Fed up with the Rotten Weather ? Dreaming of sunshine - How does three days in a Medieval Tuscan Castle sound ? The winemaker will give you a tasting and the owner will cook supper for you on the night you arrive.
All you have to do is purchase a case of Sacromonte 2005 or Priropo 2008 before 31st May to be entered in the draw - Simply click here
2011 En Primeur – The Vintage
Happily 2011 was not another ‘Vintage of the Century’ like its predecessors in 2009 & 2010, this has had the effect of dampening prices, keeping mere mortals in the hunt. The state of winemaking in Bordeaux does not admit for ‘Bad Vintages’ like 1992, 1993 and even to some extent 1997. 2011 is a ‘winemakers vintage’, and those who are skilled made very good, concentrated and rich wines indeed – yes there are poorly made, tannic wines – but the trick with this is to trust FVDI to back the winners, which we feel we most certainly have….
Why should I buy and I and what can I gain from it?
Traditionally the En Primeur campaign was the best and only route to acquire an allocation of Bordeaux’ top wines, not just at the most advantageous price, but in fact, at all.
With somewhat less expensive wines it can be an excellent way to start a rolling cellar collection that effectively replenishes itself throughout the years, whilst also avoiding the costs that merchants pass on to their customers for keeping the wines to maturity and their sales to you, the customer.
What are the costs ?
Rather than dwelling on particular wines, lets take a hypothetical case at €100 (in Bond) – What do those two little words suggest ?
It indicates that the wines is kept in a warehouse that has an area that is effectively a Duty Free zone. In order to get your wine to your house, you will need to Pay both Duty and VAT at the prevailing rates.
EG:
Cs Chateau X (in Bond) €100
Duty (per cs 9Ltrs) €24.67
VAT @23% On the whole €27.44
Total €152.12
When Can I take delivery and what are my options ?
2011’s wines will be delivered in March 2014 – you can then choose to leave them in Bond at a cost of €8 per year, this makes sense if the wines are for resale, as one can prove their provenance. Otherwise you will need to pay both the VAT & Duty prior to delivery to your chosen location.
Another vintage of the century, are all the wines must haves ?…….erm, well, not as such.
What then ? Well, after a really good look at the various wines at the UGC Tastings a fortnight ago (see blogs passim) we are committed to wines that offer a lot of bang for buck rather than a lot of buck…….. There are some well made, plump and relatively early drinking wines that have owners who are capable of confronting financial the realities of the New Europe.
Wines like Chateau Meaume, Reserve du Chateau at the very keen (as mustard) price of €66 (In Bond)…….yes that’s €66 and they will even throw in the wooden case, making it look a whole heap posher. That is one half of the price/quality conundrum satisfied, whats the wine like ?
Alan Johnson-Hill’s standard wine is ubiquitous in Ireland and very nice it is too, but the Reserve du Chateau is the choice of the crop, aged in barrels that until last year had been cuddling Chateau Le Pin (look it up, and bring the wallet - full), he thinks it is one of best best wines he has made and in a style he has striven for for some years. Lovely linear, fat, merlot driven fruit……available in magnums too at the same price.
Alan’s wine is excatly what Bordeaux should always be like and it is fitting that he should have acheived what can be described in sporting parlance as a ‘Result’ in a year like 2011
New, wonderful Nebbiolo from ther Langhe, from Our friends at Cascina Chicco - I really can’t enthus enough about this wine as it really is a labour of love. We have ben looking for a drinkable Nebbiolo at the right price since the back end of 2008.
As sods law would have it - I tried about 2 a month for 3 years and was then offered this cracker from the maker of our Barbera D’Alba, which was partly a pain and partly rather wonderful.
How do you follow a days’ tasting and lunch at Cheval Blanc ?
Well ,Esme came up with supper and a tasting of all of the wines of Englishman Jonathan Maltus’ 2011 stable from the garagiste wine Le Dome all the way through to Teyssier (his home), a pretty good trump card.
Maltus has been highly praised by acertain Robert Parker for his wines in 2009 & 2010, with Teyssier being named the sleeeper of the vintage in 2009, it seems the Chateau is on a relentlessly upward curve in terms of quality.
With regard to the 2011 En Primeur campaign , there have been mixed rumblings from the jungle, Jonathan is understandably upbeat and is happy to expound his reasons:
The first half of the 2011 growing season was dry and sunny with very little rainfall. Spring was dry and average temperatures were higher than usual. Bud burst in late March was very early, and flowering in May was up to three weeks early in some sectors. The dry, sunny weather continued into summer, with extreme heat spikes corresponding to the first run of de-leafing. Fortunately, we had not started when the first one hit, and we decided to hold off until the weather cooled. THE BEST DECISION MADE. There then followed a cool month of August, punctuated by showers, and the odd local hailstorm. Moving into autumn, we again experienced an Indian summer which allowed the grapes to ripen under ideal conditions. Rot was not a threat, since the absence of a first run of de-leafing retarded ripening enough to see the grapes through the damp period. Harvest was later than originally anticipated, but the earliest in 5 years.
