A reflection on Bordeaux, the red wine, that is...

What is it about Bordeaux? Who drinks Bordeaux anyway? Bankers and stock brokers in wine bars? Pretentious wine students? Wine Experts? But let’s not let them have all the fun. I think it’s amongst the most interesting wine regions on the planet but I think people can be put-off by Bordeaux. Why interesting? Well, the subtle and sometimes not so subtle variations from region to region, chateau to chateau, year to year. The fact that the cépage, i.e. the blend of grape varieties used, vary often very subtly too (though always with a base of Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot for you wine trainspotters). The knowing when you find one that is right, it's perfect, somehow. But it is tricky. Why tricky? Well there’s so much of it. How do you pick?  It’s inconsistent, sometimes insipid, often pricey. Sometimes it just needs a bit of time. It’s a bit of a minefield. So why bother? Bordeaux can be very disappointing whether it’s a reasonably priced mid-range or a very expensive one. However, persistence pays off and developing a taste and a knowledge if you already have the taste is highly rewarding. Bit like watching Andy Murray, you don’t always get what you want, but it’s always interesting.

I recently had the opportunity to assist at a tasting for the Cru Bourgeois 2014 vintage in a posh place near Pall Mall. Sounds fancy doesn’t it. What is Cru Bourgeois anyway, why make it sound so elitist? It’s just the way they do it in Bordeaux.  Don’t let it put you off. The fact is, a Bordeaux tasting is always worth it for anyone with an interest in wine that goes beyond simply drinking it. It isn’t always easy, especially for a tasting like this with around 160 red wines. This isn’t Chilean merlot. Within half an hour the look is not good. Black teeth and soon after a slightly red face. Don’t go on a date after a Bordeaux tasting. The tannins are the chief culprits. Tannins get a bad rap I think. Just because they make your teeth go black, they shouldn’t be disparaged. Found in the skins, they give wines balance, they blend well with the fruit, hopefully and they even make us hungry as if to remind us that certain wines just need food, well that’s my theory anyway. Fruit extraction from the grapes has traditionally been an issue in Bordeaux but improved technology and techniques have improved consistency and a nice glass of Bordeaux is about as good as it gets (red wines from Burgundy and Piedmonte in Italy aside, such as Barolo and Barbaresco, to my mind at least) if you looking for plummy yet dry, smooth and supple, elegant wines with good tannic structure and complexity. And you don’t have to spend a fortune. Cru Bourgeois are not the cheapest, probably averaging around the fifteen pounds mark. Bordeaux Superior can be a bit less expensive and a good bet if you don’t want to spend quite so much. They’re wines to sip, to savour, to think about and to have with lamb or beef or cheese but only if they work and by that I mean have the right balance between tannin and fruit. If too dry, tannic or conversely too fruity and new-world in style as sometimes happens these days, just say fair fight and move on to the next one.  A slightly decadent approach perhaps but sometimes, we have to be.

Turkish Beer, you say?

What of it? They're not known for it and probably for good reason. Until recently the only one I knew was  Efes, the San Miguel of Turkey. Fairly bland and easy but perfectly pleasant enough when ice cold and a great aperitif on a hot day prior to some tasty Turkish tucker.  Come to mention it, until I discovered Stoke Newington around ten years ago, I hadn't even eaten Turkish food. My deprived childhood in Glasgow was limited to Indian, Chinese, Greek, Russian and wherever kebabs come from when it comes to exotic foreign food. I realize they may be Turkish, but you get the point.

Anyway, a while back I used to get my haircut in a barbers near Bond street as I worked nearby.  For the exorbitant price, the only extras were singeing of one's ears with a flame to remove hairs and a "free" drink.  I noticed in the fridge an Efes, but not as I knew it. It was a different shape, a different colour. Now as always, context can affect our judgment and very possibly our taste buds and given that the hairdressers compares only slightly more favourably to me than the horror of the dentist perhaps I was getting carried away. But it was lovely. So, determined to enjoy myself for once, whilst a hairy man with sharp instruments breathed in my ear, I quizzed him. Off put, I suspect, by my unusual questioning he babbled away and told me that my only chance of finding it might be in a restaurant somewhere. And I never saw it again though I don't eat Turkish that often these days, living at altitude in Muswell Hill where such cuisine is in short supply. 

Now, recently, needing to kill some time, I wandered into a big Turkish supermarket near Wood Green. I like them, they have fresh bread, giant containers of olives, Taramasalata and huge bags of cheap basmati rice which I always say I'll buy but never do. And what do I see...? Well the picture, will reveal. I only bought one bottle, but now I've found a supplier, I may just buy some more. 

The moral of the story, never trust a hairdresser when it comes to beer advice.

