The Outsiders (Part 4) - Domaine de Calet and Domaine de Cébène

This is the final instalment of my write-up from last week's Outsiders tasting in London, featuring two more growers whose wines impressed me greatly. 

Anna-Lena and Yvon Gentes - Domaine de Calet, Beauvoisin

Website - www.domaine-de-calet.com/

Anna-Lena and Yvon Gentes spent 30 years in Anna's native Sweden - Anna-Lena was a nursery teacher, whilst Yvon was a major player in the Swedish seafood industry. In 1999, they bought a run-down 30 hectare wine estate on the fringes of the Camargue, in the Costières de Nîmes. I almost didn't get around to sampling their wines, as time was fast running out, but I am mighty glad that I did so, as they are producing some really excellent wines, made with the minimum intervention and careful (i.e. minimal) use of sulphites. They received organic certification 2 years ago and are currently in conversion to full biodynamic status.

Domaine de Calet Long Terme 2008 Costières de Nîmes
75% Syrah and 25% Grenache. 20% of the blend spends time in 2 year-old oak barrels. The nose is lovely - very perfumed and clearly dominated by Syrah. In fact, there's even a hint of the Northern Rhône about it, with flowers, spice and savoury making for a wine of surprising complextity (given the relatively low price). And the palate certainly lives up to its promise, with a hint of oak influence, but dominated by rich, expressive, spicy fruit, whilst remaining very elegant. If only most Côtes du Rhône was half as good. A really lovely wine!

Domaine de Calet Grand Mas 2007 Costières de Nîmes
85% Syrah and 15% Grenache. Quite a similar wine to the Long Terme, again with an amazing Northern Rhône-like Syrah nose. The palate is again rich, but soft, velvety, ripe, and chock full of wild strawberry, bramble and plum flavours, whilst managing to remain beautifully elegant. Another lovely wine.

Domaine de Calet La Tournerie 2007 Costières de Nîmes
85% Grenache, 15% Syrah, aged for between 12 and 15 months in oak barrels. This has only just been bottled and is currently a little dominated by the oak, but it is very skilfully done, and there is so much fruit lurking in there, with abundent bramble and cassis flavours, complemented by garrigue herbs and soft spices. Quite a big wine, but very long in the mouth and showing huge potential for medium to long-term ageing.

Domaine de Calet Travers du Rey 2005 Costières de Nîmes
100% Syrah, from yields of just 20 hl/ha, aged for 18 months in new oak barrels. I must admit I found this quite hard to taste, since the oak is still very dominant. There is undoubtedly an enormous amount of fruit underneath the oak, but I feel it needs a good few years to really start to express itself. Given my experience of the other wines, I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be a really fabulous wine in 5 to 10 years, but it is currently a bit "international" in style, for my palate.

Brigitte Chevalier - Domaine de Cébène, Caussiniojouls

Website - www.cebene.fr/english.htm

The delightful Brigitte Chevalier needs no introduction to regular readers of my blog, nor to those of my customers who have been lucky (or canny) enough to have tasted her wines. I have written about Brigitte a couple of times already this year, once as part of my Vinisud report and again in June, when I visted her cave in Caussiniojouls, deep in the heart of the Faugères region. I tasted the following 3 wines in June, whilst they were still resting in cuves, prior to being bottled, but I lost my notes. I didn't actually taste them on the day of the Outsiders tasting (knowing that I would soon be taking delivery of a range of wines from Brigitte very soon anyway) but took the bottles of Ex Arena, Bancels and Felgaria back home with me to taste. Even then, I didn’t actually taste them and write my notes until a few days ago – and they still tasted wonderful, even after being open for up to 5 days!

Domaine de Cébène Ex Arena 2009 Vin de Pays d'Oc
Grenache and Mourvedre, from sand-based terroir in Corneilhan, just north of Béziers. Tasting this after being open for 2 days, it really is only just beginning to get into its stride. Lovely aromas of poached raspberry, cherry and redcurrant, with background notes of leather, sandalwood and eau de vie. There are also enticing notes of fresh bread, spices and garrigue - so complex! The palate has layer upon layer of red and black fruit flavours, with hints of soft citrus and peel, with a touch of nicely integrated oak. It has power, but without too much weight or extraction, grippy but fine tannins and a decent backbone of acidity. It is a really lovely wine, which probably needs 3 to 5 years to show its best - or just a couple of days' air, to help it open-out(!) Very complex, and worthy of contemplation.

Domaine de Cébène Les Bancels 2009 Faugères
50% Syrah, 35% Grenache and 15% Mourvedre, grown on schiste. This had been open for 5 days(!) and was still very fresh. Indeed, the aromas fairly leap out of the glass, which is sitting a foot away from me as I write, and I can still smell the glorious aromas of bramble, raspbery and redcurrant steeped in eau de vie, with notes of oregano and cinnamon, leather and polished wood. It is indeed a rare wine that can do that.The palate is truly expressivewith warming spice and savoury/herby flavours mingling with red and black fruits, fine tannins and excellent acidity. The result is a wine of enormous complexity, combining fruit, savoury, sweet and sour in a rich, even powerful, yet deceptively elegant, feminine wine. A fabulous wine, with great potential for development. No wonder Tim Atkin scored it 94/100!

Domaine de Cébène Felgaria 2009 Faugères
50% Mourvedre, 30% Syrah, 20% Grenache. This is Brigitte's top cuvée - deep, dark (almost opaque), brooding and even more serious than Les Bancels. Bramble and blackcurrant aromas mingled withblack cherry and seville orange. Once again, laden with herbs and exotic spices, meat and and an enticing hint of volatile acidity. There's a strong schiste/mineral streak, together with classy cedar/cigar box and an amazing freshness and vitality (again, even after several days) - another astonishingly complex wine. The palate is rich, deeply flavoured and beautifully extracted, without sacrificing its inherent freshness. The flavours are complex and full of fruit, with supple tannins and fresh, almost lemony acidity. The finish is spicy, zesty and very long. A glorious bottle of wine. It won't be cheap, at over £20, but Faugères does not get any better than this.

That's it for this year's Outsiders tasting. Well done to Louise Hurren for such a brilliantly organised event and thanks to all the growers for coming over. I do hope it will become an annual fixture, and that the Outsiders group go from strength to strength!
     

The Outsiders (Part 3) - Château d'Anglès and O'Vineyards

Here's the third part of my review of the Outsiders tasting in London last week, featuring the wines of a couple more excellent growers. Part 4 will follow tomorrow.

Eric, Vianney and Arnaud Fabre - Chateau d'Anglès, Saint-Pierre la Mer, La Clape

Website - http://www.chateaudangles.com/

Following 8 years as technical director at Château Lafite Rothschild in Paulliac, Eric Fabre purchased the historic La Clape estate of Château d'Anglès in 2002. He now runs the estate with his two sons Vianney and Arnaud. Only 36 of the 80 hectares are planted to vines, the remainder being a mixture of wild garrigue and pine forest. La Clape was once a small island off the coast of Narbonne, but is now joined to the Mediterranean coastline and is effectively a small mountain (well, a hill really) reaching an altitude of around 200m (650 feet). Average temperatures are amongst the highest in France, thus providing an ideal climate for grape growing, whilst the closeness of the Mediterranean ensures the wines are imbued with a certain maritime savoury/saline quality.

