Wine Styles Archives

View of New Zealand vineyards with mountains in the distance

Guide to New Zealand Wines

Guide to New Zealand Wines The New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ocean New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and specifically Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc have been pretty much synonymous with New Zealand wine until fairly recently. Indeed even in 2023 Sauvignon Blanc still accounted for 65%* of New Zealand’s total wine grape vineyard area – and most of that was in Marlborough, 58% of New Zealand’s total vineyard area. Amazing facts especially when you consider that the grape was first planted in Marlborough only in 1975. You cannot ignore the importance of this grape as it thrust New Zealand onto the international wine scene. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc still clearly has its fans. Many have fallen for its aromatics, its crisp zing and unique flavours of gooseberry, red peppers with hints of passionfruit and fresh cut grass. As Sauvignon Blanc production started to become more commercial in the 1970s, at the lower end of the market (encouraged, it has to be said, by retailers importing into the UK and other countries), the bigger, tropical-fruit style of Marlborough Sauvignon dominated some markets. However a wider variety of styles has since evolved as producers embraced the diversity of the different terroirs even within Marlborough itself and used that to their advantage such that now New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc has become an international benchmark for many. The modern, more terroir-focussed and more subtle style of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is evident in the more premium end of the market. Te Whare Ra Sauvignon Blanc and Auntsfield Estates Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc are two great examples and both are consistently two of my customers’ favourite white wines. In addition, both are loved by me, once a self-professed Sauvignon Blanc hater! In fact Anna Flowerday of Te Whare Ra once described their Sauvignon Blanc as “a Sauvignon Blanc for people who think they don’t like Sauvignon Blanc”. At this higher but not necessarily too expensive end of the market, producers are experimenting further with different techniques such as lees ageing and even oak aging and so we are going to keep seeing Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc on the radar for some time to come. If the zingy freshness of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is too crisp for your palate, try a New Zealand Sauvignon blended with Semillon, like Pegasus Bay Sauvignon Semillon. The Semillon softens that crispness and makes the wine a little rounder. However, there is so much more to New Zealand wine than Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc as you are about to discover. Why try New Zealand wine? There are a number of underlying reasons why you should try New Zealand wine: Diversity of soils This is one of New Zealand’s major benefits and it allows them to grow a wide variety of grapes and produce a wide variety of styles as explained below. In addition it is partly responsible for an abundance of terroir-focused wines. Diversity of micro-climates The climate as a whole is temperate maritime which makes it generally a cool-climate region. This means that New Zealand has an advantage in the production of premium wines. That is not to say that New Zealand doesn’t produce more commercial styles of wine. It does but there is an increasing focus on making great wine. The variety of micro-climates contributes to the focus on terroir. Commitment to sustainability New Zealand is at the forefront of sustainability. It was one of the first to establish a formal sustainability programme – in 1995. Today 96% of New Zealand’s vineyards are certified as sustainable and other countries are following its lead. You can read more about this commitment below. Innovation It is argued that, with a relatively new wine industry, New Zealand is not hampered by commitments to long-standing traditions. It is certainly true to say that New Zealand has been a driving force in several areas of experimentation and innovation such as canopy management which is the leaf cover over vines and can have a significant impact on the quality and quantity of grapes fermentation techniques remote temperature control which helps to reduce energy thus adding to its sustainability credentials and screwcaps – New Zealand was one of the first wine-producing countries to start using screwcaps even for its quality wines and now 95% of NZ wines are under screwcap. Collaboration in the New Zealand wine industry New Zealand Winegrowers is the only unified national winegrowers industrial body in the world with almost all New Zealand wineries and grape growers signed up as members. The organisation supports members in many different ways – education, advocacy, research to name but a few – and has a real collaborative feel. One of its most important roles is promoting “Brand New Zealand” worldwide. Its brand refresh in 2023, Altogether Unique, highlights New Zealand Wine’s three pillars – purity, innovation and care – and helps support and grow New Zealand wine’s reputation in a very competitive market. Other New Zealand wine styles Aside from Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, what else can New Zealand offer wine drinkers? After I previously wrote about Old World & New World wines (blogpost being updated and to be re-published soon) it is interesting to see that New Zealand Wine, mainly lists as the wine styles that New Zealand has to offer the different grape varieties that are grown there. Wine styles therefore include Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot & Cabernet Sauvignon. Their approach is mirrored below. New Zealand Pinot Noir The second most-planted grape variety in New Zealand is Pinot Noir which accounted for around 14% of the vineyard area (up from 9% in 2016) followed by Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Merlot, Riesling and many more grape varieties. If you have not yet tried a Pinot Noir from New Zealand, you really should. In my opinion New Zealand Pinot Noir is generally speaking one of the best in the world, hence why I have two different Pinots in the Wines With Attitude® portfolio. They differ in style due to the diversity of climates and soils but generally are intense in flavour, fruity

What colour can tell you about wine

Wine Styles, Wine Tasting

What colour can tell you about wine When drinking or tasting wine most people focus only on the smell and the taste of it, ignoring what ought to be the first step – looking at the wine’s colour and its general appearance. You might think that choosing red, white or rosé is all you need to think about in terms of the colour of wine but in fact the colour can give you a number of clues about the wine’s age, style, grape and even where it was produced. In blind and non-blind tastings sommeliers and wine experts always start by looking at the wine in the glass. Here’s how and why… How to assess a wine’s colour Look at the colour of the wine in a clear glass against a white background. Pouring wine only until the glass is a quarter or a third full means you can safely tip the wine glass to look at the colour without spilling any wine. What gives wine its colour? The colour of wine derives primarily from phenolic pigments found in the grape skins (the juice of most grapes, red, white or pink, is actually clear). There are more colour pigments in the skins of some grapes than in others so grape variety has some impact. Interaction with oxygen during the wine-making process can also make the grape juice become darker but with careful treatment of the juice and/ or the addition of sulphur dioxide (you can find out more in my blog on sulphites in wine) this risk can be minimised. Ageing or even fermenting a wine whether red, rosé or white, in oak, will alter the colour. Partly this is because of the slight oxidation that occurs when a wine is aged in oak barrels but also due to chemical reactions between the juice/ wine and the oak. Similarly aging a wine even in bottle means there will be some, albeit minimal, exposure to oxygen which will change the wine’s colour. With age a white wine becomes darker whereas a red wine’s colour breaks down and so it becomes lighter. The thicker the grape skin and the longer a wine is left on the grape skins (a process called maceration), the darker a wine will become. Similarly a harsh or heavy grape pressing will mean that more colour is extracted from the skins. Most reputable wine makers tend to press gently these days, mainly to avoid too much bitterness from the pips and stalks entering the juice. In addition, for red wines, acidity has an effect on the colour; generally the higher the acidity the brighter, lighter red a wine is likely to be. This can also help in ascertaining the climate of the region a wine was produced in and therefore the origin of a wine. Cooler climate wine would generally have less ripe grapes and, if you remember from my blog on acidity in wine, therefore tends to have more acidity. Wines from cooler regions are lighter both in colour and in body. Conversely wines with lower acidity from riper grapes grown in warm climate regions tend to be bigger and more full-bodied with deeper colour. The colours of white wine White wines are not white at all but range through a long list of shades from a pale lemon colour with green notes through different shades of gold to orange. White wines have tended to become paler over recent years as wine-making processes have improved; in particular there are now only very rare occurrences of over-oxidation which can cause deep gold to brown shades of white wine. Paler white wines towards the lemon-green and lemon end of the spectrum are likely to be: young light in body dry with fruit & floral characteristics unoaked and from cooler climate regions More gold-coloured white wines are more likely to be: older richer fuller-bodied aged or fermented in oak (or on their lees or yeasts) with fruit and some spicy and even bready characteristics from warmer regions Amber or orange white wines are more likely to be: sweeter or sweet especially if produced from much riper or and even botrytised grapes even richer and fuller in body possibly intentionally oxidised like sherry and orange wines older, possibly past their best if they have been left too long and have oxidised too much By the way, I tend to find that people who say they get headaches from white wine prefer to drink the lighter coloured wines. I do wonder whether there is something in oak that might not agree with some people… The colours of red wine There are many hues of red wine, perhaps more than for white wine, or perhaps simply more distinguishable. To keep things simple, red wines can range from bluey purple through crimson reds to browner shades of red to brown itself e.g. in tawny port. Red wines at the purple and light red end of the spectrum are more likely to be very young possibly too young lighter in body higher in acidity with fruity characteristics low in tannins unoaked from cooler climate regions A garnet-coloured wine which is a deep red with brick-coloured hues is more likely to be older medium to full bodied lower in acidity fruity but also with vanilla and toasty characteristics more tannic though in good wine these will have softened over time oaked from warmer climate regions A red wine at the tawny or brown end of the spectrum is likely to be aged round and full-bodiedrich nutty with dried fruit characteristics oaked fortified like port and potentially past its best if not fortified The colours of rosé wine Rosé wines can range from the most delicate pink through salmon pink hues to orange. They take their colour from the black grapes used in their production – particularly important is the length of time the juice is left on the skins for extraction of the colour. In recent times the

Vinho Verde

Wine Regions, Wine Styles

Vinho verde: a perfect wine for summer Portugal is perhaps best known, wine-wise at least, for its fortified wine, port (about which you can read more in my port blogposts on ruby port and tawny port) but the largest wine region in Portugal is actually Vinho Verde – and the UK is its second biggest export market after France. Nevertheless vinho verde remains a bit of a mystery wine with a reputation for being a bit ‘rustic’, a bit fizzy and a bit sweet, all in all not very appealing. But vinho verde has been undergoing a long, slow revolution which is seeing its quality improve, a variety of styles develop and its exports grow. And summer is the perfect time to try vinho verde as we will discover. What is vinho verde? The usual characteristics of vinho verde are: a light white still wine. The Vinho Verde region also produces red and (true) sparkling wines but these are a small percentage of the total proportion and so I am focusing on the whites low in alcohol, typically 8% to 11.5% ABV in particular it has crisp acidity making most vinho verde mouth-wateringly refreshing these days it is usually dry but sometimes off-dry vinho verde makes its way into UK wine retailers so if you are not a fan of off- or medium-dry wines, make sure you select a dry one like Márcio Lopes’ Pequeños Rebentos Vinho Verde DOC usually produced with a spritz but not so much of a fizz that it would be defined as a sparkling wine. This light prickle was traditionally caused by a second fermentation in the bottle after the first in the open troughs or ‘lagares’ where the grapes used to be trodden (the first fermentation is now more likely to take place in a stainless steel tank). Disappointingly many producers now inject carbon dioxide into the wine before bottling instead of allowing the fermentation in bottle. Some more modern winemakers like Márcio Lopes prefer to let nature take its course and in the case of his vinho verde there is no discernible spritz on the palate, though you may still see a few bubbles in the wine. usually very pale lemon in colour (sometimes with a slight pink tinge to it if made wholly or mainly with Alvarinho grapes). What does vinho verde taste like? Vinho verde can be made from permitted grape varieties either as a blend or as a 100% varietal wine. The flavour profile will depend partly on the grapes used – and there are many varieties permitted, mostly grapes that are indigenous to the region. When Márcio Lopes started up Pequeños Rebentos he initially grew just Alvarinho and Trajadura (known as Albariño and Treixadura in Spain) but he started producing vinho verde from local varietal Loureiro in 2016 having realised the fine, elegant wine that could be produced from it. Loureiro will give floral aromas and a long citrus and mineral finish on the palate. Alvarinho also has the potential to produce quality wines and so many producers use it in part and increasingly on its own for their vinho verde. Rather than the peachy aromas that you see in Spanish Albariño from the Rías Baixas especially, vinho verde made from Alvarinho creates quite sharp, fragrant and fruity wines. As a general rule vinho verde is light, crisp and citrussy with saline minerality. It rarely sees oak and it is not produced to age but to drink young – vinho verde means green or young wine though some believe the green in the name refers or referred originally to the verdant surroundings of the region where it is produced. Where is vinho verde produced? The largest of 31 DOC wine regions, Vinho Verde DOC is in the cool north west of Portugal, an area which is strongly influenced by its proximity to the Atlantic ocean, which effectively means that it rains a lot. Soils are usually fertile and mainly granite so free draining which is good given that there is a risk of rot and mildew in a damp climate. The major downside is that it is difficult in cool climate wine regions for grapes to ripen sufficiently; the tradition in the small vineyards typical of the region was to train the vines to grow up tall pergolas or even up trees but now many train the vines along low wires and particular care is taken to trim the leaves of the vine to give the grapes the best chance to ripen. Modern winemakers like Márcio Lopes practise sustainable viticulture and prefer low intervention, aiming to make wines with balance that reflect the terroir – there are nine sub-regions in the Vinho Verde DOC region – Monção, Melgaço, Lima, Basto, Cávado, Ave, Amarante, Baião, Sousa and Paiva – all with their own individual nuances in terroir. How to recognise vinho verde True vinho verde will have a seal like this one on the back of the bottle to certify that the wine meets the Vinho Verde DOC region’s requirements and has been analysed and approved by the regulator, the CVRVV (Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verdes). Any wines from the region that don’t have this seal will be from the lower category of wine in Portugal, ‘vinho regional’, the equivalent of ‘vin de pays’ or these days IGP wines or simply ‘vinho’, the catch-all lowest rank. When to drink vinho verde? Vinho verde is not generally produced for keeping but, having said that, better vinho verde wines can keep longer. Although some producers are experimenting with oak which would provide a structure more suited to ageing, oak has a tendency to overpower the grapes used to produce it and so needs very careful handling. Vinho verde is produced for drinking young, at 1 to 2 years of age though well made vinho verde that has been kept on its lees for a few months to give it some body can keep a few years

