 6 months.

Sandra Alves and Joao Ramos are the current winemakers of Esporão.

Esporão Colheita 2021 (Esporão)

Dark red, bluish hints. Mature dark fruits (dark cherry, blackcurrant), spice, almond, licorice. Young tannins, good fruit and body, light bitterness.

Price: Low

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Carefully crafted Caíño

Published 20. October 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Zarate is Eulogio Pomares‘ family winery in Meaño, Rías Baixas. Eulogio still makes the wines here, as he has done since the 2000 vintage. But in recent years he has also put a lot of effort into making wines under his own name.

This wine originates from a vineyard close to the sea, with alluvial granite and river stones and almost 80 year old vines. It was fermented in large traditional chestnut fudres with a further eight months on lees.

Carralcoba Caíño Tinto 2016 (Eulogio Pomares)

Cherry red. Cool red fruits (raspberry, cherry), spice (nutmeg). Juicy and delicate, but also with crunch, salinity and a savoury acidity. Maybe optimal drinking at the moment.

Price: Medium-high

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Pretty Pannobile

Published 13. October 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Here is a prime wine from one of the founders of the Pannobile group.

The wine originates from vineyards located on the slopes of the Leitha mountains. Zweigelt and blaufränkisch planted in limestone and slate soils and grown organically with biodynamic techniques and without using chemical products. Harvest is carried out manually. Once the grapes have been selected by hand, spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts begins and a three-week maceration in the skins in wooden tanks. Then it’s pressed and the wine obtained matures for 21 months in used 500-liter oak barrels.

Pannobile 2018 (Heinrich)

Dark cherry red. Aromas of dark fruit (morello, blueberry), lightly spiced and some earth. Tasty, silky, a sweet and sour sensation and a long taste. Lively, balanced.

Price: Medium

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Sampaio’s Curtimenta

Published 6. October 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Tiago Sampaio is a driving force on the modern wine scene of the Douro. The Folias de Baco project was started in 2007, and today he is recognized as an innovative winemaker deep rooted in the traditions of the area.

The name Curtido implies that this is an orange wine, in Portugal usually called curtimenta. It’s made from moscatel galego planted on a blend of schist and granite soils. It was harvested by hand in early September with extensive vineyard sorting and two weeks maceration time. Fermentation in stainless steel using indigenous yeasts. Not fined or filtered.

Uivo Pt Nat Curtido 2021 (Folias de Baco)

Yellow-orange, cloudy. Aromatic, flowery with apricot and citrus peel. Dry mouth-feel, only slightly fizzy, lovely citrussy acidity, good concentration and an intense aftertaste.

Price: Medium

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Picaresque Toro

Published 29. September 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

El Pícaro is a young red wine from the D.O. Toro made with tinta de toro (tempranillo) grapes from vines between 50 and 70 years old. It’s made by Bodega Matsu that work by minimal intervention, in the field according to organic and biodynamic principles. Matsu, meaning to wait in Japanese, is a project originated by the Riojan company Vintae.

The harvest was carried out manually during the first half of October. Fermentation happened in concrete tanks at temperatures not exceeding 24ºC. Malolactic fermentation was done in French oak barrels. Then came a 3 month period in wood. Not filtered nor clarified.

The winemaking is done in the facilities that Matsu rents from the Covitoro cooperative.

El Pícaro 2022 (Matsu)

Deep red with blue hint. Aroma of mature fruits, dark (blackberry, blueberry), eucalyptus and coffee. Medium-bodied, young tannins, mineral, powerful but also with a nice acidity.

Price: Low

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Marvelous Masieri

Published 22. September 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

This is a red wine from natural wine pioneer Angiolino Maule of La Biancara, that I visited in 2018 (read here).

The soil in Gambellara is volcanic, and the vineyard was planted some 45 years ago. Organic agriculture with biodynamic principles. The grape composition is merlot 50%, tai rosso 40% and cabernet sauvignon 10%. They were picked by hand and spontaneously fermented, before a 2 to 3 weeks skin-maceration in big Slavonian oak.

Rosso Masieri 2018 (La Biancara)

Cherry red, a bit developed towards rim. Dark and red fruits (blackcurrant, cherry), balsamic, beginning dried fruits. Juicy and yet concentrated, coffee, black olives, long.

Price: Medium

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Raro rufete

Published 15. September 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I have tasted two varietal rufete wines from Sierra de Salamanca, both from producer La Zorra (meaning: the fox) and both in the 2018 vintage. Ituero is an ambitious, well-made paraje wine from a paraje (single site) called Itu. Here I chose Raro as this week’s pick, a very fresh fruit-driven wine.

Owner Agustín Maíllo is one of several that is currently recovering the winemaking traditions in the area and its indigenous red grape rufete.

The name La Zorra is inspired by the fable The Fox and the Grapes, written by Félix María de Samaniego,. At first, Agustín planned to make wine just for the family restaurant, but the current production is 50,000 bottles. They grow 20 hectares of vines, seven are their own and located in and around Mogarraz. Bunches are destemmed and fermentation takes place with indigenous yeasts.

Raro 2018 (La Zorra)

Cherry red. Fresh, fruit-driven, smells of cherry, raspberry, herbs, some licorice, there is also an earthy note. Fruity in the mouth, with fine tannins, decent concentration and a fresh acidity.

Price: Medium

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Brilliant bobal

Published 8. September 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

This brilliant varietal bobal from Manchuela is one of the finest that exists. The producer Bodegas Ponce is described in several posts, such as this one.

The grapes for Ponce‘s Pino come from a one hectare farm with 35 years old vines, planted at an altitude of 900 metres above sea level, cultivated organically. After a careful maceration and treading of the grapes, fermentation spontaneously in oak vats. Then it spends 11 months in used French oak barrels of 600 litres.

Pino 2021 (Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce)

Dark cherry red. Cool fruits, red and dark, herbs, a mineral component. Medium-bodied with concentrated flavours,, good acidity, expressive and energetic.

Price: Medium

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A Grüner at Grünerløkka

Published 1. September 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I’m in Oslo for the Skin Orange wine fair. In the Grünerløkka neighborhood, named after Friedrich Grüner in the late 19th century, what could be more appropriate than to open with a magnificent grüner veltliner? Mr. Grüner lived 250 years earlier, by the way, and served as town administrator and master of the mint.

Anyway, at Skaal Matbar I was surprised to see a wine from Stagard (or Stagård). They have been in Kremstal for 10 generations, and it was the father of Urban, one of the current owners, who introduced the family name to the business. I remembered them from my time as an importer and tasted all their wines many years ago. Since then they have taken on a biodynamic approach. This wine is a blend of two vintages, I think 2018 and 19. It’s unfiltered and bottled with only minimal added sulfur.

At Skaal you can enjoy tasty small dishes to a selection of wines by the glass. At the moment they serve oysters, schnitzel, charcuterie and more, and the wines are a little bit of everything, thankfully not the same as offered by everyone else.

Medusa N/V (Lesehof Stagård)

Light yellow. Fresh aroma of citrus (lemon zest), baked apple, a light peel character and also a mineral touch. It’s immediately appealing, but it also dense and tasty and has a certain complexity. Slightly spritzy, with a stimulating citric acidity.

Price: Medium

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