Château d'Anglès Classique Blanc 2008 Languedoc La Clape

A blend of Bourboulenc, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne and Roussanne. Apricots and flowers on the nose. A rich palate, quite warming and winey, rather than obviously fruity. But the nose won me over - and I think it has more to give, with a year or two more in bottle.

Château d'Anglès Grand Vin Blanc 2007 Languedoc La Clape

Same blend, which I assume spends at least some time in oak barrels. A bready, mealy, quite oaky nose, with notes of honey, apricot and orange. The palate is rich and oaky and quite warm.

Château d'Anglès Classique Rouge 2007 Languedoc La Clape

Syrah, Mourvedre and Grenache, aged in vat. Garrigue herbs and soft, crystallised fruits on the nose, with a touch of savoury/saline. The palate is very elegant and soft, with savoury, spice and bags of fruit, complemented by fine tannins. Quite complex and long. I like it.

Château d'Anglès Grand Vin Rouge 2007 Languedoc La Clape

40% Syrah, 40% Mourvedre, plus Grenache and Carignan, aged for 10 months in a mix of new, one and two year-old barrels. Very fragrant on the nose, with soft fruits, savoury and garrigue in equal measures, with nicely softened cedary oak. Rich, but soft in the mouth, with crystallised fruits and a gentle spiciness. Quite modern, but very elegant. Lovely wine.

Ryan O'Connell - O'Vineyards, Villemoustaussou, Carcassonne

Website - http://www.ovineyards.com/

Blog - http://love-that-languedoc.com/

Ryan O'Connell, his American father Joe and French/Vietnamese mother Liz arrived France in 2005, having traded the family business building luxury homes in Florida for a more rural existence making wine in the Cabardès region. Ryan is full of infectious enthusiasm and, as well as making some very good wines, works tirelessly in promoting the wines of southern France as a whole.  His favourite toy is his flip video camera, which he uses to good effect, creating an ever-increasing number of informative and enthusiastic (and occasionally very funny) short videos, featuring visits to different growers the length and breadth of Languedoc and Roussillon, which he posts regularly on his Love That Languedoc blog. In fact, Ryan leaves no stone un-turned in using the power of the Internet to get the message across about the joys of wine as a whole, and about Languedoc and Roussillon in particular. Long may he keep blogging, Facebooking, Tweeting and generally bigging-up his adopted region!

The shy and retiring Ryan O'Connell(!)

O'Vineyards O'Syrah 2005 Vin de Pays de La Cité de Carcassone

100% Syrah. Cassis, plums and bramble, beef and spice aromas - lots of fruit, but savoury too, with notes of garrigue herbs. The palate is rich and very spicy, but the Syrah character still comes through, and it is surprisingly elegant, for such a big wine. At 5 years old, it is good to drink, but there is absolutely no hurry.

O'Vineyards Trah Lah Lah 2005 Vin de Pays de La Cité de Carcassone
65% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep, dark colour ,with a tiny rim. Again, a savoury, meaty nose, like a fruity gravy, with hints of new leather. The palate is rich with sweet fruit, still quite tannic, but with good underlying acidity. The finish is bitter-sweet. Another keeper. For me, not quite as enjoyable as the Syrah, but a good wine nonetheless.

O'Vineyards Proprietor's Reserve 2005 Cabardès
Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. There's oak, but it is nicely integrated, with plenty of rich cassis and plum fruit, leather, polished wood and spice. The palate is loaded with rich, sweet fruit flavours, but with excellent balancing acidity, something akin to a new world Claret blend. In fact, if I somebody told me it was from California, I might believe them - and that would be no mean compliment. Very nice wine!

I like the way Ryan and his father are pushing the boundaries in the somewhat unfashionable (by which I mean relatively unknown) region of Cabardès, immersing themselves totally in the French culture, whilst bringing fresh ideas and new world innovation to the winemaking process. They deserve to succeed.

Next up - Domaine de Calet and Domaine de Cébène.
       

The Outsiders (Part 2) - Domaine Jones and Hegarty Chamans

Continuing my write-up from the recent Outsiders tasting at the Maison du Languedoc-Roussillon in London, here are my notes on the wines of two more excellent growers. Once again, if you want extra information about the growers, I have added links to their websites.

Katie Jones - Domaine Jones, Tuchan

Website - http://www.domainejones.com/

Katie Jones hails from Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire, but worked for a good number of years as export sales and marketing director at the Mont Tauch Co-operative in Tuchan, before finally succumbing to the urge to make her own wine. Katie owns just under 3 hectares of vines near Maury, although she makes her wines (with the help of Australian winemaker David Morrison) at her cellar 25 km away in Tuchan. For this reason (not to mention the fact that it also avoids much bureaucracy and paperwork) the wines are labelled as Vins de France.

Katie Jones 

Jones Blanc 2009 Vin de France

Grenache Gris, with a splash of Muscat a Petit Grains. Grenache Gris isn't usually the most expressive or aromatic variety, but the addition of that small amount of Muscat has imbued this wine with a lovely perfume of honey, apricot and flowers. The palate is gloriously fruity, with a certain richness and gentle spiciness, but  beautifully balanced and elegant with it. Long, too. A lovely wine.

 

Jones Rouge 2009 Vin de France

100% old-vine Grenache. This has a nice light colour and another really expressive nose of fresh fruits, garrigue herbs and spice, with a hint of cigar box. The palate is a riot of bramble, raspberry and redcurrant, but with plenty of garrigue herb and spice flavours - there's a lot going on in this wine. The tannins are fine and the acidity is ample, making for a quite rich, but very elegant - even feminine - wine.

 

Jones Muscat 2009 Vin de France

I was so busy chatting away to Katie and enjoying this wine that I completely forgot to write any sort of note. But I do remember that it was deliciously aromatic, grapey and apricotty, in the way that only a Muscat can be. It is an unusual wine, in that it is neither bone dry nor fortified (the two styles most often encountered in Languedoc and Roussillon). Instead, it falls somewhere between off-dry and sweet, making for a deliciously drinkable wine, with residual sweetness balanced by plenty of orange-tinged acidity. Yum!

 

Sir John Hegarty and Philippa Crane - Hegarty Chamans, Trausse-Minervois

Website - http://www.hegartychamans.com/

Sir John Hegarty made his name as co-founder and Creative Director of advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (remember "Vorsprung duch technik" and the Levi's jeans launderette ads?). In 2002, John and his partner, New Zealander Philippa Crane, bought the 20 hectare Chamans estate. With the help of their winemaker Samuel Berger, John and Philippa are making some excellent red and white Minervois wines.

Philippa Crane and Sir John Hegarty

 

Hegarty Chamans Les Chamans Blanc 2008 Minervois

50% each of Marsanne and Roussanne. Honey, almonds and spring flowers, with nicely integrated oak. the palate is rich with fruit and considerably complex, with flavours of honey, lemon zest, peach and apricot. It manages to be both full-bodied and warmly spicy, yet very elegant. Lovely wine.

