Gruaud Larose 2010
Tuesday’s drop from a half bottle, a friend had a half in London and we shared via a video call. Decanted and poured for 3 hours. Deep ruby colour, glowing in decanter and glass (I know the beautiful sunshine helps a lot ). Rich nose, deep blackcurrant fruit, liquorice, earth. Palate follows the same pattern, deep sweet blackcurrant fruit, nice acidity, very gentle tannins, silky palate, nice cedar and coffee. Rich powerful palate, I enjoyed it, Kell found the fruit a bit too sweet with such gentle tannins. (I never thought I’d find a wine drinking buddy who wanted even more structured wines than me.). Finishing her half a couple days later she felt the balance was better. I wasn’t sure whether the tannins were so fine structured that they’d fade, based on Kell’s experience I think they’ll provide a fantastic structure in a few years. Drink now if you like rich sweet fruit, or hold for 5 years to allow the balance to have a bit more structure.
Lovely sparking wines from Sussex founding in 1952, and Hambleton is the village cricket was invented New ownerin 3 wines in the range at the moment Classic Cuvee, Premiere Cuvee Rose for now, more to follow… leave that comment there
one of the best Sparkling wines I have tasting from England - certainly up there with Nyetimber and Gusbourne
loved the Rose 90% chardonnay and Classic Cuvee, mainly Chardonnay 56% and Pinot Noir for me the wine that blew me away was the Premier Cru 74% Chardonnay 24% Pinot Noir 3% meunier, they use a solara system aged for average of 5 years stunning and I mean stunning Ok its £45 in the UK but thats less than £8.00 per glass!
Not tried 17 but if it is as good as the previous year will be stunning. Love the Gredos Grenache that Daniel Landi makes - fresh and vibrant, unlike any others I have tried.
I was looking for something else when I stumbled upon this. The Wine Society says of this producer: The von Kesselstatt estate, dating back to 1349, owns the finest spectrum of sites in the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer valleys. In 1978 the Reh family acquired the estate from the Reichsgrafen (imperial counts) of Kesselstatt. Annagret Reh-Gartner, a great and true friend of the Society who died in October 2016, was at the helm of the business, supported by her husband Gerhard, and was a welcome and regular presence at Society tastings. Since taking over the couple particularly concentrated efforts on lowering yields and improving quality to great effect.
The 36 hectares of estate-owned vineyards are planted exclusively with riesling on steep, stony soils where the warmth is maintained in the marginal German climate. Leading holdings include Scharzhofberger in the Saar, Kaseler Nies’chen in the Ruwer and Josephshöfer and Piesporter Goldtröpfchen in the Mosel. These are wines characterised by clean, ripe fruit, impressive balance of acidity and minimal intervention in the winemaking process. Fittingly, the wines are fermented with natural yeasts adding to their individuality and fragrance and kept on lees for extended ageing.
This example is the 2012 Mosel, a kabinett. I was expecting something drier, but once past that the fruit has a delicious sweetness. It’s colour is golden, there is honey on the nose and palate with some acidity. Hugh Johnson suggests that it would go well with fruit.
This Oregon Pinot is most definite new world in style but not unattractive had to keep cooling the bottle as it was being consumed al fresco. A lovely bottle for casual drinking without (too many) a care in the world
After a particularly late night struggling to keep the Lidl Kamado lit to finish off some marinated chicken I’ve had a rest from gardening and done bugger all apart from sleep (audiobooks do that to me), I went shopping.
Bought this Prosecco from Waitrose a few weeks ago simply as it was in the fridge at the time on offer, and I needed a quick chilled fix!
Have bought it a few times in recent weeks and it’s really enjoyable.
Next up while a small chicken is cooking in the combi oven and I contemplate what to BBQ outside, tried it last week and thought it was great, hopefully will enjoy again (also on offer currently):
WRT to the Sancerre not sure what vintage it was last week, but current one is 2019 and rather too yonug/sweet with I assume a prominent sulphite taste too, perhaps a bit too cold, it certainly has some complex aromatic flavours lurking around if I give it some time in the mouth.
I know almost nothing about wine and even less about geology. Several years ago however I toured the Ridgeview vineyard in Ditchling in the South Downs. The guide remarked that the earth of the South Downs part of Sussex dipped under the channel and was coterminous with the Champagne region. All I know is that Ridgeview fizz is highly regarded and it tasted damn fine to me.
French geologists refer to it as the “Basin de Paris”, a chalk-limestone (ex-sea) area which extends from the South Downs in the North to the top of Burgundy in the South (including Champagne and Chablis), and across Paris to Pouilly-Fumé in the West. All fine wine areas.
Limestone chalk under compaction becomes flint (“Silex” in French) which underlies Sancerre, and under further compaction becomes marble which is (a) why marble stains so easily - it’s rock, but it’s actually squashed chalk, and (b) why several of the world’s greatest wine regions have marble as their bedrock (Burgundy, Tuscany and others).
Quarries in wine areas are usually a good sign. The vine wants soil that is high in mineral and low in nutrients - and so do masons.
Southern England is, geologically, the same as
Champagne (and the others above), and the climate in the former now resembles what the latter had thirty years ago. Top quality English sparkling wine will never compete with Champagne in price - the land is similarly - if not even more - expensive, and the production method is identical. Add to that more rain = greater risk. but the wines compete in quality terms. Somewhat to the chagrin of the Champenois.
All the above is, of necessity, generalisation. Tant pis.
‘Squashed chalk’ is reasonable description of marble, as it’s the result of high pressure and temperature which makes it denser and changes the crystal structure. Flint, on the other hand, is an entirely different material, composed of silica rather than calcium carbonate. So changing one to the other would be quite a challenge! I suspect what you mean is that soil sometimes contains a lot of flint. This is generally because the soft chalk/limestone has eroded away, leaving behind a concentration of the much more durable flints, which originally form in nodules or bands within the chalk.
Sorry for the diversion, as an ex-geologist I couldn’t resist! Now back to the wine…
You could say that chalk is a form of limestone. It’s whiteness is due to the purity of the calcium carbonate, whereas other limestones may have some magnesium carbonate, iron oxides, or other impurities that discolour it.
). Rich nose, deep blackcurrant fruit, liquorice, earth. Palate follows the same pattern, deep sweet blackcurrant fruit, nice acidity, very gentle tannins, silky palate, nice cedar and coffee. Rich powerful palate, I enjoyed it, Kell found the fruit a bit too sweet with such gentle tannins. (I never thought I’d find a wine drinking buddy who wanted even more structured wines than me.). Finishing her half a couple days later she felt the balance was better. I wasn’t sure whether the tannins were so fine structured that they’d fade, based on Kell’s experience I think they’ll provide a fantastic structure in a few years. Drink now if you like rich sweet fruit, or hold for 5 years to allow the balance to have a bit more structure.