The Shiraz Syrah grape and wine by Wines With Attitude

The Shiraz or Syrah grape and wines

Grape Varieties, Wine Styles

The Shiraz / Syrah grape & wines Shiraz used to be very popular here in the UK but Syrah remained, and still remains to some extent, relatively unknown. In fact Shiraz is the same grape as Syrah. This guide to the Shiraz or Syrah grape will reveal more about this wine grape variety and the different styles of Shiraz or Syrah wine. I’ll also be looking into what Shiraz tastes like, whether Shiraz is a good wine or just a big juicy but somewhat one-dimensional wine as we used to see dominating our supermarket shelves as well as advice on which food to eat with Shiraz or Syrah wine. The Syrah grape / The Shiraz grape Despite our proximity to France, here in the UK the Australian name, Shiraz, is the better known name of this black grape variety; this is partly because France has historically not labelled its wines with the grape variety and partly because in the late 1990s and early 2000s Australia, which proudly names the grape on its wine labels, encouraged by the UK’s bulk wine buyers and supermarkets, flooded the UK market with simple, value-for-money Shiraz which was very popular for a number of years. In fact France produces more Syrah or Shiraz than Australia, largely in Provence, Languedoc-Roussillon and the Rhône regions. These two countries have by far the most Shiraz vines but there are plantings in many countries including the USA, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Spain, Italy and Portugal etc. Shiraz remains the 6th most widely grown wine grape variety in the world despite the fall in popularity of the entry-level Australian Shiraz and this is partly because many Australian Shiraz wine producers have upped their game, partly because it is a vigorous grape variety and partly because the grape blends well with several other grape varieties. There has been much debate about the origins of the Syrah grape but it has been proved by DNA profiling to have originated in France, a cross between two lesser-known French grapes, Dureza and Mondeuse Blanche. There is a top quality, small-berry version known as Petite Syrah – but this is not to be confused with the Petite Sirah grape also known as Durif and found in the Americas. Hermitage is another name for the Shiraz or Syrah grape in Australia but it is also a synonym for other varieties so its use is confusing and therefore rare. Whilst Syrah used to be largely the old world name for the grape and Shiraz the new world name, now the names are increasingly used to differentiate between two styles of wine – Shiraz for the big, juicy, warmer climate wine and Syrah for the more refined, cooler climate wines – but this is not an official definition and I use the terms Syrah and Shiraz interchangeably in this blogpost. Shiraz / Syrah styles of wine Syrah or Shiraz is a very versatile grape and this is reflected in the different styles of wine produced from it across many wine regions. It can be found as a single-varietal, i.e. 100% Shiraz or as part of a blend of different grape varieties. Even as a varietal wine Syrah can produce different styles: think of the smooth classics of the Northern Rhône like Crozes Hermitage, Cornas, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, the typically full-bodied spicy Barossa Valley Shiraz wines and an increasing number of fine examples from South Africa which generally sit somewhere between the above two styles. Shiraz from generally warm-climate areas such as Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale in Australia and the more sheltered parts of Stellenbosch in South Africa are generally: fuller-bodied, darker in colour, with more obvious, sweeter tannins and higher alcohol (c. 14%+ ABV) Cooler climate Syrah or Shiraz from areas such as the Northern Rhône and New Zealand tend to be: more elegant, more perfumed and have more acidity and, as is often the case, Syrah produced in cooler climate regions tends be more age-worthy as the grapes retain more acidity despite being ripened over a longer period. Increasingly in cooler climate areas of Australia wine makers are successfully also achieving this more elegant, lighter style of 100% Shiraz – so much so that as mentioned above some prefer to label their wine as Syrah to differentiate it from warmer climate, juicy-fruit style Shiraz wines. Syrah is often seen in blends. In Australia, the USA and South America it is often paired with the more austere and tannic grape, Cabernet Sauvignon, to soften the wine and give it a more rounded structure and a smoother texture. In the Southern Rhône Syrah is the “S” in the famous GSM blends (with Grenache and Mourvèdre) like the classic Châteauneuf du Pape and Côtes du Rhône. It gives structure and age-ability. Sometimes a splash of white grape Viognier is also added for its perfume and silkiness, producing a really elegant, feminine style of wine. In answer to the question, can you get good Shiraz, yes, and increasingly so these days. Producers of the mid to top price range Syrahs are looking towards the more elegant style and experimenting with terroir to … What does Syrah or Shiraz taste like? One of the key characteristics of most Syrahs or Shiraz is its distinctive pepper flavour and aroma which comes from alpha-ylangene, a molecule also found in peppercorns; apparently 20% of people are unable to smell it however so don’t be too surprised if you can’t. But in a blind wine tasting pepper is often the first clue, to those that can smell it, that the wine is a Shiraz. Other typical flavours and aromas are black fruits, liqourice, leather and sometimes tar. Warmer climate Shiraz will have ripe black fruit flavours like blackberry and blueberry, spice and chocolate flavours. Flavours of cooler climate Shiraz tend to include more herbs, olives and more pronounced pepper and spice with some meaty aromas and still some black fruits but less ripe fruits. Younger Syrah tends to have floral aromas

Semillon grape & wines from Wines With Attitude

Guide to the Semillon grape & wines

Grape Varieties, Wine Styles

Guide to the Semillon grape and wines Here I take a look at the Semillon or Sémillon grape and why it is, in my opinion, hugely under-rated. What’s the big deal with Semillon? Admittedly Semillon is not going to appeal to people who prefer their white wines to be very light in colour and body but it has a lot going for it, not least the fact that it is so versatile. Semillon produces: complex, fuller-bodied still dry wines and rich sweet wines plus it blends well, especially with Sauvignon Blanc and particularly in Bordeaux and in Australia. It is its ability to make arguably the best sweet wines in the world in Sauternes and Barsac that earns Semillon its classic grape status. In the right conditions the sugars in the grapes become concentrated to make them super-sweet; we’ll go into more detail on this process in a future blog. Where to find Semillon Aside from its home of Bordeaux, Semillon is grown largely in Australia, especially in the Hunter Valley, in South Africa, Argentina and Chile although Semillon vines have reduced in number as the craze for Chardonnay took hold in these countries. In addition it is not the easiest grape to grow, or rather it grows profusely but producing good flavoursome Semillon is notoriously difficult. Flavour profiles of Semillon wines Dry Semillon At its worst, as a commercial bulk wine, Semillon lacks any flavour characteristics but at its best, when the grapes are grown in low yields and to their optimal ripeness and the dry wine is produced with care, it is intense, multi-layered with fruity, nutty and savoury characteristics, full body and a smooth, creamy texture. In cool climate Semillon like those produced in Bordeaux and Hunter Valley citrus fruits – lemon, grapefruit and lime – and apple are likely to be predominant; the wine may also have floral aromas. The acidity will generally be higher and so the wine will be a little sharper. And in fact if it has not ripened properly Semillon tends to be very like Sauvignon Blanc to which it is related; some say it is like Pinot Grigio. It will also tend not to be aged in oak in cooler regions though some flavour characteristics such as honey, butter and toast and textures that may be associated with ageing can develop if a wine is kept in bottle for a reasonable time. These wines are likely to be lower in alcohol at c.12% ABV.In warmer climate dry Semillon from areas like Southern Australia, South Africa and Argentina the fruit flavours will tend more towards ripe pears, greengages, papaya, peach and mango though the lemon flavour usually remains. The dry straw aroma for which Semillon is known and the floral scents will be more predominant and there may be spices like ginger in the mix. If oak ageing is used the butter and creamy aromas and tastes and the smooth, full-body will be enhanced. The texture of Semillon from a warmer area can be a little oily (in a good way), some call it lanolin or waxy, and in a good wine this should be balanced with some acidity. The alcohol will be higher at around 13.5 or 14% ABV. These Semillons can be like a rich, creamy Chardonnay. When blended with Sauvignon Blanc, the added acidity from the Sauvignon creates a crisper wine and balances the richness of the Semillon; the flavour profile will depend upon the ratio of each grape in the blend. Sweet Semillon A fabulous sweet Semillon will have a lovely silky, luscious texture and a multitude of flavours and aromas such as honey, nuts, marzipan, peaches, coconut, pineapple etc. To avoid it being cloyingly sweet the wine must have some crisp acidity to balance the sweetness. When to drink Semillon Good Semillon is generally better if it has a few years under its belt before being consumed. The problem with most wine retailers (and I include the supermarkets that sell well over 80% of wine in the UK) is that they push wine out far too soon. You need to be looking for at least 3 or 4 years of age before drinking it. Any earlier than that and it is likely to be too young and of a commercial, one-dimensional style which does no favours to Semillon’s reputation. The advantage is that it is very long-lived so if well-made dry Semillon can keep for 15 to 20 years and sweet Semillon even longer. One of the disadvantages however of its needing some age before drinking – and of its affinity with oak – is that it is not the cheapest wine but it is definitely worth treating yourself from time to time. Pairing Semillon with food Food-wise dry Semillon has the body to make it the perfect match for rich meals like those we eat at Christmas and Easter where there are a lot of different flavours on a plate including fruity and creamy sauces – remember number one of my wine and food-matching tips – match the weight of the food with the wine. And the nuttiness of the wine complements a nut roast. Perhaps surprisingly Semillon also makes a good match for relatively spicy food – mildly spiced curries, Thai and Japanese dishes. Cooler climate Semillon is especially good with fish, seafood and even sushi. Dessert Semillon wines are great with most desserts – remember number 2 of my food and wine matching tips – always to serve a wine that is sweeter than the food to avoid an acidic or sour taste – so rich and creamy puddings are perfect. But sweet Semillon is also good with some savoury foods – foie gras is perhaps the better known combination but try it also with blue cheese and nutty flavoured cheese like a strong cheddar and Gruyere. It’s time to give Semillon a chance … just find the right style of Semillon for you. If you are a fan of Chardonnay try a