 

Hegarty Chamans Les Chamans Rouge 2007 Minervois

35% Carignan, 35% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre. Fruit - and lots of it! The palate is rich, fruity and robust, even a touch rustic, but so clean and fresh. In fact, quintessential Minervois, with lots of sweet red and black fruit flavours, nicely rustic but ripe tannins and excellent acidity. A really nice wine.

 

Hegarty Chamans Cuvée No. 1 2005 Minervois

60% Syrah, 40% Carignan. Sweet fruits on the nose, with a touch of meatiness, even funkiness. Very together and complex, with nicely integrated oak. The palate is rich and spicy, with pastilley fruit flavours and nicely resolved tannins and a soft oakiness. I like the nose more than the palate at the moment, but I think this wine will develop nicely with a few more years of bottle age.

 

Hegarty Chamans Cuvée No. 2 2008 Minervois

70% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre, 10% Cinsault. Crystallised fruits, cloves and garrigue herbs, and nicely woody, in a cigar box/cedar way. Soft, fruity and rich but again elegant. An impressive wine, which is really lovely to drink already, but will surely age well over the next 3 to 5 years.

 

Next up will be Chateau d'Angles and O'Vineyards.

      

The Outsiders - a disparate bunch of "aliens" making wine in Languedoc and Roussillon - Part 1 - Chateau Rives-Blanques and Mas Gabriel

It has been a busy week for me, hence the distinct lack of blog posts in the last few days. But I have plenty to write about in the coming days, not least of which will be lots of notes and observations from my day at the Outsiders tasting last Wednesday, at the Maison de Languedoc-Roussillon in London. The Outsiders are a group of growers, based in various corners of Languedoc and Roussillon, with one thing in common – they are all non-native to the region. A dozen growers, with origins as diverse as the UK, Ireland, Holland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden, the USA and Bordeaux gathered at La Maison, to showcase their wines to the trade and media.

The Maison de Languedoc-Roussillon in Cavendish Square

Two of them I know very well, as their wines already feature very heavily on the Leon Stolarski Fine Wines list – Jonathan Hesford of Domaine Treloar and Brigitte Chevalier of Domaine de Cébène. But the rest were all pretty new to me. In fact, I hadn’t knowingly tasted any of their wines before, so this was a chance for me to discover some really good wines, from some of the region’s best up-and-coming growers in one go. There is far too much for me to publish in one post, so I’ll try and cover the event in a series of posts over the next few days. For now, here are my notes on a couple of growers whose wines impressed me very much. I’ll stick to my impressions of the wines themselves – if you want more details on the growers, I’ve added links to their own websites.

Jan & Caryl Panman – Chateau Rives-Blanques – Cepié, near Limoux

Website – http://www.rives-blanques.com/

Chateau Rives-Blanques Chardonnay du Domaine 2009(?) Vin de Pays d’Oc

This is actually Chardonnay, with 15% Chenin Blanc, aged in vats (no oak). Lemony, herby, floral nose, with a hint of pear drops. Fairly full and rich on the palate, with a zesty, limey quality. A touch of pithiness on the finish. Not my favourite style of wine, but well made, and quite long, too.

Chateau Rives-Blanques Cuvée de l’Odyssée Chardonnay 2009(?) Limoux

100% Chardonnay, fermented and aged for 6 months in oak barrels (one-third new). The nose has aromas of oak vanillin and lime oil, with herby notes. The palate is oaky, too, but with a lot of other stuff going on – lemon and lime fruit flavours with hints of spices and orange zest. Fairly rich and extracted, warm and spicy. Very promising, but needs a year or two to integrate.

Chateau Rives-Blanques Sauvageon 2009 Vin de Pays d’Oc

Sauvignon Blanc, from vines planted as recently as 2006. Sauvignon is not a variety permitted by the Limoux AOC, so this has to be labelled as a vin de pays, but it benefits from the same oak treatment as the Cuvée de l’Odyssée. And it makes for a really interesting, quirky wine. The nose is oaky and buttery, but with lots of other aromas, such as lime and mandarin, fennel, cloves and herbs. The palate is again quite oaky, but adds structure, rather than dominating, with some quite intense flavours of orange, honey, apple pie and spice. It is very long and very interesting. I want some!

Chateau Rives-Blanques Occitania Mauzac 2009 Limoux

This is 100% Mauzac, once again fermented and aged for 6 months in oak barrels. The aromas suggest very ripe/cooked apples, spices, vanilla and cream. The palate is bone dry and quite neutral (i.e. not overtly fruity) but nevertheless very “winey”, with a refreshing zestiness and minerality. Long, too.

Chateau Rives-Blanques Vintage Rosé 2007 Crémant de Limoux

Made from Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Pinot Noir, this is a really expressive sparkling wine, with aromas and flavours of strawberry and raspberry and a hint of sweet apple. The palate is wonderfully rich and dense, deeply fruity and spicy, soft and very approachable. A lovely wine.

Chateau Rives-Blanques Blanquette de Limoux NV

90% Mauzac, plus Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. For a relatively low dosage (4 or 5 g/l) and recently-disgorged Blanquette, this fooled me into thinking it had some decent bottle age. Then again, it is kept for a minimum of 15 months on its lees, making for a toasty, rich, slightly yeasty wine, but full of rich, apple fruit and real mineral depth. Another really cracking sparkler.

Chateau Rives-Blanques Blanc de Blancs Crémant de Limoux NV

This was an “extra” (i.e. not on the tasting list) but I think it is a blend of Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. My scribbled note was very brief….. “Bready, with minerals and citrus. This is really good stuff.” I guess I must have liked it!

Peter & Deborah Core – Mas Gabriel – Caux, near Pézenas

Website – http://www.mas-gabriel.co.uk/

Mas Gabriel Clos des Papillons 2009 Vin de Pays de l’Hérault

100% Carignan Blanc, from just 20 ares (less than half an acre) of old vines. Smells of apples, pears and star anise. The palate has a touch of pear to it as well, with delicate flavours and a touch of minerality. An unusual and classy wine.

Mas Gabriel Les Trois Terrasses 2009 Vin de Pays de l’Hérault

100% old vine Carignan. A very deep colour, and very Carignan on the nose – pungent aromas of bramble and polished leather, garrigue herbs and spices. The palate is enormously fruity, with concentrated (but carefully extracted) flavours of bramble and cassis, with a refreshing note of citrus. Young Carignan can sometimes be a bit tannic and rustic, but not this one. The tannins are beautifully ripe and soft, and the fruit is sweet, but focused, and countered by a delicious backbone of acidity. Long and absolutely delicious. The 2008, which I tasted afterwards, seemed richer and much more evolved – and perhaps even a touch porty, to my palate. Although it opened out a bit in the glass, it was no match for the sheer vivacity and deliciousness of the 2009.