And go to north-east London and have some Turkish grub!

White hot heat, cool wine.

When you think of Spanish wine, what comes to mind? Rioja, presumably, Cava perhaps? Maybe even Sherry if you're very sophisticated. What is sure is that people in general are far less likely to associate Spain with regular white wine. In fact, such is the power of association and reputation that some people still think of Rioja as purely red wine though they don't get out much. They make white in Rioja and good wine too, rich oaky styles in general but I'm going to talk about a different wine, made from a grape called Verdejo. Some of the nicest white wines in Spain are made in a place called Rueda, near Portugal. Look out for them: fruity, fresh and nice minerality. I recently received a bottle of wine made with verdejo but made in Toledo in central Spain by a small boutique producer, Finca Constancia. It has all the buzzwords on the label; 'single vineyard', 'parcel', they even put the geographical coordinates of the vineyards on there. In other words, you can pretty much pinpoint the grapes. Visibility and provenance have become big things in the food and wine trade and it's no bad thing. It's no guarantee of quality but it does smooth the path. Verdejo is rarely oaked, like Sauvignon blanc is rarely oaked so when it is, like this one, alarm bells ring-Pouilly Fumé asides- but it worked, giving a nice smokiness to the wine that integrated well with the significant fruit that is a characteristic of verdejo. It's very hot in Toledo which guarantees lots of fruit but the skill of the winemaking and modern technology allows them to keep the wines fresh too. We had this with smoked haddock and cod fishcakes and spinach and ricotta ravioli. The smokiness of the haddock combining well with the toasty oak. Delicious partners overall as the richness of the dish's flavours were well matched by the wines nice complexity of rich fruit and fresh zesty feel.

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 Look out for them but if you can't find this particular wine, have a look out for Rueda in general!

Salud!

Sincerely Sancerre

Sauvignon Blanc - one or two exceptions aside; Chardonnay of course,  until recently footballer’s wives’ name of choice for their daughter, if not necessarily their wine of choice, except Chablis perhaps, but they may not know it’s made from Chardonnay. And Pinot Grigio, generic bland white wine world domination complete- is possibly the most recognizable white around around. Sauvignon Blanc that is. Particularly since the new world got involved, esp. New Zealand. NZ sauvignon is almost a brand in itself. It has done particularly well internationally: Chile, South Africa, California all have recognizable styles; big styles, sauvignon blanc is not the subtlest grape out there, think tropical fruits such as pineapple and mango with sharp acidity as well as the classic gooseberry notes. This is partly a selling point but one of the reasons I moved away from it; just wanted more restraint, however there are sauvignons out there that give you that. Sancerre, perhaps the most famous white wine out there after Chablis, is certainly the most famous sauvignon blanc and still the barometer of quality for winemakers, along with Pouilly Fumé.

Sancerre although a Loire valley wine is actually closer to Chablis and northern burgundy than Muscadet in the west. And the mineral rich soils that make Chablis famous influence the wine of Sancerre too. Truth is, I rarely buy Sancerre as it’s generally expensive, quality can vary and there are so many other interesting wines to try out there which are cheaper. However, if someone brings me one I’m perfectly happy to drink it as they did this weekend. A classic blend of fruits such as gooseberry and apple,  minerality and freshness is a the hallmark of a good sancerre, with enough hints of tropical fruit to complement the food we had, Mexican fish tacos. Normally a viognier or maybe a riesling would be more of a match for such a dish but sometimes a classy balanced wine can handle dishes for which isn’t naturally suited. Maybe it was slightly nostalgic, for a while my favourite white wines were the Loire Sauvignons: Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé, Menetou Salon, Reuilly, all neighbours, the latter two less well known but recommended. Either way it was a pleasant reminder of a fairly low key (by Sancerre price standards) but excellent white wine. Excellent and fairly unique really in style. Available from Waitrose, by the way.

PS. Interesting fact for the cheese geeks among you, the sparse soils around Sancerre are hard to to farm but goats do very well and as a milk, cheese and meat source were traditionally a very useful ally to winemakers in their precarious business, hence the fact that Loire sauvignon blancs go so well with the local goats cheese such as Chavignol or Selles-sur–Cher. They’ve sort of grown up together.

A Rosé by any other name...Just don't mention blush...