Grenache grapes & wine styles

Grape Varieties, Wine Styles

Grenache grapes & wine styles There’s a whole family of Grenache grapes and consequently a wide range of different Grenache wines. So, what wines are made from Grenache grapes? Grenache can be a full-bodied wine or a lighter style, Grenache can be a dry wine or a sweet wine, a red wine, white wine or rosé and a fortified wine as you will discover. This blogpost will also look at the regions where Grenache is grown, why Grenache produces different wines, what grape Grenache is similar to and what you should eat with Grenache. Grenache grape: Grenache or Garnacha or Garnatxa? Although many believe Grenache is a French grape, it is in fact Spanish, its Spanish name being Garnacha. There are some who claim that it comes from Sardinia where it is and for centuries has been known as Cannonau. However since Spain has all three different coloured Garnacha grapes and more variations and mutations it seems to be the most likely source. The biggest plantings of Grenache by far are in Spain and Southern France and so the Spanish and French names are the best known (and used interchangeably in this blog post); I have also included the Catalan names since there is a growing interest in the Grenache grape amongst winemakers in Catalonia. There are black, white, grey and even hairy versions of the Grenache grape – yes, you read that correctly, a hairy Grenache grape … Black Grenache To give it its full French name Grenache Noir is known as Garnacha (Tinta) in Spain and Garnatxa or Garnaxa in Catalonia. It is a very old variety and the 7th most widely-planted black wine grape in the world (163 000 ha in 2015), perhaps surprising since Grenache only wines are quite rare. The Grenache grape is very vigorous. drought resistant and adapts easily to different soils. It has naturally high alcohol, red fruit flavours, medium acidity and tannins. There are a number of problems for wine makers: the yields and the alcohol level need controlling, harvesting time must be carefully selected to achieve full ripeness and sufficient acidity and if Grenache vinyeards are irrigated they can produce dilute, one-dimensional wines. It can also oxidise easily and often needs drinking while relatively young. So it seems it is not the easiest grape to tend. Producers of commercial style Grenache are less concerned about this but producers of better quality wines keep the alcohol in check by not letting the grapes over-ripen; there is an added danger that if grapes are left on the vine too long the acidity, which is not overly high in Grenache, will fall too low and produce flat of “flabby” wines. When winemakers produce a balance between the juicy fruit flavours, the alcohol. the acidity and the tannins, Grenache can be a truly amazing wine that can age well. White Grenache Garnacha Blanca is also known as Grenache Blanc or Garnatxa Blanca in Catalan. The white version of Grenache has similar qualities to the black Grenache grape though it is nowhere near as widely planted. Again care needs to be taken to keep yields low and not to let the alcohol take over. Grey Grenache Known as Garnacha Roja, Grenache Gris and Garnatxa Gris, this grey or pink-skinned variety of Grenache is more unusual and most often used in blends with Grenache Blanc to add perfume and body. Hairy Grenache Grenache Poilu, Garnacha Peluda or Garnatxa Peluda is very similar to Garnacha Tinta but has one major advantage, higher natural acidity, and one major difference, its hairy leaves. The underside of the leaves are covered in down thought to have developed to preserve moisture. There is also a grape known as Garnacha Tintorera but it is from another grape family altogether. Where is Grenache grown? France and Spain are by far the two largest producers of Grenache Noir, together they account for 87% of its vineyard area worldwide. In France you will find it mainly in the Southern Rhône, in Provence and in Languedoc-Roussillon, all areas in the south with a hot climate. In Spain it is grown mainly in Aragon in the North East, in Catalonia, in Rioja and in Priorat. It is grown elsewhere but sadly not always to produce the best wines. In some New World warm climate areas Grenache is used for high volume, inexpensive wines. This I know is a very wide generalisation and it is increasingly possible to find high quality Grenache in all countries where it is grown when care has been taken in the wine-making process. In pre-Shiraz Australia Grenache was the most planted black variety and its plantings are again increasing there as our love for Aussie Shiraz is declining. Again Southern France and Spain have the most Garnacha Blanca vines. Many of the French grapes are destined for blends and for vin doux naturel, a fortified wine. In North East Spain and Tarragona it is grown for blends – it is permitted in white Rioja, Priorat, Terra Alta etc – and increasingly for 100% varietals in Terra Alta. What wines are made from Grenache grapes? There are many different styles of Grenache because there are different Grenache grapes and because theuy can be vinified in different ways. Here I cover mainly the red Grenache-based wines and briefly the other styles. I will write in more detail about Garnacha Blanca in a later blog post. Red Grenache wine styles Oz Clarke has described Grenache Noir in his inimitable style as the “wild, wild woman of wine, the sex on wheels and devil take the hindmost, the don’t say I didn’t warn you” perhaps because of its tendency to high alcohol. This is probably also why, despite being a widely planted grape, Grenache noir is rarely found as a varietal or 100% pure Grenache though it is being seen increasingly in North East Spain. The closest I have had (though now sadly sold out) is the Australian Eperosa Stonegarden Grenache which is 97% and a very

Oak barrels used for ageing wine in a winery

A guide to oaked and unoaked wine

What's in my wine?, Wine Styles

A guide to oaked and unoaked wine Many wine drinkers have a strong preference for either oaked wines or unoaked wines; people seem to love one and hate the other. It is important to differentiate between oaky wines with a strong taste of oak that appeal to a small proportion of wine drinkers and oaked wines. The latter have been fermented and / or aged in oak and may have no discernible wood on the palate or nose. Over-oaky wines like heavily-oaked Californian Chardonnay and commercial style Rioja, popular up till relatively recently, have not helped the reputation of oaked wines in general. So this guide looks at how wood affects wine, why and when oak is used in winemaking and how to tell oaked wines from unoaked wines. And, if wines matured in barrel are not your bag, there are also some tips on how to avoid them. How oak affects wine Oak can affect wine in a number of different ways. It can obviously affect the aroma and flavour of wine – but importantly, it does not have to affect the aroma and flavour. It can also have an impact on the colour, tannins and structure of wine and it can encourage clarification of the wine, with time. Aromas & flavours from oak Firstly though, let’s take a look at the aromas and flavours from oak that can be distinguished in wine. Vanilla is probably the flavour that first springs to mind and this comes from vanillin in the wood itself. Many of the other flavours come from toasting the barrel, a process used primarily to make the wood flexible enough to shape it but also to get rid of any bitter, green, raw wood flavours and to release other more palatable flavours. The stronger the degree of toasting, the more intense the flavours. Lighter toasting shows spices like cloves and nutmeg with more intense toasting leading to flavours like dried fruit, dill, coconut, caramel, cocoa or chocolate, coffee, toast, smoke and even burnt wood (flavours like those depicted in the left hand side of the image below). This wide range is why wine aged in barrel is often described as having complexity. The right hand side of the image depicts the fresh fruit aromas likely to dominate in a wine that has not been fermented or aged in barrel. Of course wine produced in a stainless steel vat can also be complex but the complexity comes from the grapes, the influence of the soils and the terroir in general and from the production processes such as maceration – where the grape juice is left on the skins – and lees ageing – where the wine rests on the dead yeast after fermentation. Colour from oak The longer white wines rest in oak, the darker they become. Chances are a deep yellow coloured white wine will have been fermented and / or aged in barrel although lees ageing can also make a white wine darker. Ageing wine in oak stabilises the colour of red wine rather than changing it. Tannins & oak Tannins in wood can transfer into wine though mainly if new barrels are used and so winemakers have to monitor the affects carefully to avoid over-tannic wines. However, although oak is watertight – and wine-tight! – it does allow a tiny amount of oxygen to enter the wine and this slight oxidation helps to soften the tannins and make the wine rounder and smoother. It is these tannins and structure that give a wine the ability to age well. Tannins from oak can also assist in development of polyphenols, the many naturally-occurring compounds that affect the colour, taste and texture of the wine. Body & texture from oak In addition to the softening of wine in barrels through subtle oxidation, there is research to suggest that micro-organisms in the wood contribute to the smooth texture and elegance of the wine. Certainly it is known that American oak is relatively high in certain organic esters that give wine a creamy texture. In brief, oak brings more complexity to wine. In an unoaked wine fresh fruit flavours dominate, the body is likely to be lighter, tannins will be low and the wine is unlikely to be particularly age-worthy. Most (well-made) oaked wines will have fresh fruits balanced with the flavours from the oak; tannins will give the wine structure but should not be too harsh or mouth-drying and the wine will have a fuller body and smooth mouthfeel. How oak is used in winemaking Oak is widely used in wine making and it can enhance many wines – though not all. Care has to be taken not to overpower the wine’s natural flavours and aromas. In fact most wines will have spent some time in an oak cask but there are a large number of variables which mean that the influence of the oak ranges from high to practically zero and that the impact is on different aspects of the wine. Choices for the winemaker about using oak barrels Winemakers can influence the colour, aromas, flavours and texture of a wine if they choose to: 1) use oak as a fermentation vessel or not The wines in my portfolio that I describe as unoaked have not been fermented or aged in oak just so that you can be sure of their complete unoaky provenance (some other retailers will describe wine fermented in oak but not aged in oak as unoaked). But don’t worry too much about wine fermented in oak – many wines are but the vessels are usually very large and very old so the effects on taste are very subtle, if noticeable at all. There are other advantages however to fermenting wine in oak, even if the oak vessels are large and old… Large oak vats or casks are often used for fermentation as it is believed that oak flavours are better integrated at that stage in the

Chardonnay grapes from Wines With Attitude

Guide to the Chardonnay grape & Chardonnay wines

Grape Varieties, Wine Styles

Guide to the Chardonnay grape & Chardonnay wines I’ll show my hand upfront – I love a good Chardonnay but I know it is quite a divisive grape with many who don’t like it. Remember the “Anything but Chardonnay” or “ABC” era in the late 1990s? This was almost certainly in part a backlash against “Nothing But Chardonnay” being served. It was just everywhere and then sank almost into oblivion as Sauvignon Blanc became the white wine or grape “du jour”, superseded more recently by Pinot Grigio. Although it has always had a loyal band of followers Chardonnay wine is gaining new fans as people realise that there are different styles of Chardonnay. This guide to Chardonnay therefore looks at what wines are made from Chardonnay grapes, why Chardonnay can produce different wines, how Chardonnay wines taste and what to eat with different styles of Chardonnay. THE CHARDONNAY GRAPE Chardonnay is the most grown white wine grape in the world (a common pub quiz trick question, this used to be Spanish grape, Airén, but Chardonnay has now pushed that little known, mainly sherry-destined grape into second place). It is not surprising that it is so ubiquitous as it is very adaptable; it performs well in hot, sunny climes as well as in cool climate areas. And it can express very well the terroir of different vineyards, which partly explains why the taste of Chardonnay can vary so much. Read more in my blogpost about terroir. It is widely considered that the better-rated Chardonnay wines come from cool climate areas where the grapes will maintain their acidity. In hotter regions as the sugar rises in ripening grapes, the acidity falls away so Chardonnay wines produced in some of the hotter, often New World, regions risked being overly fruity and a little heavy. As the grape grows so easily there is also a temptation to produce high yields but high yields tends to mean lower quality, more dilute wine. One of the benefits of the Chardonnay grape is that its flavours are quite subtle, almost neutral. Therefore the wine’s flavours tend to come mainly from the terroir and from the wine-making process. Chardonnay producers can choose to use malo-lactic fermentation – and many of them do; this process converts harsher malic acids to softer lactic acid and creates creamy, buttery flavours. Not using it will mean the acidity in the wine seems higher and the fruit flavours will be more prominent. The winemakers also have the option to age the wine pre-bottling on its lees (dead yeast cells) or not; doing so will increase the complexity of the wine’s flavours and its texture. The effect can be intensified by stirring the lees. But by filtering or pouring the wine off its lees the wine will be more fruity and less multi-dimensional in style. The problem as we have seen with other wines like Rioja is that once producers see a wine rise in popularity, general quality tends to deteriorate as characterless, mass-produced wines are seen as an easy way to make a fast buck. And then there’s the oak issue: in the 1980s and 90s many less reputable winemakers tried to copy Burgundian methods but in a more commercial style (White Burgundy being the epitome of Chardonnay and highly acclaimed for its elegance, intensity and relative longevity) and often produced wines which were over-oaked with very buttery flavours and little or no evidence of the grapes’ subtle fruit flavours or of the terroir. This is not to say that anything but white Burgundy is poor quality, especially these days when terroir is becoming more of a focus for better wine producers even in warmer climate regions and over-oaking remains only at the lower end of the market. DIFFERENT STYLES OF CHARDONNAY WINE & HOW THEY TASTE Chardonnay’s versatility means that there are many different styles so it’s a case of finding your preferred style. For simplicity, I’ve narrowed it down to three styles. UNOAKED CHARDONNAY Produced in cool climate Burgundy Chablis is perhaps the best known and best quality unoaked Chardonnay (though beware, a few Chablis wines are oaked). Chardonnay with no oak influence tends to be leaner, crisper and dry, lighter in colour and in body, with flavours tending towards green apple, lemon, white flowers and flint or steel (think wet stones). Having no oak influence these wines can be good examples of terroir-focused wines. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel to keep the wine cool and to preserve the acidity and the fruit flavours. New World unoaked Chardonnays from cool climate areas in places like Australia, New Zealand and Oregon tend to display a little more fruit – melon, quince, apple, pear and grapefruit – but remain lighter and crisp in style. Unoaked Chardonnay will match well fish dishes and seafood including oysters. OAKED CHARDONNAY Chardonnay has an affinity with oak; the wines that have been fermented and aged in oak or just aged in oak are more full-bodied, creamy and will age further in bottle, the better wines for up to 10 years. Aside from Burgundy wines, you can find prime oaked Chardonnay in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Aromas and flavours are usually more intense and more complex ranging from baked apples, coconut, brioche and bread, nutty flavours like hazelnut, spice like cloves and cinnamon, vanilla, caramel and cream. These wines are still dry but the oak also makes them richer, sometimes with an oily or buttery texture. The current trend is to tone down the oak and produce more elegant wines with more subtle flavours. This is done by using used rather than new barrels and the smaller grained French rather than American oak. Oaked Chardonnay can pair really well with richer foods like foie gras, lobster and scallops, smoked fish, creamy dishes like risottos and steak béarnaise, chicken, mushrooms, truffles, butternut squash and pumpkin Serve the wines a little warmer than you would serve crisper styles to release more aromas and flavours. FRUITY CHARDONNAY This tended to be the style of early New World Chardonnays and there are still