Mas Gabriel Clos des Lièvres 2008 Coteux du Languedoc

Syrah, Grenache and Carignan. The Syrah is aged in oak demi-muids, whilst the Grenache and Carignan are aged in vat. The nose is savoury and meaty, with hints of cedar and polished mahogany. The palate is loaded with crystallised fruit and orange peel flavours, with plenty of herby, spicy notes adding further interest. The tannins are soft, and there is ample acidity. Long and very lovely. I also tasted the 2007, although my note runs to just one word…. “Gorgeous!”

Next up will be my notes on Domaine Jones and Hegarty Chamans.

          

Musarathon - 30 years of Chateau Musar. Is this the best £10 I 've ever spent?

I've been a fan of Chateau Musar for almost as long as I've been indulging my passion for wine. So it was an honour to be present at this week's tasting at the Nottingham Wine Circle, presented by the ever-generous Doug Miles (with significant contributions from David Selby and CY Choong). Tradition dictates that the cost of such a tasting is shared between the members present, and is based not on what the wines are worth now, but what they cost at the time they were purchased. And so it came to pass that the 15 or so members present at this tasting were required to cough-up the princely sum of £10 each, for the privilege of tasting no less than 16 different Musar wines, going back to the 1978 vintage. I shudder to think what those wines would cost on the open market now, but they don't come cheap, I can tell you. So thanks, boys, for the chance to taste such a brilliant vertical, at the price of a couple of supermarket BOGOF's!

For the uninitiated, Chateau Musar is (for those with impeccable taste) the greatest wine of Lebanon. The winery was established in 1930 by Gaston Hochar, at the Castle of Mzar, north of Beirut. The grapes are grown high up in the Bekaa Valley, 50km to the east. Gaston's son Serge took over the winemaking in 1959 and proceeded to establish its reputation as one of the world's most inimitable (and inherantly quirky) wines. The grapes are predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, with Cinsault and Carignan making up the blend. Each variety is fermented in concrete vats, then transferred to large vats for a year, before being aged for a year in French oak barrels. Then they go back into vats for up to 3 years, before the final blending takes place. The finished wine is finally bottled (with no fining and the minimum of filtering) after around 5 or 6 years, and generally released for sale at around 7 years of age. By which time it has only really just begun its evolution.

Oz Clarke describes the wine thus, in his book New Classic Wines;

"Many experts have struggled to catch the essence of Musar by describing it as a cross between Bordeaux and Burgundy. It is nothing of the sort. It is far too wild, far too exotic for Bordeaux....... and it has none of the fragrant delicacy which marks out Burgundy. It is proudly Lebanese.......... The smell of a mature Musar seems deep and old and sweet, sometimes as intense as burnt raspberry sauce scraped from the pan, sometimes thick with dark syrup of black cherries steeped in brandy, sometimes with the sweet sourness of sublime vinegars, sometimes a yeastiness as heady as fresh brioche, and often wafted through with the scent of cedar. The flavour generally seems oxidised at first, and paradoxically, if you taste Musar too young, you're certain it can't last. But that's part of the magic. The young wines show too much age, the old wines show too much fruit."

So to the wines..............

1. Hochar Rosé 2004
A blend of Obaideh and Cinsault. Pale ruby pink. Nose of red cherry and raspberry, with a strong (but not unattractive) vegetal note of beetroot and cabbage, along with strawberries steeped in balsamic vinegar. The palate is less attractive - a bit harsh and lacking structure. A bit too vegetal, with the fruit fading fast, so I guess it is just too old.

2. Musar Jeune 2008
Cinsault, Syrah(?) and Cabernet. Black fruits, funky notes of volatile acidity (VA) and brett. Crystallised fruits, strawberries and cream. Spicy, full, fruity, quite tannic, but with nice acidity. A very decent quaffer.

3. Hochar Pere et Fils 2003
Mostly Cinsault and Cabernet, with some Carignan and Grenache. Smells warm and very ripe, with notes of VA and polished wood. Red fruits, lemon/orange peel and herbs. Light and elegant in the mouth, but with plenty of baked fruit and no harsh tannins. Decent acidity and nice length. Finishes warm and spicy, like a proper Musar from a "light" vintage.

4. Chateau Musar 2002
Orange peel, herbs and spice, old wardrobes and red fruits. Fruity, spicy, light and elegant. An attractive hint of greenness, without feeling underripe. Nice wine, with plenty of room for development.

5. Chateau Musar 2001
Smells sweet, but not funky - and actually with little in the way of VA. Elegant aromas and flavours of redcurrant and strawberry and crystallised fruits. The palate is amazingly clean and elegant, almost like a fine, aged Bordeaux, or even Burgundy. In fact, it is quite atypical for Musar, but very lovely and very balanced.

6. Chateau Musar 1999
Another very elegant nose, with sweet fruit aromas, cigar box/cedar and hints of savoury/meat stock. The palate is rich and fruity, and nicely spicy, with great poise. Classic Musar baked fruit - cassis, cherry and raspberry by the bucketload. Some nice notes of citrus and toffee add further complexity. It is rich, yet elegant, and so lovely - shades of a fine Chateauneuf (Clos des Papes, for instance) or even Burgundy.

7. Chateau Musar 1998
Somebody mentioned barbeque sauce - and there is a bit of that here, along with notes of beetroot, citrus and a touch of VA. The palate is lovely - citrus and spice, wild strawberries and fermenting bramble fruits. Warm and spicy, polished wood and leather. Long and spicy and very attractive.

8. Chateau Musar 1997
Another really lovely nose of VA and red fruits. The palate is quite warm - even a touch alcoholic - and the fruit seems (for the moment, at least) to be a bit lacking. Perhaps this is in a closed phase, with the nose showing more elegance than the palate. Nevertheless, it is identifiably Musar, and therefore a nice drink!

9. Chateau Musar 1994
What a lovely nose! This has sweet red and black fruits galore, with hints of meat and leather and a healthy dose of VA - the quintessential Musar! The palate is equally lovely ,with bags of fruit, soft tannins, and really nice acidity (and VA). This is the second time I've used the Burgundy comparison, but - for me - this wine definitely has that feel, in the way it combines sweet fruit and subtle elegance. A lovely wine, though some preferred..........

10. Chateau Musar 1993
This one, on the other hand, smells like a perfectly aged Bordeaux, with the Cabernet dominating. Aromas of cassis and cigar box/cedar, leather and gravy. The palate is rich with fruit - even dense - but still exudes elegance and charm. And, whilst the 1994 is lovely, this one is indeed a better and more complete wine. It simply caresses the palate with its velvety softness, yet there is huge complexity and immense depth (and length) of flavour. A fabulous wine.

11. Chateau Musar 1991
This is a case of "After the Lord Mayor's Show" - or, for non-British readers who haven't a clue what I'm talking about - a big disappointment after the preceding two wines. I have enjoyed several bottles of the (very highly-rated) 1991, ranging from good to sublime, but this wasn't one of them. And a bottle consumed at a dinner a few weeks ago was good, if unspectacular. Which begs the question, have I/we been unlucky with those two in a row, or is the 1991 fading fast? I hope it is the former, because I still have a couple of bottles left. This wasn't a bd wine (or even any more "faulty" than your average Musar), but it just didn't have any kind of "Wow factor".