Our intrepid MD , Esme Johnstone, never a man to laugh in the face of Bordelais hospitality, has once again , taken on the tough task of getting a feel for the 2011 Primeurs as well as finding some more Claret to get up on the site.
A visit to Cheval Blanc kicked off the trip, followed swiftly by Chateau D’Yquem between which was sandwiched a pretty good lunch; you certainly couldn’t accuse the man of not grafting.
However from the amazingly space age Chai to the outward facade of the Chateau, it seems the team under Francois Lurton’s a supervision are content to have one foot both in past and future and alos let their wine speak eloquently for itself.
Esme confided that for Cheval Blanc the slightly gloomy outlook for the 2011 Primeurs would not apply and that the expectation was high as regards quality.
Similarly and unsuprisingly,D’ Yquem is expecting on of its great years with the wine weighing in at a sultry 144g of residual sugar.
We’ll see how Esme manages to trump this tomorrow
Copy of SIMON HOGGART’s wine offer in :
The Spectator Magazine / 03rd March 2012
Our FromVineyardsDirect offers are always enormously popular, even among readers who haven’t made it to their wonderful tastings in often glamorous locations. The gossip columnists have even started to turn up, knowing there will be a few slebs around, though you’re just as welcome if you’ve never kicked a football or aren’t related to well-known politicians.
But the main reason FVD offers do so well is that all their wines are chosen with immense care — selected not because they have a famous name and because FVD feel vaguely that they ought to be on their list, but because they are delicious. They are also bought, as it says on the tin, direct from the vineyards, so the prices are remarkably good. The upshot is that they allow you to buy wines of the first rank at prices most people can afford. Some are famous; others you’ve probably not heard of; all are terrific value. Take the only non-French wine in this offer, the Rustenberg Schoongezicht White 2010 (1) which has a displeasing name but is in fact delectable. Rustenberg is one of the best South African wineries (I love their claret-style red) and this is an ambitious blend of southern French grapes — Sémillon, Viognier and Roussanne. The effect is rich, ripe, heady and plump. Delicious as an aperitif, but also terrific with chicken, white meat, fish or spicy dishes. This is the wine that FVD’s Esme Johnstone drinks at home. Just €14.15.
It’s a personal view, but I suspect that the new world is beginning to overtake red Burgundies, and at lower prices. However, there is still something quite unique about white Burgundy, an almost ethereal headiness, a perfume found nowhere else. Puligny-Montrachet has all this in spades, but then so does the slightly less fashionable Chassagne-Montrachet. This is a 2009 from Moillard-Grivot (2), made in one of the great years for Burgundy, and so the price of €33.40 is, as any Burgundian will tell you, tremendous value. Summer is coming, and these days we think far more kindly of rosé wines. For those who remember the bland pink wines of Provence a few years ago, the Mas de Cadenet 2011 (3) will be a revelation. It is utterly refreshing yet pulsing with flavour. Served in Michelin-starred restaurants throughout France, it is full of fruit yet with an appealing background slatiness. At £9.45, tip-top value.
Now the reds. Esme, who is just back from southern France, tells me that in the past he would try 20 wines there and find maybe one that was worth buying. Now, he says, it’s the other way round. The problem is which to leave out. Take Les Coteaux from Mas Belles Eaux 2008 (4). It’s made in the Languedoc by the brilliant British vigneron Christian Seely (he also makes Pichon-Baron) and I will now do something wine writers are normally forbidden to do: quote Robert Parker, the sage of Maryland, who gives it a whopping 91 points. ‘Blond tobacco, kirsch, rosemary, plum paste, and black raspberry preserves on the nose… a firm but juicy palate suffused with salt, iodine, crushed stone, cherry pits, and smokey black tea…’ Delicious now, but will go on improving for three or four years. And all for €14.15! Just try it.
Jean-Luc Thunevin was one of the first ‘garagiste’ winemakers in Bordeaux — making very classy wines from very low yields in very small properties. His most expensive wine, Château Valandraud, can sell for nearly €180 a bottle. This Domaine Virginie Thunevin 2006 (5), also a St Emilion, is made by him on his daughter’s property, so it gets his full attention. It has real weight, but also the beguiling softness of a mature Merlot. Tremendous value at €14.65.
Finally another rather pricey wine, which is nevertheless a considerable bargain. When the famous Jaboulet family sold up, sons Philippe and Vincent bought the Thalabert vineyards. They renamed the land Domaine Nouvelère, and set about creating the finest Crozes-Hermitage of all. Most people would agree they succeeded. This is the 2007, a tremendous year in the Rhône, and if you like all that spice, that depth, that richness, you will love this. Astonishing value at €24.25. It is drinking well now, but will be stunning in a few short years.