Guide to Tawny Port by Wines With Attitude

A guide to Tawny Port

Wine Regions, Wine Styles

Guide to Tawny Port Ever wondered about the difference between ruby and tawny port? Ruby port seems to be more popular but tawny port is having a bit of a revival either slightly chilled or with tonic as an aperitif or as a more traditional after-dinner drink. Having written in detail about ruby ports in another blogpost, I’m now writing about tawny port and how it is produced, how tawny port differs from ruby port, the different styles of tawny port that you can get (and one you may want to avoid), what tawny port tastes like and which foods it goes with – and it’s not just cheese! HOW PORT IS PRODUCED All port is produced in a similar way to still wine up to the fermentation stage; quite early during that fermentation process, grape-based alcohol is added to interrupt the fermentation, effectively killing off the yeast in the grape juice so that it can no longer interact with the sugar to produce alcohol. This means that some unfermented sugar is retained in the wine making it a naturally sweet wine and raising the ABV from 5 – 9% to about 19% – 22%; the increased level of alcohol also stabilises the port whilst it is ageing. The level of sweetness depends on how soon the fermentation is halted. Other fortified wines produced by this port method include most Madeiras and Vins Doux Naturels. Sherry is made in a similar way but the grape spirit is added after fermentation. The English can take some credit for creating port as English merchants added brandy to still red wine to preserve it for transportation. Port is produced in the Douro region, a denominated wine region since 1756 and then moved for ageing to the coastal town of Villa Nova de Gaia. The wine used to be transported on the river Douro by the beautiful rabelos but these days are moved by road. Many grape varieties are approved to be used to make port and they are usually all grown and fermented together in complex blends. Touriga Nacional is perhaps the best of the port grapes and the best known. It is also used for the ever-improving Portuguese still red wines like Churchill Estate’s Douro Touriga Nacional HOW TAWNY PORT (USUALLY) DIFFERS FROM RUBY PORT Most tawny ports are wood ports which means that they are matured in barrel or cask for several years and therefore have some exposure to oxygen (more than they would if aged in bottle) and this exposure contributes to the ports losing their red hues and gaining a complex array of flavours and a silky texture. They are generally therefore tawny coloured as opposed to ruby red nutty & dried fruit-flavoured compared to the berry fruit flavours of ruby ports and more syrupy in texture than ruby ports which are aged in bottle Tawny ports are bottled after ageing in barrel, when ready to drink, and do not age further in bottle so they should be drunk within a couple of years of bottling. As the ageing of tawny port has been in barrel there should be no sediment in the bottle so decanting should not be required. Note however that tawny port oxidises fairly rapidly after opening so do not keep it for longer than 1 or 2 weeks, possibly longer if you use a simple wine preservation system like a Vacuvin to pump out excess air from the bottle. Very old and Colheita port should keep longer – see below for the various serving suggestions to help you make the most of tawny port before it spoils. In contrast most ruby ports are bottle-aged (after an initial ageing in cask) and therefore have little exposure to oxygen so that ageing is very slow leading to a smooth, redder, more fruity style of port. They are also rarely filtered before bottling so generally require decanting. DIFFERENT STYLES OF TAWNY PORT & WHAT THEY TASTE LIKE SIMPLE TAWNY PORT However, beware, some ports labelled as tawny ports are no older than ruby port and are not really representative of the general tawny port style. These are produced from lighter coloured wines from grapes grown in the cooler part of the Douro valley that may not have had chance to ripen fully. Consequently these unaged tawny ports are not deep coloured, nor are their flavours very intense. There are however ways of intensifying the colour even simply by leaving them in the hotter part of the valley for longer than normal to “bake” but this leaves the port with a baked, flat taste without many fruit flavours and a lack of freshness. This lighter style may be your preference but if you like the amber-coloured, nutty-flavoured style, you might be disappointed if you were to buy one of these. AGED TAWNY PORTS Given my lack of enthusiasm for straight tawny port you will not be surprised to read that my advice would be to ignore anything labelled simply “tawny port” and select an aged tawny port which means that it has been aged in wooden barrels or cask for at least six years. Ageing tawny ports are kept in Villa Nova de Gaia where it is cooler to prevent them from spoiling in the heat. Tawny Reserve Port Reserve or Reserva on the label of a tawny port means that it has been aged in wood for a minimum of six years; it still retains some fruity characteristics but shows some signs of wood ageing. Tawny Port with an indication of age -10, 20, 30 & 40+ years old Port These tawny ports are older than reserve tawny port but note that the age is only an indication as the ports are made up of a blend of wines and therefore the age indication is an average of all the wines in the blend. Port houses will mix a blend according to their “house style” and it will remain fairly consistent year on year. As you might expect given the length of

Guide to rosé wine & the rise in premium rosé

Wine Styles

Guide to rosé wine & the rise in premium rosé The ‘too pink, too girly and too sweet’ reputation that rosé wines used to have has finally been shaken off though it has taken several years. Improvements in the production of rosé wines together with a rising interest in dry, paler pink wines to be consumed throughout the year and not just in the summer have led to a prevalence in really crisp rosés displaying summer fruit flavours and aromas often with ‘steely’, mineral notes that emphasise the dry, refreshing style of wine. And the improvements just keep on coming, so much so that there is now a growing premiumisation of the general rosé wine brand. Read on to find out all about how pink wine is made, the different styles of rosé, how and why the market is seeing more and more examples of premium rosé wines & which foods to eat with rosé. ROSÉS POPULARITY KEEPS ON GROWING Rosé’s previous poor reputation was long-standing. Back in the 1970s and 1980s the preferred style was for fruity yet slightly sweet, dark pink-coloured rosé wines from Portugal, France – largely in the form of Rosé d’Anjou – and from the USA where, even today, medium-sweet Californian Blush or white Zinfandel still remains popular. Even when improvements started to be made in its production, rosé was still seen as a bit of a sweet, ‘girly’ drink, a reputation that it has finally shaken off. Whilst some of the sweeter, uncomplicated, more commercial styles of wine still remain, they tend to be at the entry level or lower end of the market. There is increasingly more choice of the generally preferred drier style of rosé in the middle and the top end of the range. HOW ROSÉ IS MADE All rosés are made from black grapes (which have white juice); the colour comes from the grape skins. In fact, rosé wine was originally produced simply as a by-product of red wine production where the initial juices from the red grapes were drained off so that the red wine would be darker and more concentrated. Those paler juices were used for rosé; this method is known as saignée, which translates as ‘bled’, and is still used today especially in the USA’s Napa Valley although it is not the most commonly used method. Even fewer rosé wines are made from blending red wine and white wine; some New World wines follow this method which is also used for pink champagne. Most rosés are made by maceration – the fermenting juice of the black grapes used for the rosé wine is left in contact with the skins for a varying degree of time, from just few hours to a few days so that the white juices pick up some of the colour, flavours and tannins from the grape skins. After maceration the wine-making process then continues as if for crisp white wines i.e. fermentation usually in stainless steel tanks at cool temperatures without further contact with the skins. As they are made from black grapes, rosés have tannins although in a good rosé wine these should not be obvious but soft and integrated. To help with this the grapes will usually have been de-stemmed before pressing so that harsh tannins from the stalks are not included. Wines will generally not have been in contact with the skins (and pips) for long because the majority of rosé wines are made for drinking in the short term and not for keeping. However this is changing as some producers experiment with longer maceration times and, after fermentation, leaving the wine on its lees for a few weeks or even months, both of which will add complexity and texture to the wine and structure which means that the wine can be kept for longer before drinking. It is actually considered more difficult to make rosé wine than to make red or white because a delicate balancing act is required to achieve the right amount of colour without losing any of the fruity characteristics and the finesse of the wine. DIFFERENT STYLES OF ROSÉ Rosé wines are made all over the world from all sorts of different red wine grapes though the popular ones are Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah and Tempranillo. I recently tasted an English 100% Pinot Noir rosé and a Canadian 100% Cabernet Sauvignon rosé so the possibilities are endless. Of course it’s all a matter of personal taste but my view is that good rosé is all about fruit and finesse which is quite a difficult balancing act to achieve. Flavours vary according to the grapes used and complexity is obviously better than one-dimensional wine and the finesse comes from making sure that the acidity (which leaves your mouth watering) balances the sweetness of the fruit flavours in order to avoid that sweeter, old-style of rosé. Here is a very brief summary of different rosé wine styles – naturally there are many exceptions so I generalise… As mentioned above, off-dry or medium-dry rosé continues to be made mainly in the USA under the label of Blush or white Zinfandel and there’s also a sparkling version. The similarly styled Mateus rosé, once hugely popular in the UK, is now thankfully just a nostalgic memory for baby boomers. The Provence region of France is largely considered to be the best source of good quality rosé wines although it is increasingly seeing competition from other wine regions. Provence AOP rosés are estate bottled, i.e. made and bottled by the grower under AOP regulations to guarantee a certain quality. By the way, France is the largest consumer (and producer) of rosé drinking c.20 bottles per head per year and rosé accounts for 31.5% of all wine consumed in France. Many of the new, improved rosés are produced in the Provence style from a mix of grapes, usually Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah – dry, really crisp and displaying summer fruit flavours like strawberry, raspberry, red cherries, citrus fruit and melon. In more premium rosés you