12. Chateau Musar 1990
On the other hand, this is far superior to a particularly stinky/oxidised bottle of 1990 we drank at the same dinner recently. It still smells quite old, but isn't falling apart or dirty. It has plenty of crystallised fruit flavours, but is ultimately a bit short and simple.

13. Chateau Musar 1983
A jammy, rich fruitcake nose. Earthy, almost flinty and smoky, with some meaty nuances. It is sweet on the palate. Some think it is oxidised and past it, whilst I think it is rather attractive - but then again, I love these old wines which, for all their faults, still exhibit some real fruit qualities. In fact, I don't think it has reached the end of the line yet.

14. Chateau Musar 1981
This, on the other hand, is bang on the money and still full of vibrant life. What a truly elegant nose! And, for the first time in this tasting, we were comparing it to a fine northern Rhone wine. There is a bit of VA, but but lots of fine fruit, savoury and spice, with complex notes of balsamic vinegar, preserved fruits, bacon and lilies. And the palate certainly lives up to the promise, combining density with elegance. At 29 years of age, the flavours are edging towards the tertiary, but there is still more than enough fruit to keep you interested, with fully resolved tannins and fabulous balancing acidity. It is very together, very sexy and very lovely. This vintage of Musar (along with the 1979 and 1980) was amongst my first real "Road to Damascus" experiences, when I first started to buy serious wines. It demonstrated to me, in the most glorious way, that wine can - indeed should - be so much more than a mere beverage. It was a great wine then, and I am thrilled to find that, a good 20+ years after I first enjoyed it, it is still a great wine. Utterly fabulous, and worth the £10 admission fee on its own!

15. Chateau Musar 1980
This one hasn't fared so well, unfortunately. It is a touch cabbagey and mushroomy - just a bit old and oxidised. There is still some soft, almost sweet fruit and some trademark VA, but it also seems a touch madeirised and tired. That said, it is still quite attractive, but has far less interest than the 1981, and suffers in comparison.

16. Chateau Musar 1978
Smells a bit like a really fine old Chateauneuf du Pape. It is floral and fruity, with notes of beef stock and polished wood. And the palate shows a glorious array of fruit, spice, savoury and earthy flavours. It is soft, superbly balanced and beautifully elegant, in a quintessentially Musar sort of way. In fact, if Oz Clarke never saw "fragrant delicacy" in Musar, he wasn't drinking anything old enough! This is a lovely old dame of a wine, and a fine way to finish a fabulous tasting.

Overall (and with only a couple of exceptions) these wines ranged from very good to sublime, and all points inbetween, and we experienced all of the glories and all of the quirks of Chateau Musar in equal measure. For me, the wine of the night was the 1981, followed closely by the 1978 and 1993. Amongst the "older" wines, the 1994 also deserves a mention, whilst amongst the "younger" wines, 1998, 1999 and 2001 show great promise.

Thanks Doug, David and CY for your unceasing generosity - and please let's do it all again sometime!
      

Another wonderful evening of music - Mary Chapin Carpenter at the Derby Assembly Rooms

For one reason or another, I don't get to anywhere near as many live gigs as I would like to, these days. But in the last few weeks, I have been lucky enough to see no less than 3 of my favourite artists play live. In September, it was Wilco, in my opinion the best rock and roll band in the world. In October, it was Beth Nielsen Chapman, one of the great singer-songwriters of her generation. And last night, it was Mary Chapin Carpenter - in every respect, the equal of Beth, and an artist whose albums I have been buying for almost 20 years. No less than 5 Grammy Awards (from a total of 15 nominations) is testament to just what a great artist Mary Chapin Carpenter is, and a string of wonderful albums form an important - and oft played - part of my CD collection. Mary doesn't tour that often, and this was actually my first time seeing her perform live - but it was certainly worth the wait. She walked on and began the first song alone on her guitar, with each member of her band joining her, one-by-one, as the song built to a finish. And then we were treated to an hour and three quarters of pure joy, as she played a mix of songs from her latest album, The Age Of Miracles, and some of the gems from her back catalogue (I Feel Lucky, Shut Up And Kiss Me, He Thinks He'll Keep Her, Stones In The Road, Passionate Kisses, to name but a few).

There are artists who play their music, but do little else to communicate with their audience (Bob Dylan springs to mind!). And then there are artists who play, but also talk to their audience, form a bond with them. Ones that spring immediately to mind are Bruce Springsteen and Nanci Griffith, whose performances are liberally sprinkled with anecdotes and stories behind the songs. But even they never connected with an audience in quite the same way that Mary Chapin Carpenter seemed to do last night. She spoke eloquently and elegantly, in a semi-hushed voice (no doubt hindered on this occasion by a cold) and held the audience in the palm of her hand - I really did feel she was speaking to me. She talked about her experiences of travelling around the UK - she swore she'd seen both Heathcliffe and Colonel Brandon up on the moors on her journey between Buxton and Derby(!) She talked about her home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, writing during the day and enjoying restful contemplation in the evenings, her 6 dogs and 4 cats and how she misses them when on tour, her worries about the current elections in the USA. Serotonin was mentioned (I don't recall why, but if you don't know what it is, look it up on Wikipedia) and Mary said the word always reminded her of Sarah Palin. Clearly, the very mention of that name does anything but give Mary a good feeling in her body - in fact, what she said cannot really be repeated here. But it was very funny!

One of the highlights of the show was a song called Mrs. Hemingway, which Mary explained was written about Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson, and the happy times the couple spent in Paris, before he fell in love with her best friend. The version on the latest album is beautiful, but the story and the way she sang the song last night added new meaning - it was beautifully moving. If you want to hear the song, it is available to listen to on last.fm (or Spotify, if you have it). You can read more about the story behind the song (and The Age Of Miracles album) on the CMT website. You can also learn more from the Mary Chapin Carpenter website.

I should also mention her band, two of whom - guitarist John Jennings and piano/keyboard player Jon Carroll - have been with her for nigh-on 30 years. I have seen some great backing bands in my time (for example, the aforementioned Buce Springsteen's E-Street Band, or Brian Wilson's current band) but I've never seen a better, tighter or more self-assured one than this. It was musicianship of the very highest order, with fantastic arrangements and not a bum note in sight.

What a band! Vinnie Santoro on drums, John Jennings and  Jim Henry on guitars,

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Don Dixon on bass and Jon Carroll on piano and keyboards

The opening act is also certainly worthy of mention - Tift Merritt is a talented singer, songwriter, guitarist and piano player in her own right. In fact, she has already had a good deal of success, with several albums and even a hit record or two.

