Spoofy Greek

Skouras Grande Cuvée 2006 - Nemea

23,40€; 14% abv. 12 months in new French oak. 100% Agiorgitiko. Sadly, the scent is completely dominated by nasty oak aromas: char and espresso, dark fruit and toffee. This is a terrible shame since the structure seems very attractive, so it would have been nice to smell something of the grape rather than the vessel it was aged in. Crunchy acidity, palate-cleansing tannins, invigorating. But despite these attractive elements, this simply has far too much oak influence.

Syria

This week has been quite a hectic one, traveling (too much of it by walking) around Syria looking for Roman roads and other late antique, rather unpicturesque sites like like al-Andarine, with its newly found "basalt Basilica".

But I did have time to visit a few more picturesque sites, too, and to eat numerous very good meals (one needs energy for this type of work), and to try a couple bottles.

St. Simeon chose a rather nice place to sit on top of a pillar ... uhmmmm ... stub

In Tartus, previously called Tortosa, we had a lovely meal of only mezze and tried an awful Syrian wine, Al'Andalus Old Wine 1996 from Homs, Syria with a funny back label mentioning that it is produced in a grape factory! That should have been the first warning sign. Brown. Smells of vinegar. Tastes like our tabboule and fattoush used it as seasoning. Amazingly these two vinegar infused salads made the wine much less worse than it was, with the vinegar of the dish cutting through the vinegar of the wine to reveal a bit of raisiny fruit in there! I would rather drink spoofy wine than this.


Thankfully some Lebanese wines are available (though not Musar). Ksara's Blanc de Blancs 2007 is too oaky, but has lovely, strong acidity. Tries too hard to be something serious rather than just fun and gluggable.

Like the Bl de Bl, Ksara's Blanc de l'Observatoire 2009 is a rather strange blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat and Clairette, but it works. It isn't over-ripe though the Bekaa Valley isn't a cool region, they are only about 12,5% abv. Nicely aromatic, but despite some obvious Muscat aromas, the nose doesn't promise sweetness as do so many other wines with strong Muscat aromas. And, indeed, it is crisp, high in acidity and very moreish with some fresh fish in a herbal sauce during the hot period of day on Arwad island just off the coast from Tartus.

Then it was back to Damascus for a few days.


Enjoying the sunset at Azem Palace in the old town.

And we mustered up the courage to try one more Syrian wine, this time with better luck. Janá'in al-Ard / Domaine al-Ard Côtes de l'Oronte 2009 is a red blend of Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Caladoc (what is this?) made by a French oenologist. I don't know where exactly along the Orontes it is from, since the back label mentions maritime influence, yet the only town name is that of Homs which is so far inland that I wouldn't have expected maritime influence there.

Anyway, the wine is only 11,5% according to the label but is fully ripe. The Syrah is much in evidence in its gamy slightly rustic scent, though such is the sun in Syria that it is veering more towards Shiraz than Syrah stylistically (though with no oak that I can sense). Seems a bit dilute on attack, but fills out well. Nice acidity despite the hot climate style: refreshing, clean finish.

Not bad at all, especially since it costs about 3€ a bottle.

A brief break from blogging

I'll be traveling around Syria for a couple weeks, so probably a small break unless I find some exceptional wines to post on (not likely, judging by my previous experiences with Syrian wines). So I'll just leave up a picture of the Arab Fortress above Palmyra; normalcy will return in a couple weeks.

Barolo and Curry

Indulging in a favourite, unorthodox combination tonight: a strong curry and an unspoofy, young Nebbiolo. Tenuta Arnulfo Barolo Campo dei Buoi Costa di Bussia 2004 is, now that it's been reduced from about 40€ to just over 30€, a pretty fair Barolo. It's not great as far as Barolo goes, but it delivers proper Baroloness for far less money than that proper Baroloness can otherwise be had over here. It is quite dark in fruit, not so ethereal and pure as my favourite examples. It is definitely more in the tar than the roses end of the Barolo spectrum. But gladly it sees no small, new wood, only big botti, so I don't see any oak influence in it at all. Nicely savoury but not massively grippy, it even shows a bit of sweetness of fruit. All in all a very serviceable Barolo, very enjoyable though young, but it doesn't seem to have quite the structure to require decades of age.

And the pairing, though apparently only enjoyed by Hugh Johnson (at least in one old guide of his - unless he meant it as a joke!!!) and I, is lovely. I guess there is a bit of a masochistic thing going on that the alcohol and tannin add to the heat, but also that the heat doesn't really morph or obfuscate the aromas: Nebbiolo seems to be one of the few wines in my experience that doesn't suffer from being served with heat. And I have no explanation why this is, so I'm perfectly prepared to admit that it is all in my head, unless someone comes up with a better explanation.

Williams & Humbert Dos Cortados Palo Cortado

Williams & Humbert Dos Cortados Rare Old Dry Palo Cortado Solera Especial Aged 20 years
Fully dry. I have had one or two very good Palo Cortados with a touch of PX induced sweetness, but really the most satisfying experiences have been with these bone dry, painfully intense examples. And this W&H is IMO quite fantastic: lovely rancio aromas, invigoratingly intense. I have to quote Andrew Stevenson again: fuck me this is good.

Spoof from Montravel

Ch. Pique-Sègue Terre de Pique-Segue "Anima Vitis" 2002
It is exactly three years today since I last tried this wine. And time has done nothing for it. It is still dark in its fruit, it is still massively and bitterly oaky and the structure is too soft without enough grip from tannins nor enough vivacity from acidity. Highlights everything that is bad about so called "modern" wines in one convenient package, apart from the alcohol being far too moderate at only 13%...