Frozen healthy grapes for ice wine by Wines With Attitude

All about ice wine or Eiswein

Wine Styles

All about ice wine or Eiswein You may have heard of ice wine (also known as Eiswein or icewine) but you will be excused if you don’t know much about it because ice wine is quite rare and also expensive – but it is also a beautiful wine so if you get chance give it a try. But before you do, read all you need to know about ice wine. This blogpost looks at what ice wine is, where and how ice wine is produced, how ice wine tastes and which foods are the perfect match with ice wine. THE FIRST FEMALE WINEMAKER Ice wine is a sweet wine so usually consumed as dessert wine. It differs from other sweet or dessert wines for which grapes are dried, raisined or infected with the botrytis fungus that causes noble rot. For ice wine only healthy grapes are used; they are left on the vine until they are frozen. The temperature of the grapes must be as low as -7 to -8 °C before they can be picked. Ice wine differs from fortified wines like port which have spirits added to fortify them. In fact the alcohol level or ABV of ice wines is only about 10%. HOW IS ICE WINE PRODUCED? Harvest is usually very early in the morning to keep the grapes frozen and by hand. Usually harvesting is in November or December – sometimes later although ice wine produced from grapes picked early in the year are generally considered to be inferior. The grapes are then pressed whilst frozen so that the frozen water from the grapes is removed and just the sweet juice is used for the wine. This makes for concentrated, naturally sweet wines. In addition and less commonly known is that the acidity in the grapes is also intensified meaning that the sweetness of the wine is or should be balanced with refreshing acidity. In fermentation yeasts convert as much sugar as they can into alcohol. You might think therefore that the alcohol level for such sweet wine would be high but yeasts struggle to function in low alcohol environments and it therefore takes a few months for fermentation to complete and then not all the sugar is consumed and any remaining yeast has to be filtered out. Levels of residual sugar in ice wines fall in the range of 160 – 220 gram per litre which compares to less than 1 gram per litre in many still dry wines. Ice wine or eiswein is not produced every year – the winter obviously has to be cold enough for the grapes to freeze to the required temperature before picking. Global warming is a concern to winemakers especially in Austria and Germany where the frequency of eiswein production is diminishing. In the 10 years to 2018 for example there were 5 eiswein harvests classified as good in Austria, one vintage classified as little and 4 as very little or hardly any eiswein. In the 10 years before that there were 3 classified as top vintages, 5 good and 3 with very little or hardly any. WHERE IS ICE WINE MADE? Ice wine can be produced made anywhere cold enough to allow the grapes to freeze on the vine but traditionally they have been produced mainly in Germany, Austria and Canada (it is known as eiswein in Germany and Austria and icewine in Canada). The main difference between production in Canada compared to Germany & Austria is that the levels of sugar in the grapes prior to harvest must be higher in Canada. WHICH GRAPES ARE IN ICE WINE? In theory any grape varieties could be used to produce ice wine but in practice ice wine grapes tend to be aromatic and cool climate varieties like Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, Gewürztraminer and Chenin Blanc . Most frequently white grapes are used but you will see icewine produced from black grapes especially from Cabernet Franc in Canada. My own current favourite is made in Austria from black indigenous variety Zweigelt also known as Blauen Zweigelt. The wine itself is a very pale pink colour. Ice wines are generally pure varietals, i.e. not blends and in Canada they must be pure varietals to be designated as icewine. WHY ARE ICE WINES EXPENSIVE? Sadly ice wines are expensive but as you can imagine this is mainly because they cost so much to make plus you need five times as many grapes to produce a bottle of ice wine as you do to produce a bottle of still wine. You may see cheaper versions of ice wine but these will usually be labelled as dessert wine or as iced wine and they will have been produced from grapes artificially frozen in the winery and or with sweet reserve added to the wine. You get what you pay for as they say. HOW LONG WILL ICE WINE KEEP? Generally genuine ice wines will keep about 10 years though some will keep longer; bear in mind that the flavours and aromas will change as the years go by. Once opened however your bottle of ice wine should be consumed within a week or so using a wine pump in between – unless you have a Coravin of course. WHAT DOES ICE WINE TASTE LIKE? Ice wines are medium to full-bodied and very smooth in texture. Because they’re made from aromatic varieties generally the taste will be fairly typical of the grape variety but with more intensity. For white ice wines flavours tend towards apricot, peach, pear, pineapple and lemon with honey whilst red ice wines will taste of cherries, red berries and spice. All good ice wine will have mouth watering acidity so that even though sweet the wines don’t taste sickly sweet. If you do keep your ice wine for a few years before opening, it will be darker in colour and richer and nuttier in flavour plus the acidity may fade a little so the sweetness will be magnified. My preference

Beaujolais – the ultimate fruity red wine

Wine Regions, Wine Styles

Beaujolais – the ultimate fruity red wine The very name “Beaujolais” often sends a shudder down the spine if, like me, you have memories of Beaujolais Nouveau tasting like fiercely dry Ribena with bubblegum and bananas served early on the third Friday in November just 8 weeks or so after the grapes have been harvested. It was in my view the Beaujolais Nouveau hoo-ha that was responsible for Beaujolais wines falling out of fashion in the UK; as their popularity grew, their quality in general suffered. The good news is that there is so much more to Beaujolais than Beaujolais Nouveau and it is possible to find superb wines in the Beaujolais region – and they are slowly but surely becoming fashionable again here in the UK. Read on to find out more about the wines of Beaujolais, how they are made, what they taste like and where to find the best Beaujolais wines. 92% of wine produced in the Beaujolais region is red; you might therefore think that the white wines are not worth a mention but I write a little about them at the end of this article as I think they can be worth seeking out. For now… the red wines of Beaujolais… HOW BEAUJOLAIS RED WINES ARE PRODUCED Beaujolais wines are quintessentially light-bodied, perfumed, fruity wines that tend to be fresh (high in mouth-watering acidity) and relatively low in alcohol (11-13% ABV). The red wines are produced 100% from the Gamay grape, a notoriously tricky grape to manage since it grows very vigourously; there is a lot of work involved to keep yields low for the better wines of the region. Most Beaujolais wines undergo a process called semi-carbonic maceration; it’s not unique to the region but Beaujolais wines are those that are most associated with the process. In summary, the grapes are not initially crushed in a press but pressure from the bunches of grapes on top of each other in huge tanks squeezes out juice. Fermentation of this juice is initiated by indigenous yeast on the grape skins and carbon dioxide that is produced as a result then triggers fermentation inside the uncrushed grapes which start to burst open. Beaujolais Nouveau (and some Beaujolais AC) goes one step further with full carbonic maceration where the tanks are filled with CO2 gas to trigger the intra-grape or intracellular fermentation. Both these processes enhance the fruity flavours and aromas, extract colour from the skins without extracting too much tannin and produce wines that are ready to drink much more quickly than usual. If these wines see any oak, and some of the crus in particular will, maturation will be in large used barrels for just a few months to soften the wine and add some texture rather than to impart oak, vanilla and toast flavours which would mask the fruity characteristics of the wine. THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BEAUJOLAIS WINE The Beaujolais region which extends from Mâcon on the southern edge of the Burgundy wine region further south almost to Lyons is made up of 12 appellations. And, as you might expect, there is a Beaujolais wine hierarchy. There are 12 appellations (or PDOs) in Beaujolais: THE BEAUJOLAIS CRUS At the top of the scale are the 10 crus (cru here meaning a wine producing area rather than a single vineyard); these are the smallest regions with their own specific appellations (ACs) and therefore their own specific regulations. They are situated on the slopes of the foothills to the North of and with the best granite soils in the region. Maximum permitted yields for all the cru wines are the lowest of the whole Beaujolais region at 48 hectolitres per hectare though in reality they tend to be produced at yields closer to 40hl/ha (I shall cover yields in a later blog). The 10 crus which together produce about one third of all Beaujolais wines are: Brouilly, Côte de Brouilly, Chéneas, Chiroubles, Fleurie, Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin à Vent, Régnié and Saint-Amour You will often just see the name of the cru on the label; Beaujolais need not be mentioned at all. The Beaujolais crus are the least like what most people expect a Beaujolais wine to be like since they tend to be darker in colour, with a fuller body and a more silky texture, more intense and complex aromas and flavours – and they will generally keep for a few years. They are similar in style to red Burgundy which is of course the wine region just to the North of the crus. But each cru differs in character from the next. For example: Brouilly, the largest of the crus, produces wines that tend to be deep ruby in colour, elegant, slightly lighter but complex wines with soft tannins and red fruit flavours (plum, strawberry and redcurrant) and mineral notes Juliénas is noted for its richness, spice and floral aromas. It is one of the darkest in colour and its aromas and flavours are still fruity – sweet cranberry, redcurrant, raspberry and even strawberry – with hints of cinnamon, violet and peony. Morgon is more garnet in colour and is considered one of the more robust crus as it has a bit of structure. But don’t think Morgon is “rustic”; it is still pretty elegant and silky just a little earthier like a Rhône red wine. Its aroma- and flavour-profile includes ripe cherry, ripe plum, kirsch, violet and liquorice. It is one of the most age-worthy crus. The cru appellations only cover red wines. In fact only Brouilly permits white grapes to be grown in the region but the white wines made there cannot be labelled Brouilly AC but Beaujolais Villages AC Blanc or Beaujolais AC Blanc. BEAUJOLAIS VILLAGES Next in the hierarchy of Beaujolais wines are the Beaujolais Villages wines which account for about 29% of all Beaujolais wine production. The region, which incorporates 38 Beaujolais villages or municipalities, is located effectively around the cru regions on the lower though sometimes steep slopes also more

Intensively farming pinot noir by Wines With Attitude

All about the Pinot Noir grape & its wines

Grape Varieties, Wine Styles

All about the Pinot Noir grape & its wines Writing my wine blog post A Quick Guide to New Zealand’s Wines made my mouth water for Pinot Noir so I thought I would pour myself a glass and write about this tricky grape and its amazing wines. Pinot Noir was a very unfashionable wine for many years when the market favoured bigger, brasher and more alcoholic styles of wine but since the early noughties it has become more in vogue, helped to an extent by the 2004 film “Sideways” starring Paul Giamatti. Whilst his character’s obsession with Pinot Noir was somewhat OTT, there is no doubt that once a Pinot Noir fan, there is no going back because there is little that compares with Pinot Noir’s combination of complexity, silky texture and light elegance. These characteristics are part of the reason that Pinot Noir is a safe bet to give as a gift or to take to a dinner party. Admittedly it can be expensive but it is usually woth it. Let’s take a look at the Pinot Noir grape and its wines, which foods pair well with Pinot Noir and why Pinot Noir tends to be expensive. FEATURES OF THE PINOT NOIR GRAPE – The home of this grape is thought by most to be Burgundy in France though some argue Germany and even further afield. The lighter bodied red wines produced in Burgundy are considered the epitome of Pinot Noir as this grape reflects well the differences in terroir of that region. However it is also grown in the USA, New Zealand, Germany, South America and Switzerland to name but a few Pinot Noir-producing countries. Most of these have tried for years to emulate Burgundy’s red wine style and its success – and many producers are succeeding. – Pinot Noir is also seen in some rosé wines and it is one of the black grapes permitted in Champagne and consequently it is seen in many sparkling wines made in the champagne style. – Long considered to prefer a cool climate, the Pinot Noir grape is being grown increasingly in warmer climate areas. Due to its thin skin it dislikes the frost and ripening too quickly so it won’t respond well anywhere that’s too cold or too warm. If it’s too hot there’s a risk of the fruit flavours becoming jammy. And if it’s too wet, the grape is susceptible to all sorts of moulds and diseases so nowhere too rainy. Well, I did describe Pinot Noir as a tricky grape. – Whether this long-standing reputation is fair, Pinot Noir does require more than a little TLC in the vineyard and subsequently in the winery, whether grown in a warm or cool climate region. Therefore it tends not to be seen so much in commercial style, entry level wines (though there are some so the “better value” examples are best avoided if you want to try a good Pinot). – Pinot Noir is also known as Spätburgunder, Blauburgunder, Savagnin Noir or Pinot Nero, amongst many other synonyms. It has a tendency to mutate so there are many recognised clones of the grape – over 1000 – and this means that there are differences in leaf shape, berry size, berry colour etc and different clones grow better in different places. – As might be expected, Pinot Noir is related to the other Pinots, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Meunier. In fact current thinking is that these are all mutations or clones of the same grape. FEATURES OF PINOT NOIR WINE Despite the red Burgundy style being the holy grail, not all Pinots are the same due to the many differences in clones, growing techniques, terroir, vintages and wine-making techniques. But generally you can expect your Pinot Noir to be: Light & translucent red in colour Light in body Low in tannins Pretty high in acidity which makes them lovely and refreshing Perfumed or fragrant Complex in its aromas and flavours A varietal wine i.e. 100% Pinot Noir as it is rarely blended with other grapes Smooth with a silky texture Aged in oak, usually, although the oak will often be used rather than new so that it does not overpower the fruit flavours and aromas Age-worthy; good Pinot Noir should keep for c. 10 years and improve with age in that time As a general rule for Pinot Noir’s profile: Cool climate Pinots are usually lighter, more elegant and flavours a little more herbaceous and earthy so expect mushroom, truffles, sharp cranberry, raspberry and sour to sweet cherries. Some also show floral aromas like violet and rose Warmer climate Pinots are a bit bigger, richer and fruitier with riper raspberry, strawberry, black cherry and ripe plum with spice, liquorice and gamey aromas. Again as a general rule, Burgundy, German, Swiss and Oregon Pinot Noirs fit the cool climate profile whilst Central Otago, South American and Californian Pinots are closer to the warm climate profile; other New Zealand Pinots fall somewhere between the two. To compare different styles why not try one of my Pinot Noir mixed cases or add some of my Pinot Noir wines to a mixed case of your own. By way of guidance my current Pinots (pictured above) increase in intensity from on the left: the light and fruity Pinots from Andreas Bender in Germany and perhaps surprisingly La Vierge in South Africa the light and elegant TWR Marlborough Pinot Noir to the great value single vineyard Burgundy from Domaine Bachey-Legros to Pegasus Bay’s Pinot Noir which has become more Burgundian and more elegant over the years and regularly achieves a number of amazing scores from wine critics to Oregon’s Willakenzie – more medium-bodied but classic Oregon to the more intense but still velvety smooth Californian Masut Pinot Noir WHY IS GOOD PINOT NOIR EXPENSIVE? As already mentioned Pinot Noir is considered a difficult grape to grow Because the grape is so picky about its growing conditions it cannot be grown everywhere, meaning it has rarity value Pinot Noir’s yields are low even in warm climate areas adding to its scarcity Production tends