Delivery as ever is free, and there is a sample case containing two of each of the wines.
(Source: spectator.co.uk)
Charlotte Horton, winemaker at Castello Di Potentino is something of a polymath, not only making top-wines for the estate in the pursuit of Italy’s finest Pinot Noir, she is also readying herself for a mini-speaking tour of Ireland (Limerick & Dublin)and the UK (London) at the end of February.
When I spoke to her about her subject, she quickly warmed to her theme;
The Widom of Taste and the Freedom of Taste - an Unacknowledged Human Right’
(in the best of worlds) One of the firsts senses we experience after entering the world is taste, at our mothers breast - taste and nourishment. It is there that our most basic faculty of discriminating between one thing and another is initiated - good taste or bad taste. Discretion, the ability to judge, to discern, to observe through our body, is intrinsic to our survival. from That day on, a taste archive begins to build up which helps guide us through life. The derivation of the romance word for taste is the same as the one for knowledge, perhaps for that very reason - ‘Sapere’ to know and ‘saporare to taste, ‘sapori’ tastes in Italian, ‘savoir faire’ to have the know how in French and ‘savoury in English……..
I am really looking forward to learning something above and beyond the wines that they produce (which are excellent in their own right - you should try the Priropo, Pinot Noir that can put much Burgundy to shame), one often finds the most passionate and opinionated of folk at work in the vineyards and I can assure everyone that Charlotte is no slowcoach in this respect.
Limerick, The Hunt Museum 7pm €45 - 29th February
What:
Pop-Up Italian Restaurant
Who:
‘Castello di Potentino’, producers of our ever popular Tuscan wines: Piropo, Sacromonte (listed as one of the top 12 wines in Tuscany – Guida L’Espresso) and Lyncurio & FromVineyards Direct Ireland Ltd.
Where:
As part of the Edible exhibition at Dublin’s Science Gallery.
When:
Friday March 2nd 18.00 – 21.30
Wine-maker Charlotte Greene will be on hand to guide you through her delicious wines, along with fresh local Italian Fayre. It promises to be a unique Italian experience in the heart of Dublin.
The Potentino Pop-Up grew from missing the warm breezy September evenings chatting under the loggia eating a plate of pasta sipping a glass of Sacromonte, or cozily toasting bruschetta in front of the fire before enjoying a chestnut and quince soup in the winter and discussing the olive harvest. Our aim is to recreate the castle conviviality in other settings. Recipes are all Potentino specials born out of inventive local cooking traditions and ingredients. We plan to pop-up wherever we can.
We only have 15 x tickets available (45 covers in total, however 30 are reserved for patrons of the Gallery)
€50 per head – As placed are strictly limited, please call with CC details to reserve your place.
Menu
Pasta with Bottarga Pesto (served with Piropo)
A tasting of the new season olive oil
Sausages cooked in wine, Fave e Foglie (broad beans and bitter greens) (served with Sacromonte)
Aged Parmesan (with Lyncurio)
Chocolate pots with Maldon Salt and Lavender and Potentino Olive oil.
About Castello di Potentino
The Greenes have owned properties in the Tuscan Maremma for over 30 years. Starting with a farmhouse near the coast, which they sold to the Biondi Santi family, they gradually moved inland. Castello di Potentino is their second major project in the Grosseto area and was bought in 1999 as a dilapidated and overgrown ruin. The castle occupies a commanding position of top of a large hill in the valley between Seggiano and Montegiovi, often known as the ‘Golden Basin’ because of its wonderful fertility.
Under the guidance of talented oenologist Charlotte Horton the estate is fast becoming one of the stand-out wine producers in the region. Guida L’Espresso, the main Italian wine guide, awarded the Sacromonte 5 bottles, listing it as one of their top 12 wines in Tuscany 2010, and Decanter Magazine has given several of their vintages 4 stars.
To be honest, I thought Alex was being a bit picky when she whined about the relative lack of desk space in the office and that there was a) nowehere to sit and b) where’s my desk gone etc etc……..its been going on since our return from the festive break, and frankly everyone is fed up with it, so there was but one thing to do…….. have a proper sale and repatriate Ms Ennis to her desk prior to a total lack of office sanity.
You often find that ‘Bin end ’ sales should remain just there, we thought that we might offer currrent wines that were used to make up some of the mixed cases before Christmas, so we have wines that range from 2001 Pomerol ‘Commanderie de Mazeyres’ down to €28.50 from €32.95 and 2010 Mas Carlot Blanc from the Costieres de Nimes, a shining example of Roussanne, marsanne & Viognier that has tumbled to €8.95 from just under a tenner.
The list is a treasure trove for those who are searching for an eclectic, superb quality caes that offers terrific value.