Tift Merritt

All-in-all, this was a wonderful night and one I will remember for a very long time. I hope Mary Chapin Carpenter doesn't leave it too long before returning to these shores to tour again. If you don't know Mary's music, then I urge you to check it out. Meanwhile, here's a taster from YouTube, with Mary performing one her of best-known songs (although this one was written by another great American singer-songwriter, Lucinda Williams);

          

The Hotel Piesporter Goldtröpfchen and the wines of Kurt Hain

I can't believe it is just a month since TLD and I returned from our short break in the Mosel Valley - it all seems like a distant (but lovely) memory now. Furthermore, I can't believe that it has taken me this long to share some of my impressions about the country, the region, the scenery, the people, the food and (very importantly) the wines. And although we only actually visited 2 wine growers for tastings, they both turned out to make wines of a very high standard indeed. Actually, one of these visits wasn't really a "visit" at all, since the Kurt Hain winery is situated underneath the Hotel Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, which (rather conveniently!) happened to be our base for the duration of our stay. Indeed, the hotel is owned by the Hain family - current winemaker Gernot Hain looks after the wines side of things, whilst his wife Susanne runs the hotel.

The hotel is situated in the old part of Piesport (the newer part is on the other side of the river), which sits snugly between the north bank of the Mosel and the magnificent amphitheatre of the Piesporter Goldtröpfchen vineyard. It isn't hard to find, since there is really just one road, with the hotel, a church and a few houses dotted along the riverbank. It really is a lovely, peaceful setting.
  

Old Piesport, viewed from the main town on the opposite side of the River Mosel -

- the hotel is between the bridge and the church

And the hotel itself really is rather lovely, too, offering an extremely comfortable level of accommodation. Our room was really spacious and airy and had a delightful view over the river, with patio doors and small balconies, from which to view the vineyards behind.

The Hotel Piesporter Goldtröpfchen

A room with a view - and so comfortable, too

Breakfast was served in the main restaurant area, with a variety of breads, charcuterie, cheese, conserves, cereals, boiled eggs and unlimited fruit juices, tea and coffee. One never need go hungry! 

A hearty breakfast - enough to see us through until dinner

Our total bill for 4 nights bed and breakfast came to just 280 Euros - which has to be a cracking bargain, in anybody's book. We'll certainly go back there one day (hopefully sooner rather than later) and I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone looking for a base from which to tour the Middle Mosel region. Full details of both the hotel and the winery can be found on the Hain website.

So....what of the wines? Well, I have to say that they turned out to be every bit as good as I expected. The Hain family has been growing wine since 1600, and today has holdings in Piesport’s top sites of Goldtropfchen and Domherr, with a total of around 5 hectares under vine, producing approximately 35,000 bottles a year. Gernot Hain began managing the estate in 1988, and no less an authority than Hugh Johnson has described him as “one of the most talented young wine producers on the Mosel.” A little Rivaner, Weißer Burgunder (Pinot Blanc) and Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) is grown here, but most of the vineyards are given over to what I personally consider to be the greatest white grape variety of them all - Riesling. And Riesling is what we concentrated on for our tasting. All of the wines are vinified in a traditional manner, using mostly very old oak foudres, plus some stainless steel tanks. These are wines of substance, well-structured, with fine fruit and mineral tones and great aging potential. Because there were so many wines on offer (getting on for 50, in all) we stuck with the traditional fruity (or "fruchtige") versions, rather than the increasingly fashionable trocken and feinherb wines, which I personally find less attractive.

Here are my notes - some of them just brief impressions jotted down in the Hain cave, others a bit more in-depth from a recent tasting session at the Nottingham Wine Circle.

Hain Weißer Burgunder 2009

This was dry, but nevertheless quite rich and full, with good structure and subtle oak-ageing. Could turn out very interesting.

Hain Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett 2009
We enjoyed 2 or 3 bottles of this during our stay and I could never tire of it. Limes and wet slate on the nose, with a touch of herbaceousness - even herbiness - including aromas of nettles and cut grass, even fresh peas. Oh, and loads of fruit, with apple, lime and mandarin orange. It is fairly rich for a Kabinett, almost like a Spätlese, with flavours of mandarin and lime and a touch of honeyed richness and oiliness, all held together with truly mouth-watering acidity and a taut, mineral streak. Delicious, long and lovely. 

Hain Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett 2007
This is softer and mellower than the 2009, with the acidity softening, yet still oh-so fruity and delicious.

Hain Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese No.12 2006
This is markedly different to the 2009's, in that it is rich and intense - almost painfully so, when first opened - with lime, lemon, stone fruit and mineral aromas, with a faint but definite whiff of trademark diesel/petrol. The palate is incredibly intense, almost super-charged, with essence of citrus, mango and crystallised fruits, allied to zingy acidity and strong minerality. There's a definite hint of botrytis, too, which adds a rich, honeyed quality. This is many years from being "ready", but shows fantastic promise for the future - and actually softens out nicely over a couple of days after opening. A stunner.

 

Hain Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese No.12 2005
This is possibly even more mineral than the 2006, yet lighter on its feet and more approachable. Slatey, lemony fruit, with floral notes and no noticeable botrytis. This is one to drink now, whilst the 2006 matures. Long and lovely.

Hain Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese No.12 Rotschiefer 2009
Intense aromas of grape and mandarin, with loads of mouth-watering acidity to complement the residual sugar. Clean, pure, focused and delicious.

Hain Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese No.13 Grauschiefer 2009
There's a touch of sulphur on the nose, at present, but not enough to mask the intense mineral, lemon and lime aromas, with hints of white pepper, cloves and flowers. The palate shows intense lime and peach flavours, dessert apples and spice. For all its lush sweetness and huge core of ripe fruit, it is incredibly focused, with laser-like acidity. Balanced, poised and very long. Fabulous stuff.

Hain Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese Felsterrassen 2009
Another intense wine. The nose has stone/slate, with an array of fruit aromas including (but not limited to) lemon zest, peach, apricot and mango, along with an interesting toffee/fudge note. And what a palate - the flavours of oranges, apricots and grapes are so rich, so intense, so concentrated, yet once again this is a wine that is so focused and zingy with its backbone of minerality and acidity. It is just this sort of contrariness that  I love in fine Riesling - how can a wine be so luscious and seemingly sweet, yet so utterly bracing, juicy and mouth-watering? Is it worth 2 Euros more than the Rotshiefer and the Grauschiefer? I think it is. A brilliant, delectable wine, with a great future.

Contact details:
Weingut Kurt Hain, Am Domhof 5, 54498 Piesport
Tel: 06507-2442
Email: weingut-hain@t-online.de
Web: http://www.weingut-hain.de/en

Two more brilliant wines from Domaine de La Marfée

Those of you who follow my blog on a regular basis (or, indeed, buy my wines) will know that I am a huge fan of the wines of Domaine de La Marfée. I have posted notes on all of the 2007 wines elsewhere on this blog, and also wrote quite a lengthy article about biodynamic viticulture and natural wines, which featured very heavily on the biodynamic (though thankfully not "natural") practices employed by La Marfée winemaker Thierry Hasard. So it goes without saying that when I was offered a few cases of Les Champs Murmurés 2000 and 2001 (one of Thierry's top cuvées) by a previous importer - and at a decent price - I jumped at the chance. I'd enjoyed a bottle of the 2000 a couple of years back, so I knew how good it was, but the 2001 was more of a shot in the dark - and a very successful one. These days, this cuvée is made from Syrah and Mourvedre, but these earlier vintages also included a proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon - hence the Vin de Pays denomination. Here are my notes, from a bottle of each vintage, enjoyed over last weekend (and now available to buy on my website);