Guide to Cabernet Franc & its wines

Grape Varieties, Wine Styles

Guide to Cabernet Franc & its wines A guide to the Cabernet Franc grape and where it is grown, the characteristics of Cabernet Franc wine and what it tastes like plus what to eat with Cabernet Franc. Despite being in the 20 most planted grapes in the world, Cabernet Franc is not necessarily one of those grapes that you look for when choosing wine. It tends to keep a low profile – more of a bridesmaid than the bride. But, for years overshadowed particularly by Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc is reckoned to be on the upward trend. CABERNET FRANC GRAPE CHARACTERISTICS Black grape variety Cabernet Franc is a bit of a workhorse, more often seen as a support grape to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and, since it ripens earlier, it is used as an insurance should those grapes not have chance to ripen fully due to poor weather. Having said that, Cabernet Franc needs a lot of sunshine to ripen and lose some of its naturally high acidity, otherwise it can taste rather green and stalky. It is rather like Cabernet Sauvignon but lighter and less tannic. The reason for the similarity to Cabernet Sauvignon is that Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon are in fact related though it was only about 25 years ago that DNA profiling confirmed Cabernet Franc to be a parent to Cabernet Sauvignon (the other being Sauvignon Blanc). A fruity little number in more ways than one, Cabernet Franc has also been discovered to be a parent to Merlot and to Carmenère. Note Cabernet Franc is also known as Bouchet, Bordo, Breton and Cabernet Frank. Italian wines labelled Cabernet are usually Cabernet Franc. WHERE CABERNET FRANC IS PRODUCED Many Bordeaux wines have Cabernet Franc as a minority grape in the blend. The notable exception is St Emilion and the other right bank appellation, Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux, where it is given more prominence; in fact, the renowned St Emilion Grand Cru, Château Cheval-Blanc, instead of having Merlot as its majority grape, has c. 60% Cabernet Franc and is considered by some to be the finest wine of the Bordeaux region. Aside from Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc has long been seen as a varietal in the red wines of Touraine in the Loire Valley, wines such as Chinon and Bourgeuil, and of Saumur also in the Loire. In total France accounts for c. 58% of global Cabernet Franc production. Perhaps surprisingly Brazil is second in terms of volume at 12% with Italy third at 10%; the cooler areas in the north-east, Friuli and Veneto, see most of the plantings in Italy. There are further Cabernet Franc vines in many countries around the world but not in huge volumes, reflecting the fact that the grape is usually added to Bordeaux style blends. Increasingly however Cabernet Franc is being seen as a varietal wine on its own especially in cooler regions of new world wine-producing countries like the USA, Canada, Argentina and Chile. Yields need to be controlled to ensure that the grape’s fruit rather than herbaceous characteristics dominate; this means that it is not really a grape for the lower end of the price range. WHAT CABERNET FRANC WINE TASTES LIKE Cabernet Franc shares many characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon but it is lighter in many ways – lighter in body, tannin, alcohol, colour and acidity – so it makes a good alternative for those who find Cabernet Sauvignon a little over the top. Generally medium bodied Cabernet Franc still has sufficient structure, fruit, acidity and tannins to age well – and age earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon. It is also generally much easier to drink, lighter and softer with a smooth texture. In fact it can be a very elegant wine. The overriding feature however is its beautiful perfume. Fruit characteristics abound in Cabernet Franc, think berries and cherries – raspberries in particular, strawberries, blueberries, cherries along with plums. Graphite or pencil shaving aromas are also typical. Other common aromas and flavours of Cabernet Franc include green pepper, green olives, violets, sweet tobacco and blackcurrant leaves. Generally the warmer the climate, the rounder and richer the Cabernet Franc wine and the more prominent the fruit aromas and flavours. The herbaceous aromas are more prominent when the grapes used in the wine have not been ripened fully. And this is the one downside to Cabernet Franc. A note of caution: Cabernet Franc is relatively well suited to the cool climate of the Loire and North East Italy as it ripens early compared to some varieties. At their best these wines can be fresh, fruity, low alcohol wines with a distinct raspberry and pencil shavings aroma profile. But those originating from particularly cool summers can taste rather austere and be especially light in body. Unripe Cabernet Franc can have rather harsh stalky characteristics. So to ensure a softer Cabernet Franc wine with good texture and integrated tannins, be wary of those produced in very cool vintages. FOOD PAIRING WITH CABERNET FRANC Cabernet Franc’s acidity and body make it a good match for a number of different foods. Its berry and herbaceous characteristics make it a particularly good match for game, lamb, duck and for herby and olive- and tomato-based dishes. Warmer climate Cabernet Franc with its rich plum flavours will go well with most red meats, especially roast beef, with mushrooms, peppers and with many cheeses including brie, camembert, smoked cheeses and even goat’s cheese. Look first at the intensity of the food and match heavier, more intensely flavoured wines with stronger-flavoured foods and lighter styles with more delicate flavours. IS CABERNET FRANC BECOMING MORE POPULAR? According to the University of Adelaide’s Database of Regional, National & Global Winegrape bearing areas, there was an increase of 7% in the vineyard area dedicated to Cabernet Franc globally between 2000 and 2016. Whilst France and Italy have both reduced their plantings in that period, countries that saw growth include Brazil, the USA, Chile, Argentina, Hungary and Canada where it is even being used

Guide to the Merlot grape and wines

Grape Varieties, Wine Styles

Guide to the Merlot grape and wines A guide to the Merlot grape and where it is grown, the characteristics of Merlot wine and what it tastes like plus what to eat with Merlot. Often in the shadow of Cabernet Sauvignon, with which it is frequently blended, most famously in Bordeaux, Merlot has somehow acquired a reputation for being inferior, its reputation not helped by the 2004 film Sideways in which Merlot was shunned by one of the main characters simply because his ex-wife liked it. But it is the second most widely-grown grape in the world so there must be something to like about this maligned grape, Merlot, and its wines, as we will discover. MERLOT GRAPE CHARACTERISTICS Merlot is a black grape variety that ripens earlier than many other varieties and is therefore often used as an ‘insurance’ in blends, should other grapes not have chance to ripen fully due to poor weather e.g. in Bordeaux where a larger percentage of Merlot may be used in wines if the later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon has not seen enough sunshine and warmth. On the downside, Merlot buds early which makes it susceptible to frost and it is thin-skinned which makes it susceptible to rot and mildew so in very cold and/ or damp years there is a risk of low or even no yields. But on the whole Merlot is considered relatively easy to grow and that means that, despite the fact that it plays a significant role in many fine wines such as Pomerol and St Emilion in Bordeaux, Merlot can also be found in many more commercial-style wines of varying quality across the globe. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the French word for blackbird, ‘merle’, and there are differing views as to whether it is because its skin colour resembles the colour of a blackbird’s feathers or whether it is because that species is particularly partial to the sweet grapes. Other names for Merlot include Merlot Noir, Merlau, Médoc Noir and Sémillon Rouge. WHERE MERLOT IS PRODUCED France is home to circa 40% of the world’s Merlot vines and about half of those are in Bordeaux, from where the grape originates. Often seen as a support grape to Cabernet Sauvignon in that region, there is in fact more Merlot than Cabernet Sauvignon planted there. Merlot is traditionally the more dominant grape variety in the Bordeaux blends of the right bank areas of Bordeaux (north of the Dordogne river) such as St Emilion, Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac, Pomerol and Lalande de Pomerol as it is well-suited to the limestone and clay soils there. However Merlot is added in seemingly ever-increasing quantities to wines of the traditionally Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant left bank areas of the Médoc and Haut Médoc (south of the Gironde river), especially in vineyards with less of the traditional left bank gravel-based soils. The other main French region that has Merlot plantings is the Languedoc-Roussillon region which produces mainly blends of IGP wines, previously known as vins de pays, of varying levels of quality. Following France in the rankings, Italy, the USA and China have the next largest vineyard areas dedicated to Merlot but these account for just 9%, 8% and 6% respectively. WHAT MERLOT WINE TASTES LIKE When it comes to flavour, Merlot is a bit of a chameleon because firstly it is often blended with other grapes but secondly and perhaps most importantly its aromas and flavours can vary greatly depending upon a number of factors including the climate conditions in which the grape has grown, whether it has been picked early or late in the ripening season and whether it has been oak-aged or not and for how long. So Merlot can be quite hard to recognise. Pure Merlot wine from cooler climate regions or from early-picked grapes is known for its classic red fruit flavours – raspberries, plums and even strawberries with some vegetal notes like peppers and even grass. These red-fruit flavoured Merlots are considered more old-world style; they generally have lower levels of tannin and alcohol but have good levels of acidity and a smooth texture. Note that if Merlot displays too many green flavours, it is likely that the grapes were picked a little too early or may not have really ripened fully. When produced in warmer climate regions 100% Merlot wine will be bigger and bolder, often considered to be a more international style of Merlot. Fruit flavours may also include blackcurrants and blackberries, ripe plums with spicy notes, chocolate and even a touch of fruitcake. Alcohol is likely to be higher and the wine generally more full-bodied with soft tannins (given the thin skins). In blends Merlot is valued for its natural sweetness – not that it is high in residual sugars but more that the fruit flavours are of sweet juicy ripe fruits – and for its softer, more approachable characteristics. In fact it is specifically paired with Cabernet Sauvignon in order to tone down some of Cabernet’s more austere qualities. Merlot-dominant wines age relatively well but are generally ready to drink much earlier than their Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant counterparts. FOOD PAIRING WITH MERLOT Merlot wines, whether a simple commercial style, a fresh, cooler climate, red-fruit style or a richer, spicier style, can of course be enjoyed on their own because of the soft tannins and smooth texture though you may enjoy the finer examples of Merlot after it has been in bottle at least three or four years. Which foods would complement Merlot – and vice versa – really depends upon which style of wine it is. Easy-drinking, lighter, fruity Merlot pairs well with tomato-based sauces, pizza or chilli con carne. The more savoury style of Bordeaux Merlots or Merlot-dominant blends complements most red meats including game, mushrooms, truffles and roasted vegetables especially the more mature wines. The juicier, fuller-bodied style of Merlot make for a good match for steak, game, lamb especially when served rare, and duck. But really you can’t go too wrong with Merlot. If

Ice wine is perfect for chocolate desserts Wines With Attitude

Why drink sweet wine with dessert – and which sweet wine?