Remember your first glass of rosé? I remember mine. July 2001, Marseille. A mate and I went there for a few days.  It was hot, we got there in time for lunch, dumped our stuff and headed for the local bistro. I remember the bread and the wine. Lunch I must confess, I cannot remember, but I'd like to think it was a Salad Niçoise. In any case, we ordered "un Pichet”, ie, some wine in a jug and it was rosé. This was a revelation. I'd never been to the south of France at this time and I knew even less about wine than I did about the south of France so I didn't expect that. But it made sense from my first taste. In retrospect I probably didn't think much about rosé again for over ten years and when you have no thoughts on a wine type you probably won't pay any attention to whether you drink it, what you drink and certainly won’t have a clue about it. This is not entirely true, of course, I remember buying a bottle in March 2008, but I have a freakish memory . In the summer of 2012 I started working in a little French wine store called Nicolas and they had some great and not so great Rosé options,but they had lots. By coincidence I developed a taste for it and as the majority were from France, particularly southern France the rekindling of my brief (three day) love affair with Rosé de Provence had taken place. These days we're all a bit older and a bit more sophisticated and Rosé is very popular so I won't patronize you but in case you don't know, here are some facts. 

 Rosé or Rosado as the Spanish call it, is made from black grapes i.e. the wines they make red wine with, apart from a freak pinot grigio from Italy but I won’t be talking about that.

 It goes from Very Pale (as in Provence) to almost red like (e.g. in Spain- in the North where they make very good ones).

 Drink it very cold. (Patronizing, forgive me) PS they have no qualms in France serving it with ice, I like that.

That's all you need to know.

Oh and the colour. Well, the colour comes from the skins. Grape juice is clear, so the colour of your wine is determined by the amount of skin contact. Easy eh!

Now that takes me back to Rosé de Provence. Nothing represents summer more than it, in wine terms at least, to my mind. That delicate pale hue, that freshness, those reds fruits on the nose, the minerality and so on transports you to the south of France. This is perhaps the reason why I didn't buy a bottle this year till this weekend as summer has taken its time.  To my shock it was rather hard to find in Muswell Hill. There was rose from everywhere, Chile, California, Australia, Bordeaux (who drinks Rose from Bordeaux? Clearly the Marks and Spencer Wine buyer didn't ask this question as shelves were full of it-though it is actually very good-it’s called Amelie, but it’s a hard sell) but not Provence. If you like Rosé and buy it then try one from Provence. It is the benchmark for the best Rosé can be. A perfect summer aperitif yet complex and food friendly. You may have to pay ten quid to get a decent one and even more to get an exceptional one but it's worth it once in a while. I suspect the reputation of Rosé in Britain at least is still partly influenced by Matthias Rosé, enjoyed by footballers in the 1970's and lots of other people on the 1980's. Wine knowledge like lots of other things in life is passed down to us by those with more life experience but not necessarily more knowledge. Rosé is perhaps still too often seen as a merely functional wine, something you drink the minute hints of summer appear and not seen as the most sophisticated vino out there and fair play, wine should not be taken too seriously. If you fancy some and there's none on the menu, it's not life and death but do yourselves a favour and buy one bottle of Provence Rosé whilst summer and blue skies remain and you might just be converted unless you already are of course in which case, I'm just preaching.

PS I don't even know what Blush is, I think it's from California.

A little wine trip beyond Rioja via the Holloway road...

In Spain there lies mucho mucho vino. You probably know some spots; Ribero Del Duero, Toro, Navarra, Catalonia. There's loads. The magic and fun of wine partly lies in discovering new ones, particularly in Spain where Rioja is so prevalent in peoples' minds. One of least known and most interesting Spanish wine regions is Bierzo in the north-west of the country, Castilla-Leon, south east of Galicia. There they produce red wines made from a grape called Mencia which are full of character. The microclimate and the soil, yes the "terroir", darling, create rich fruits such as plum and blackberry with good structure and nice earthy tannins, in other wines very drinkable balanced wines; they can be a little TOO tannic for those of you who grew up drinking Jacobs Creek Merlot but that's nothing that a good piece of  beef (Galician beef from just up the road is very good - and very trendy for you dedicated followers- if you've won the lottery recently) won't fix. The one I had recently however wasn't too dry. I found it by chance in a new independant wine shop on Holloway road called Provisions. I've know idea where else you'll find it because I'd forgotten about this particular wine, but if you do see some, buy it.

Time flies and fruit flies

Where does summer go? This one only started about 4 weeks ago, around the second week of wimbledon and granted it's been lovely since then but now it's feel autumnal already. However, the cooling seem to have rid of us the fruit fly invasion that terrorized our kitchen for a few weeks. Did or does anyone else have a similar problem? In that funny way that nature works they have disappeared overnight. If you do still have them however, I recommend leaving some beer in a glass and covering the top with some cling film with a hole in the middle. Works a treat allowing the little pests to end their short time on earth drowing in craft beer. I meant to test it with Tesco's own cheap lager to establish their level of discernement but they didn't give me the chance. In the meantime, I'll be delighted to see the little bastardos again if that means the heat returning.