Domaine de La Marfée Les Champs Murmurés 2000 Vin de Pays de l'Hérault - £23.50

Although now 10 years old, this wine still looks remarkably young, exhibiting a fairly deep purple/red colour, and showing only slight signs of age on the narrow, raspberry-coloured rim. This wine contains a proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon (which the current wines do not) which means that it had to be labelled as a mere Vin de Pays. Nevertheless, as with the current crop of wines, the nose displays that trademark Marfée nose of crystallised red and black fruits, elderflower and blackcurrant leaf. There are also some savoury, earthy notes, mixed with exotic spices, old leather and cigar box. It really does have the whiff of a truly fine wine - in fact, the more you smell it, the more complex it gets. The palate is simply packed full of concentrated, ripe bramble and blackcurrant fruit, with some savoury, herby garrigue notes and grippy but fine, spicy tannins, offset by juicy acidity. The finish is dry, but laced with spicy, tangy, almost sweet and sour orange peel and black cherry flavours - and it is very long, too. The complexity of this wine is something to behold, and although it is lovely to drink now, I feel it has the stuffing (and the fruit) to age for at least another 5 years before it reaches its peak. It really is a fabulous wine, and does nothing to alter my opinion that Domaine de La Marfée is one of the Languedoc's finest estates - albeit still a very well-kept secret.

Domaine de La Marfée Les Champs Murmurés 2001 Vin de Pays de l'Hérault - £23.50

Like the 2000, this wine shows little sign of age, with the same dense, purple red core and narrow raspberry rim. And like the 2000, it displays that trademark Marfée nose of crystallised red and black fruits, elderflower and blackcurrant leaf, but this time with a hint of red meat, eau de vie and polished wood. If anything, it is even riper and more opulent, again with those beautifully savoury, earthy notes, exotic spice, old leather and cigar box, but with a pungency and sweetness of fruit typical of the classic (i.e. hot) 2001 vintage. It has a half degree more alcohol than the 2000, but the ripeness of the fruit and the spicy yet velvety tannins make it feel very balanced, despite a slightly lower level of acidity. The finish has a sweet and sour edge, with flavours of red cherry, raspberry and warming spice. Slightly more Chateauneuf in style than the full-on Languedoc style of the 2000, but a beautiful wine nevertheless. Oh, and the acidity actually get more pronounced with time in the glass, which only serves to heighten the experience. Another lovely wine, from a very (very) fine winemaker.

     

Domaine Tempier - still worthy of its reputation?

This week at the Nottingham Wine Circle, we were treated to a tasting of wines from the celebrated Bandol estate, Domaine Tempier. Three separate verticals of the estate's single-vineyard cuvées were on offer, kindly provided (and presented) by one of the Wine Circle's long-standing members, Edwin Wood - and all for the princely sum of just £15 per person!

• La Migoua is 50% Mourvedre, 20% Grenache, 26 to 28% Cinsault and 2 to 4% Syrah. The vines are, on average, about 30 years old.
• La Tourtine is 80% Mourvedre, 10% Grenache and 10% Cinsault. Vines average around 40 years old.
• Cabassou is 95% Mourvedre, 1% Cinsault and 4% Syrah. The vines average 50 years old.

All of the wines are aged for around 20 months in large, old oak casks, and the wines are neither fined nor filtered before bottling.

The line-up - that's a lot of Tempier!

My notes are all fairly brief, since the tasting was conducted at such a lightning pace (20 wines in a little over an hour and a half!) that it was hard for me to keep up with the wines and write tasting notes at the same time. Frankly, in my humble opinion, these wines deserve more than to be subjected to what amounted to a speed tasting. We began with a rather nicely aged rosé, before moving on to the reds.

1. Tempier Rosé 2000

Orange colour. Creamy. Rich and serious. Fruity, some tannin, dense and mouth-filling. Very nice

2. La Migoua 2004

Meaty farmyard nose. Crystallised fruits later. Lovely acidity.

3. La Migoua 2003

Dense and rich. Harsh tannins follow the fruit quite quickly and linger on the palate.

4. La Migoua 2001

Tobacco and cedar nose. Shows a touch of brett, but lots of fruit too. Dense and spicy palate - rich fruitcake flavours, bramble and raspberry. Very fine tannins. Long and warming. Superb.

5. La Migoua 2000

Bretty, blackcurranty, almost Claret-like nose. Tobacco. Bramble coming through and eau de vie. The palate also shows a lot of alcohol. Unbalanced and not that pleasant to drink.

6. La Migoua 1999

Bretty, tarry, cedar and bramble. Smells hot and tastes hot. Plenty of volatile acidity, but not enough fruit to cope with it. This too is unbalanced and hot. If you have some, drink up.

7. La Tourtine 2002

Lots of fruit on the nose. Floral, cherry, bramble and brett. Light and ultimately fairly simple.

8. La Tourtine 2000

A curious nose of tar and diesel. The palate is rich and spicy, tarry and herby and still quite tannic. Needs time but could be very good in 5-10 years.

9. La Tourtine 1999

Earthy and meaty. The palate is slightly warm and alcoholic. Flavours of cherry kernel, spices and Agnostura bitters. Not sure about this one. Was 1999 a difficult year?

10. La Tourtine 1998

This has a very sexy nose – tobacco, meat, fruit and iodine - very complex. The palate is velvety and sweet with soft tannins and ample acidity. Balanced, rich, long and lovely. The complete Bandol.

11. Cabassou 2005

Smells like new world Shiraz - mint and herbs, rich upfront fruit and lots of oak. The palate is super rich, with sweet fruit. Very soft, very drinkable and very modern – but not typical Bandol.

12. Cabassou 2004

This has a sweet, extracted, Chateauneuf-like nose - alcohol, sweet fruit and VA. The palate is rather lovely, in a Chateauneuf sort of way, but is undoubtedly big and rich, rather than elegant. Nice crystallised fruits and balsamic flavours, with ample acidity. I like this.

13. Cabassou 2001

Another Chateauneuf nose. Beef gravy, bramble and blackcurrant - like a Vieux Télegraph in style. The palate is again quite rich, but also quite hot and alcoholic – and very extracted. Needs 10 years or more to peak. It could be good, but that alcohol is very intrusive.

14. Cabassou 2000

Brett and iodine. tobacco and spice on the nose. The palate is lighter and slightly less alcoholic and consequently more elegant. Quite Claret-like in structure with plenty of tannin and acidity, tar and even a hint of greenness. This is ultimately quite austere and tough and I am not sure it will age well.

15. Cabassou 1998

This is more like it. High-toned, with aromas of herby garrigue, polished leather and savouriness. The palate is rich, but with a lot of complexity. Fruit, iodine, cloves, tar, spices, orange peel. Still warm, but complex and almost elegant in a big sort of way. It has years left in it.

16. Cabassou 1997

Sweet nose of fruit pastilles and new leather. The palate is soft and rich and elegant but still with some unresolved tannins. This needs a few years to show its best.