Wine & Food, Wine Styles

Why drink sweet wine with dessert? And which sweet wine? Celebrations like Birthdays, Mothers’ Day and Christmas are the perfect excuse to lay on a feast including dessert. Do you give any thought to which wine you will drink with pudding or stick with the red or white wine you have been drinking with the main course? Find out why drinking a wine that’s sweet with desserts makes sense and what the key characteristic is that sweet wines need in order to complement desserts. This blogpost also includes a comparison of different types of sweet wines like Sauternes, ice wine, vin doux naturel, Moscato d’Asti and port, a brief description of how each is made and which type of desserts each pairs with best. WHY HAVE A SWEET WINE WITH DESSERT? After carefully selecting white and red wines for the first two or three courses of your meal, why would you not also find something to complement the pudding? Carrying on drinking the wine you have had during the previous course or courses will often not work and here is why. Drinking a wine that is not at least as sweet as your dessert can make your wine taste at best less fruity, at worst flat, bitter and even astringent. In addition, any tannins in red wine will clash with the food’s sweetness, make the wine taste metallic and bitter and the tannins will seem even more prominent and unintegrated. There are a handful of sweet wine and savoury food combinations that work well, some of which are mentioned below, but bear in mind that if you drink sweet wine early in a meal, it is very hard to go back to a dry wine especially a red and enjoy it as the flavours of the wine will seem flat. THE MAIN CHARACTERISTIC OF SWEET WINE TO DRINK WITH DESSERT The fundamental thing to remember, if you are going to have any wine with your dessert, is 1) to make sure that the wine is at least as sweet as the dessert. Many people over the years have told me, as soon as sweet wine is mentioned, that they don’t like it but I suspect that most of those people have not had the right sweet wine and consumed it with the right food. I’m not dictating what you should or should not drink but your dessert and wine will both taste better and complement each other if you choose a wine that is sweet and with one other key characteristic and that is… 2) good acidity. A wine’s acidity makes the wine seem drier than it actually is and it will ensure that the combination of sweet wine and sugary food is not sickeningly sweet. Acidity will slice through the sweetness of a dessert, make the wine seem balanced and leave your mouth watering. DIFFERENT SWEET WINES & WHAT TO DRINK THEM WITH Below are some sweet wines (some are classified as fortified wines but are also sweet or medium-sweet), together with some suggestions of the type of desserts that will work well with them. There are no hard & fast rules however but it is worth following suggestions 1) and 2) above. PUDDING WINE WITH FOOD There are many ways of achieving sweetness in wine and many of the world’s wine regions have their own specialities like TBA Riesling, Barsac, Monbazillac, Tokaji from Hungary but I’m going to use Sauternes as my main dessert or pudding wine example since it is considered by many to be the world’s best sweet wine. All these wines are produced in the same way. Sauternes is typically produced mainly from Sémillon grapes that have been affected by ‘botrytis cinerea’, a fungal infection also known as noble rot, which in the right conditions makes the grapes shrivel on the vine, leading to very concentrated and sweet juice. Sémillon gives the wine body and tropical fruit flavours; Sauvignon Blanc which is often added to Sauternes brings acidity and citrus flavours and the best Sauternes wines include a small portion of Muscadelle which add lovely floral aromas to the wine. Flavours in the wine will include a range of citrus flavours like lime, grapefruit, tangerines and lemon zest, honey, apricots and often mango, pineapple and barley sugar. You can pair Sauternes and other noble rot-affected wines with most desserts but in my opinion they work best with lighter desserts such as fruit tarts, lighter chocolate puddings with fresh fruits such as raspberries, cherries or strawberries. Desserts with any of the typical fruit flavours of Sauternes will match as well e.g. citrus-flavoured puddings and apple pie. For heavier desserts with lots of cream you could still drink Sauternes but it must have a high level of mouth-watering acidity to cut through the fat in the dish. Similarly for desserts with salt like a salted caramel brownie, make sure your Sauternes has good acidity because the salt will reduce the acidity of your wine and make it seem quite flat and even flavourless. Tokaji is typically sweeter and more marmalade-y than Sauternes – it is a great match with a crème caramel and any other caramel-based desserts. Sauternes will also pair well with many blue cheeses like Roquefort – and with foie gras for those with a preference for more savoury dishes but as mentioned above, be wary if you plan to switch to a dry wine, especially a red, after it. ICE WINE WITH FOOD Ice wine also known as Eiswein is wine produced from grapes left to freeze on the vines; when the grapes are pressed only the sweet juices that have not frozen are used in the wines. Ice wine should also have good acidity to prevent them being too sweet and to help them pair well with most puddings. Often made from white grapes like Chenin Blanc, Grüner Veltliner, Gewürztraminer and Riesling, increasingly ice wine is being produced from black grapes like Cabernet Franc, Merlot and even Austria’s Blauen Zweigelt which makes for a

Popping a bottle of champagne from Wines With Attitude

Why we celebrate with champagne

Wine Regions, Wine Styles

Why we celebrate with champagne With Valentine’s Day around the corner many wine merchants like me will recommend that you open a bottle of bubbly with your loved one. After all, we should celebrate the good things in life. This got me thinking… whether champagne, prosecco, English sparkling wine, crémant or cava is your fizz of choice, why do we celebrate with champagne or sparkling wine? If you are a lover of Left Bank Bordeaux for example, why not open a bottle of that instead? When and why did this tradition for celebrating with bubbly begin? CHAMPAGNE IS USED FOR CELEBRATIONS IN MANY COUNTRIES Oscar Wilde is reported to have asked “Why do I drink Champagne for breakfast? Doesn’t everyone?” Well, as nice as that sounds, in fact most of us don’t drink champagne for breakfast or even every day or every week. Although in France, which still consumes about half of the champagne produced, it is common for a bottle to be opened just as you would open any other bottle of wine to have as an aperitif or with a meal, it is more commonly used to celebrate an event in the export markets of the UK and the USA (by far the biggest export markets), Japan, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Italy etc. And the celebrations for which champagne or sparkling wine is the preferred choice range from birthdays, anniversaries, the birth of a child, weddings, divorces (sometimes), job promotions, naming ships, sporting victories etc etc though I just don’t get the practice of spraying champagne all over your fellow competitors at the end of a Formula 1 race – too much clearing up afterwards and too much champagne wasted! CHAMPAGNE IS USED FOR CELEBRATIONS IN MANY COUNTRIES Wine has been produced in the Champagne region for many centuries but the original wines were not sparkling or white but light pink wines made mainly from Pinot Noir. The sparkle was actually created by accident. London had become a good market for French wines and the bottles of pink wines from Champagne, with sugar added to satisfy the British sweet tooth, would often burst from the pressure created by a second fermentation in the bottle as temperatures rose in the spring after the wine had been bottled. It was the British who, with their coal resources that could fire hot furnaces, initially produced sturdier wine bottles to withstand better the pressure so that they could enjoy more of this bubby wine. However since some of those stronger bottles also exploded the now sparkling wines imported into London society became scarce and in demand. This demand which was not unnoticed and was replicated back across the Channel especially in the early 18th century. CHAMPAGNE AS A LUXURY PRODUCT The scarcity of the sparkling champagne made it a luxury product throughout the 18th century, enjoyed only by those with the means to buy it. Only in the first half of the 19th century did champagne production improve sufficiently to make the final product more stable, consistently sparkling and more widespread. The widow Veuve Cliquot is renowned for her contribution to the improvements in the industry but one of the major breakthroughs came from a little-known pharmacist called André Francois who worked out a formula for the amount of sugar that could be added to the wine to promote a second fermentation without the bottles exploding. After this many more champagne houses were established and the product became more widely available for several years though still largely a product for the aristocracy and the rich. There was further scarcity in the latter years of the 19th century thanks to the phylloxera louse that decimated vines throughout the world including in the Champagne region. This meant that other sparkling wines were developed and gained more of a hold in the market and this fuelled some fraudulent négotiants to pass off other wines as champagne sparking the Champagne Riots of 1911. I can quite understand rioting about champagne! But on a more serious note the outcome was the birth of laws requiring champagne’s origins to be declared on labels and ultimately of the Champagne appellation in 1936. MARKETING CHAMPAGNE Since the two World Wars, champagne production and the champagne market have grown massively but the wine still manages to maintain its reputation as a celebratory product and a luxury though certainly now much more accessible to people outside the aristocracy. This has largely been due to clever marketing by the champagne houses and by the champagne industry. The better or more canny (or both) champagne houses developed their names into brands. Advertising and celebrity endorsements, intended or otherwise, have helped some houses more than others but certainly boost champagne’s general image as a luxury (and sometimes expensive) product. And whilst champagne is generally more accessible, specific brands priced outside the pockets of the average person in the street have now become the luxury items only for consuming by the rich and famous – think Krug, Cristal and Armand de Brignac which Jay Z is associated with, even featuring it in some of his songs, and is believed to have invested in. In what is possibly the worst marketing ploy I have heard about in the wine trade, it is believed that a careless comment by someone at Cristal about rappers’ association with their brand was the trigger for Armand de Brignac’s subsequent success. LET’S OPEN A BOTTLE OF BUBBLY & CELEBRATE The price of champagne will sadly always keep it out of reach of most people for their “everyday” wine. What’s for sure though is that champagne and other sparkling wines will remain the drinks of choice for celebrations for many years to come. The symbolism associated with opening bottle of bubbly helps make it special: the pop of the bottle creates excitement and the overflowing of the wine on opening (unless you are careful) suggests exuberance and extravagance. That Left Bank Bordeaux I alluded to at the beginning would undoubtedly be enjoyed

Riesling grapes from Wines With Attitude

Riesling – love it or hate it?

Grape Varieties, Wine Styles

Riesling – love it or hate it? A GUIDE TO THE RIESLING GRAPE AND ITS WINES I have long been in two minds about having more than one Riesling in the Wines With Attitude portfolio – in my experience people either love Riesling or hate it which is why I describe it as the Marmite grape (with apologies and also homage to the manufacturers of Marmite). But there are many different styles of Riesling wine that it is doing it a disservice not selling more than one plus I was long ago persuaded to by a new customer who was keen to get hold of some Andreas Bender Dajoar Zenit Riesling that he had had with friends in the Portland restaurant in London. I am so glad I did as it is a beautiful wine. And it is after all unfair to write off Riesling as a whole since it produces so many different types of wine. So in this blogpost I shed some light on the Riesling grape and its wide range of wines. WHERE CAN YOU FIND RIESLING? This white grape is also known as Johannisberg, Kleinriesling, Rheinriesling, Riesling Gelb and a host of other names but should not be confused with Riesling Italico or Welschriesling which are synonyms of a somewhat less-known grape. So versatile and hardy is the Riesling grape that it can be grown in many different regions around the world, producing a wide range of wine styles and flavours as it is also good at expressing its terroir. It grows best in cool climates and tolerates well cold winters. The location of the vines can have a huge impact on the style and flavours of the wines with cooler climate Rieslings producing more delicate green fruit & floral notes, warmer climate Rieslings generally being more peachy and richer in style. Germany is the homeland of Riesling with c. 45% of the world’s Riesling vineyards. It produces, some would argue, the best Riesling wines though there also are some poorer versions produced there as Germany tries, rather unsuccessfully, to convert the overseas wine-drinking public to their pride and joy. Riesling is grown throughout Germany though the Mosel and Pfalz regions produce the most. Mosel famous for its slate soils produces a light floral style of Riesling. The best sites there are considered to be the steepest sites with slate soils near the river where the grapes can benefit from maximum sunshine due to carefully positioned vines and reflections from the water’s surface. The reputation that German Riesling still has as a medium dry or even medium-sweet white wine is not really justified as most nowadays is dry or ‘trocken’. The USA, perhaps surprisingly is the second largest producer of Riesling with c.10% of the world’s Riesling vineyards and growing interest for Rieslings from California, Oregon and Washington State. Australia is gaining itself quite a good reputation for very dry, lime-flavoured Riesling – look for Clare Valley and Eden Valley Rieslings. In France Riesling is a permitted grape variety only in the Alsace region where the wines often have pronounced minerality. There has been a tendency for Alsace to add sugar to its wines to help boost the alcohol levels (rather than to sweeten them since they are vinified dry). Therefore Alsace Riesling is often more full-bodied than German Riesling. New Zealand is developing its Riesling vineyards; it is its 6th most produced grape variety. New Zealand is producing both off-dry and dry wines – the Te Whare Ra Riesling D is Dry, the ‘D’ meaning dry (they also produce an ‘M’ version for medium-dry). Austria produces mostly dry Riesling but also very sweet, dessert wine. A little known fact is that Luxembourg also grows a small proportion of the world’s Riesling but then not so surprising given it lies close to the Mosel region. FLAVOUR PROFILE OF RIESLING It is partly Riesling’s ability to express its terroir well that makes it hard to generalise about one single flavour profile for its wines. Riesling wines can have one or more of the following – florals, minerality, fruit and spice. However one thing that all good Riesling has wherever it is produced is bracing acidity – just like Sauvignon Blanc. Even sweeter versions will not be sickeningly sweet as the sweetness should always be balanced by acidity. Rieslings aromatics can be quite concentrated. Distinct flavours that are usually recognisable include lime, green apples, pears and floral notes like jasmine and lime blossom especially when the wine is young, dry and from cooler regions. As Riesling develops richer peach and even nectarine flavours dominate and/ or if it is from a warmer site tropical fruit. As they get older Rieslings get richer and a wider range of aromas and flavours come to the fore including honey, beeswax, spice and toast plus sometimes the distinctive petrol or kerosene aromas may develop. The petrol note, loved by some and detested by others, is more likely to be found in better Riesling wines than in more commercial-style wines where grapes from higher-yielding vineyards are used. It is also detectable earlier in warm climate Rieslings. It should however always be subtle in any Riesling. According to Andreas Bender, producer of several Rieslings including the lovely Dajoar Zenit Riesling from the Mosel, Riesling needs some time in bottle to become rounder and for all the flavours to fully express themselves. I could see this in early 2019 when doing a vertical tasting with him of his 2015 and 2017 Zenit Rieslings; the 2017 needed a little more time to develop to its full potential. Give it another 12 months or so and it will match the 2015. Better winemakers such as Andreas aim to make the grape’s aromatic qualities show and therefore usually ferment the wine in stainless steel tanks. If oak is used it will be large vats and old oak to minimise the impact. Lees contact may also be used to give some Rieslings texture and richness which some may confuse with oak influence.