RIP Marcel Lapierre

I just heard the news that Marcel Lapierre died last night. Very sad news. I have no further information on what happened - if anyone does, let me know.

Funky weekend drinking

First up was several bottles of M. Lapierre's VdPdGaules 2007 which from my experience this summer had seen its best days. But bottle variation is apparently reality even with screw caps: the three bottles I opened for my friends were all outstandingly lovely. Pure, crisp, sexy red fruit, ripe but wonderfully invigorating and moreish. This is truly an outstanding wine and apart from a brownish tint there was nothing to suggest that this would be fading. But I will drink up the remaining three very quickly. Gladly the 2009 is shaping up to be just as wonderful!



And one more Cornelissen Contadino 7 was opened, too. And it was lovely. Though a poster boy for the natural wine movement, this isn't actually all that radical a wine if viewed simply organoleptically without delving into the methods. The colour, I admit, is a bit odd in being so vivid. But the scent is full of brightness and vulcanic character; refreshing tannins, rich but vivacious. If so much hadn't been written about how weird these wines are supposed to be, I would never understand whatthe fuss is about. This is one lovely wine among many lovely wines.

Chile & Uruguay

Viña Santa Rita Casa Real Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 - Maipo Valley; 30,20€; 14% abv; 5,1 g/l acidity; Kosher; 16 months in new French oak.
The 1998 of this was often featured in tastings over here, and I have quite fond memories of it so I decided to try this '05. And it's quite nice. There is plenty of sweet and dark fruit, but the fruit isn't over the top - rather, it has some nice savoury and typically Cabernet elements like earth, baked beans and herbs (sometimes veering too much into the minty end of the spectrum). Full bodied, fairly smooth tannins already despite being young, clean and refreshing acidity. I have an oak allergy, but here the 16 months didn't bother me all that much: it doesn't seem to be of high toast and it doesn't cover all the other aromas so my crystal ball tells me that it should become harmonious over time (at least the '98 did). I really enjoy the way that this is fully ripe without resorting to a style of mouth coating fruit and oak that one too often sees from the new world. And I can't emphasize it enough: this is refreshing and savoury, too! Possibly very nice once the oak fades.


Pisano Tannat / Petit Verdot 2008 - Uruguay, Progreso Region of Origin; 14% abv; 13,60€; 6 g/l acidity
Under plastic cork. Apparently a blend of 80% Tannat and 20% Petit Verdot - but I'll have to take that at face value because the beverage doesn't seem all that much like wine. It sees eight months in oak of which two thirds was new, but that it is simply too much. There is no indication from the aromas that this would be made of grapes: it smells of hot chocolate and cream. The palate is simple and sweet, hollow, with unpleasantly extracted tannins. Is this really made from grapes? I thought Quercus was not a grape...

Brouwerij De Dochter van de Korenaar

My ex-colleague from the bookshop, now full time beer importer, invited me to taste through a range from Brouwerij De Dochter van de Korenaar. First up was a Pale Ale called Noblesse which was a bit strange for a Belgian ale in being so pure, delineated and citric. I don't think I've ever before tasted a Belgian quite so clean - perhaps some batches of De Ranke's XX Bitter come close to this style, but this is lighter. Lovely stuff.

Then we opened Finesse which is supposedly a Tripel, but I can't see much Tripelness about it. First of all, it was too dark, second, it was too roasted and malty - it seemed to me like an exceptionally good Dubbel, one with better hoppiness and a drier finish than most in such a style. Very good beer - as long as one doesn't approach it expecting to get a Tripel.

They also had an intriguing smoked beer, Bravoure, which was very like bacon in its aromas and greasy taste (as opposed to the aromatics more akin to smoked fish in Aecht Schlenkerla). Lovely beer, if one likes smoke and bacon in liquid form. Perhaps one can fault smoked beers for being one note wonders. But on occasion I really love that one note.

Embrasse and one whose name I have forgotten are basically the same beer, a strong ale of 9% abv, but with second matured in whisky casks. Much like a Porter in style, roasted, malty, with lovely refreshing bitterness from the hops. I didn't so much care for the harsh, grassy, peaty aromas of the whisky aged beer - I have become quite bored with both the fads of adding coffee to beer and ageing it in cask. I prefer the purity of plain beer with hops and yeasts the only "added" aromas (if such traditional additives really can be said to be additions in this brewing tradition).

Sadly the last beer, Courage, their winter beer, wasn't to my taste. It had an absurdly strong smell and taste of bitter, dark chocolate. Now, I like properly dark chocolate, but it was painfully intense in this beer so one sip was enough. Strangely for one so strongly chocolaty, there isn't any in the beer - it is achieved entirely with the malts.

This last one excepted, these were among the most interesting new beer experiences I have had recently.

Bründlmayer Zweigelt 2008

It wasn't a completely beer dominated weekend after all. I saw a new vintage of an old, moderately priced favourite, so I couldn't resist buying one. And I couldn't resist opening it either.

Weingut Bründlmayer Zweigelt 2008 12,5%; just under 14€

Since the 2004 I've been trying to put into words why I like this wine so much. The closest I can come to is to say that it is fun in a very serious kind of way. Full of boisterous, almost Bojo-like fruit, but mixed with dark and brooding, peppery, almost Syrah-like aromas. And this strange but lovely mix follows on the palate: fruit that wears its heart on its sleeve and crisp tannins - a mix of fun and brooding. A seriously depressed comedian of a wine.