17. Cabassou 1995

Unfortunately, this was corked.

18. Cabassou 1994

Chateuneuf again – meaty, leathery, crystallised fruits and garrigue herbs. The palate has some sweet fruit but also some very stalky tannins. Not a great wine - drink up.

19. Cabassou 1992

A nose of iodine, emulsion paint, leather and pencil shavings. The palate has some lovely fresh black and red fruits, but the acidity is on the low side - and the alcohol is very definitely on the high side. Ultimately, it is an OK wine, but too hot for its own good.

We finished with a delicious old wine, which I believe was made from 100% Cinsault, from the La Louffe vineyard, the grapes from which are now incorporated into the Cabassou blend;

20. Cuvee Special La Louffe 1987

Smells old and fully evolved but with lots of interest. Sweet fruit and leather, raspberry vinegar and pickled beetroot - a lot nicer than it sounds! Flavours of soft, sweet fruit, with hints of herbs and VA. Finishes dry and savoury. A lovely old dame of a wine.

This was a tasting that many of us were very much looking forward to, and it was indeed very educational, with a fairly clear distinction between the three different cuvées. Unfortunately, though, there appears to be a clear distinction in quality and style, between the wines from around 2001 onwards and the preceding vintages - no doubt due to the change of winemaker/winemaking at around the same time (you can read more about the history of the estate here). And clearly the pre-2001 wines seem better and more balanced. Which begs the question, has Tempier lost its way? I guess it is too early to tell, but the later wines do not bode well for the future, in my opinion.

    

A real pick-me-up - another fabulous Mosel Riesling

Kurt Hain Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Kabinett 2009 Mosel-Saar-Ruwer

I opened this a couple of nights ago, but thankfully (and quite amazingly) there was still a generous glassful left in the bottle, nicely chilled, when I arrived home from the weekly tasting at the Nottingham Wine Circle. Which is just as well, because this wine was just what the doctor ordered, following what I can only describe as a speed tasting of Domaine Tempier Bandols. No less than 20 wines were tasted in just over an hour and a half - and not all of them as good as one might hope, I might add. I will publish my notes on those wines in the next day or two. Meanwhile...........

This gorgeous Riesling has pungent aromas of apricot, lime and apple, with definite notes of cinnamon and clove. The effect is a bit like piercing the pastry on an apple pie, fresh from the oven. It also displays some nice floral and herbaceous notes - how is it possible to encounter so many wonderful aromas in a single wine?! The flavours are equally as intense, concentrated and really quite rich, with palate-coating flavours of lime oil, nectarine and dessert apples, the sweetness of which is offset by spine-tingling acidity, slatey minerality and a refreshing spritz (courtesy of some residual CO2) and again a distinct, though gentle spiciness. The intensity of the fruit is more akin to a Spätlese (i.e. late picked) than a mere Kabinett, but I guess that is the beauty of the 2009 vintage in the Mosel - the Kabinetts are more like Spätlesen, and the Spätlesen are more like Auslesen. In other words, you get more bang for your buck in this vintage. Not that I'm about to complain, because every 2009 Mosel Riesling I have tasted - from the basic QbA Estate wines right up to the single vineyard QmP Auslesen - has been stunning. And this is one of the best of them - it is utterly, utterly gorgeous, and a true bargain at just 6.50 Euros from the cellar door. I'm glad I have a few more (not to mention several other wines from this estate's 2009 offerings). If I ever decide to import from Germany (and I may well do so, sooner or later) the wines of Kurt Hain will almost certainly figure in my plans.

Incidentally, a friend who has far more experience of German Riesling than I do suggests that the 2009's aren't ready to drink yet and should be left for at least a few months (if not years) before drinking. I sort of know what he means, because the wines are in their very first flush of youth and need a little while to settle down and begin their long evolution. But to my mind, they are so delicious right now, they are extremely hard to resist. That said, I will do my very best to keep some for at least a few years (especially the Spätlesen and Auslesen) because great Riesling ages beautifully - and 2009 was undoubtedly a great year in the Mosel.

     

An evening with Beth Nielsen Chapman

I first discovered the music of Beth Nielsen Chapman in 1997, after the release of her third album "Sand And Water". The title track, plus one or two other songs from the album, were getting lots of air play on Radio 2, mostly via Terry Wogan and Bob Harris. Beth had lost her husband Ernest to cancer in 1994, which rendered the content of the album (much of which had actually been written prior to that time) even more poignant than it might otherwise have been. I was totally blown away by it, in every way imaginable. Musically, lyrically and melodically, it was packed full of achingly beautiful songs - some sad, some happy, but each one very uplifting in its own way. 

The release of Sand And Water was all part of a long healing process for Beth, and subsequent albums have continued the trend. Not that things have always been plain sailing for her since then - her own battle with breast cancer in 2000, plus the removal of a (thankfully non-malignant) brain tumour in 2009 means that she has been dealt more than her fair share of setbacks in life. But those setbacks seems only to spur her on to keep producing music of the very highest order. Beth isn't prolific - at least in terms of her own album releases, of which there have been eight, plus a "greatest hits" compilation since 1990 - but there is not one song on any of them that isn't a worthy one. She also writes songs for other artisists (perhaps the best-known being "This Kiss" by Faith Hill and "Strong Enough To Bend" by Tanya Tucker).

But it is as an artist and live performer in her own right that Beth Nielsen Chapman excels. She has a very loyal (and growing) following in the UK and tours regularly these days. I first saw her perform live at an intimate little venue in Nottingham that holds barely more than 200 people. It was a truly magical evening that I will remember for a very long time - and I got to meet her afterwards! That was in 2004, and I have been lucky enough to see her perform a further three times, the most recent of which was last Friday at the Warwick Arts Centre. This time, she was accompanied by her trusty old friend Maartin Allcock (formerly of Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull) on bass, plus two delightful young Irish ladies whom Beth had discovered via one of her songwriting workshops; Eilidh Patterson (pronounced "I-Lee"), on guitars and harmony vocals and Ruth Trimble on piano, keyboards, bass and harmony vocals. And I'll tell you what - those two ladies between them have more talent than all of the so-called "talent" discovered in umpteen series of X Factor. They were brilliant, and I wouldn't be surprised to see both of them go on to have very successful solo careers as singer-songwriters. In fact, Beth gave them their own mini set in the middle of the performance and I was so impressed, I bought both of their CD's after the show - and I got to meet them, too (as well as Beth, once again)!

Yours truly, with the lovely and very talented Eilidh Patterson after the show

......and with the equally lovely and talented Ruth Trimble

.....and with the amazing Beth Nielsen Chapman

I'm not a music reviewer, so I won't go into detail about the show itself, other than to say that Beth was on top form and performed many of her best-known songs, plus a good number of songs from her latest album, "Back To Love", in a set that lasted two hours. All-in-all, it was a great night. If you want to know more about Beth Nielsen Chapman, check out her website. You can also hear some of the songs from the latest album on the music page. In an ideal world, she would be a very (very) big star. But in the real world, Beth Nielsen Chapman remains a well-kept secret amonst her loyal legion of fans.