Terroir & its impact on wine by Wines With Attitude

All about terroir and how it affects wine

What's in my wine?, Wine Styles

ALL ABOUT TERROIR & HOW IT AFFECTS WINE Terroir is a much-used and much-debated term but what exactly does it mean? Some say terroir produces better wines with more character, so-called terroir wines – but is that right? I confess I have long been a great fan of terroir and I use the expression quite liberally in my unique tasting notes. But there are many who think the term terroir is over-used and the concept over-rated, little more than a marketing ploy. This blogpost looks at what terroir means, how terroir affects wine and why it is such a topic of hot debate. WHAT DOES TERROIR MEAN? It is not, as some have suggested, pretension that dictates the use of the French word “terroir” in the English-speaking world; there is simply no one word that can describe the concept in English and it originated in wine’s old world. Terroir is a concept that has dictated the appellation system in many old world wine regions. Burgundy’s small ‘parcel’ vineyards for example were ranked centuries ago according to the perceived quality of each specific vineyard and these rankings formed the basis of Burgundy’s appellation systems formalised in 1936. The top ranking or Grand Cru wines of Burgundy originate from the vineyards with the best terroir of the region; consequently they command the best prices. There have been few changes to the system since and classification by terroir has been copied in other wine regions of the world. It is mistakenly thought by some, since vineyards are the basis for this sort of classification, that terroir must refer specifically to the soil in the vineyard; after all there are hundreds of different types of soil and they are known to affect the taste of the grapes/ wine but soil is just one component of terroir. Terroir in fact comprises the whole ‘natural’ environment in which the grapes are grown and is therefore a combination of: the soil, with differences in structure, texture, depth, pH levels, water drainage & storage capabilities all having an effect. Note – contrary to popular belief, it is not well-watered vines on fertile soils that produce the best fruit but vines on well-drained soils that have to struggle to find water the general climate of the region the climate of each specific vineyard, a so-called meso-climate and even the vine’s own micro-climate since the climate at one end of a vineyard may differ to the climate at the other the topography of the land including: the aspect, with south-facing vineyard considered superior in the Northern hemisphere and north-facing in the Southern hemisphere elevation or altitude, considered to be a significant factor as it affects temperatures in the vineyard incline, with slopes facing the sun generally preferred to flat land proximity to water, not necessarily for watering purposes but for the water’s ability to store heat and warm up land areas close to it the surrounding vegetation which can affect not only the local climate but also the taste of the wine e.g. the taste of eucalyptus often detected in Australian wine plus the interaction of all these components for example in governing how much direct sunshine the grapes receive and in dictating how much water is available to the vines etc. Therefore each vineyard (or even each plot within a vineyard) has its own unique terroir and this is in part what makes each well-made wine unique. Terroir determines the quality of the grapes grown and therefore is a significant (but not the only) contributor to the character of a wine. DOES TERROIR INCLUDE WINE-MAKING? Many argue that the wine-maker and the wine-making process are necessarily also part of terroir. It cannot be denied that human intervention greatly affects the elements of terroir listed above whether winemakers choose to let nature take its course and intervene as little as possible in the vineyard and in the winery or whether they throw every chemical permitted at the vines and in the wine-making process. After all the wine-maker must decide whether and how much fertiliser and pesticide to use, how densely the vines are planted, which training system to use for the vines, which date the grapes should be harvested, whether natural or bought yeasts are used for fermentation, whether to use oak barrels, stainless steel vats or concrete tanks etc etc. The list is endless. But for many others, myself included, ‘natural environment’ is the key phrase in the definition of terroir; terroir is about the naturally-occurring elements that affect the wine not about the decisions made to create the resulting wine. But it is the wine-maker who dictates how well the terroir is reflected in the wine and therefore has a huge effect on the character, as well as the style and quality, of the wine they produce. It is a combination of good terroir and great wine-making that produces great wine. ‘TERROIR WINE’ The phrase terroir wine seems to be increasingly used in marketing wines but surely all wine is terroir wine since all vineyards have terroir – and a terroir that is unique to them? Be a little wary of the expression as the implication is that terroir wine is superior wine and it may be used simply to justify a higher price label than a wine deserves. Whether labelled as terroir wine or not, wines that don’t display terroir can sometimes be the subject of snobbery. New world wines especially were accused in the past of being devoid of or ignoring terroir and it could be argued that that was why cheaper, more commercially-produced wines were the focus for new world exports to Europe from the 1980s to the 2000s. It could however just be that they wanted to do something different from the strict classifications and regulations of the old world, that the wine-maker preferred to accentuate a wine’s fruit flavours rather the terroir, that the winery wanted to produce a consistent style of wine year on year or, as was the case with South Africa,

Sauvignon Blanc wine by Wines With Attitude

All about Sauvignon Blanc

Grape Varieties, Wine Styles

ALL ABOUT SAUVIGNON BLANC It is probably no surprise that Sauvignon Blanc features in the top 10 most planted wine grapes in the world.* Check out any list of the most popular wines in the UK and Sauvignon Blanc will be close to, if not at, the top. We Brits have fallen big time for the whole Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc brand and whilst there are many great examples of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, there are also many other amazing Sauvignon Blanc styles which are explored in this guide to Sauvignon Blanc. Read on to find out about the Sauvignon Blanc grape and where it is grown, the characteristics of Sauvignon Blanc wines and what they taste like plus what to eat with Sauvignon Blanc. SAUVIGNON BLANC GRAPE FACTS & CHARACTERISTICS White grape variety Sauvignon Blanc is also known as Blanc Fumé, Blanc Fumet, Fumé Blanc and Muscat-Silvaner. The name is derived from the French for wild’ “sauvage”. Sauvignon Blanc has often been confused with Savagnin Blanc which is believed to be one of its parents. Chile has in the past imported what it thought was Sauvignon Blanc and only in the 1980s was much of it discovered to be another grape variety, Sauvignonasse. Sauvignon Blanc is a parent of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. Sauvignon Blanc is an early ripener and the vine’s growth is vigorous which means that it is best grown on poor soils in cool climate areas to rein it in and slow down leaf growth, which can also be tamed with pruning. Its naturally high yields mean that Sauvignon Blanc can be – and is – used to produce huge volumes of inexpensive wine but keeping costs low by not pruning leaf coverage prevents the grapes from ripening and leads to herbaceous or green notes caused by compounds called methoxypyrazines – remember how grassy flavours and aromas used to dominate many Sauvignon Blanc wines? On the other hand, left too long on the vine, overripe grapes can produce wines dominated by big tropical fruit flavours so picking at just the right moment is crucial, depending on the characteristics the winemaker is aiming for in his wine. Sauvignon Blanc is a naturally pungent or aromatic grape with good acidity. Cool climate regions again are best to prevent this acidity dropping too much as sugars rise in the ripening grapes. Rather than being mainly used for high volumes of more commercial entry-level wines, Sauvignon Blanc is increasingly being produced in the mid to high price range and as its characteristics can be influenced by different factors in the vineyard and by different techniques in the winery, very different styles of Sauvignon Blanc wine can be produced as you will read below. WHERE SAUVIGNON BLANC IS PRODUCED According to the University of Adelaide’s Database of Regional, National & Global Winegrape bearing areas, vineyard area dedicated to Sauvignon Blanc globally almost doubled between 2000 and 2016. Circa 50% of plantings are concentrated in three countries – New Zealand, France and Chile. NEW ZEALAND SAUVIGNON BLANC Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is perhaps the best-known Sauvignon Blanc these days but in fact the grape variety was only planted there in the early 1970s. Pioneers like Brancott Estate and Cloudy Bay saw the potential for Sauvignon in Marlborough’s largely cool climate, and other producers followed to such an extent that the grape is now the most planted in New Zealand and accounts for 72% of the country’s total wine production. And according to NZWine.com, three quarters of all New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is planted in Marlborough. FRENCH SAUVIGNON BLANC Despite the huge influence of New Zealand in Sauvignon Blanc’s history, more Sauvignon Blanc is still grown in France than in New Zealand or indeed any other country, spread across the country but mainly in the Bordeaux, Loire Valley and Languedoc-Roussillon wine regions. Before the emergence of Marlborough Sauvignon, the cool-climate Loire Valley’s Sancerre was considered by many as the epitome of Sauvignon Blanc (and still is to many). Pouilly-Fumé is perhaps less well-known but very similar in style. Better known for its red wines, Bordeaux has long grown Sauvignon Blanc for a range of different wines, dry and sweet. And in Languedoc-Roussillon Sauvignon is used mainly for cheap and cheerful, fruity IGP (or vins de pays) wines. CHILEAN SAUVIGNON BLANC Sauvignon Blanc is Chile’s most planted white grape variety accounting for c. 10% of the country’s and 12% of the global vineyards although, as mentioned above, some of the older plantings are Sauvignonasse. Stick to wines from the cooler parts of the country like San Antonio, Bío Bío and the Leyda Valley for the more elegant wines. There are further Sauvignon Blanc vines in many countries around the world but not in huge concentrations. It is worth mentioning South Africa however which is increasing its Sauvignon Blanc vineyards and creating some fine examples of sauvignon, often with crisp gooseberry characteristics. CHILEAN SAUVIGNON BLANC It used to be said that you could tell a glass of Sauvignon Blanc by a distinctive smell of cat’s pee. That odour, now referred to as boxwood since certain species of boxwood apparently emit a similar smell when flowering, is thankfully no longer a common feature of the wine. In fact there are many different aroma/ flavour profiles for Sauvignon Blanc that have evolved as winemakers use different factors in the vineyard (such as different clones, quality and type of soils, vine pruning methods and harvesting dates) and different techniques in the winery (such as different fermentation temperatures, using oak barrels for fermentations and/ or ageing, malolactic fermentation, lees ageing and blending). All these different factors make it difficult to define one Sauvignon Blanc style. There are various ways to try to paint the picture but all involve making generalisations – I make some regional generalisations but perhaps key to the styles of Sauvignon is whether your wine is from a cool or warm climate area: Cool climate Sauvignon will be lighter in colour and body, more elegant, tangy with

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