The Boys from Brazil: Wine in the Vale dos Vinhedos

Bento Gonçalves, a city of 105,000 people, is the Bordeaux or Napa of southern Brazil. In September I spent a week here exploring the liquid delights of the surrounding Vale dos Vinhedos (Wine Valley), a sub zone of the Serra Gaúcha wine region that produces “fine wine” (as opposed to inexpensive “bulk wine”).

SDG at the XVII Avaliação Nacional de Vinhos, giving a tasting note to 700 people.

The generic body Wines from Brazil is having a major push on exports, so a motley crew of European hacks, including yours truly, was assembled to learn more about Serra Gaúcha.

Wine production here began in the 1870s with the arrival of German and Italian migrants, whose influence is still very apparent in the food and language of the area.

There are 31 wine producing businesses in total, mainly small in size (producing less than 50,000 litres per year). Total production is up to 12 million bottles of “fine wine” per year from a viticultural area of just over 2,000 ha, accounting for 90 percent of all Brazilian wine.

Climate

The journey up into the Vale dos Vinhedos is memorable for the lush greenery of the landscape, with brightly coloured houses scattered across the hills like balls on a snooker table. Power lines creep across the valleys like a south Brazilian parody of cable cars.

Located at parallel 29°, Serra Gaúcha has an average winter temperature of 12°C. In the summer, temperatures average 22°C, much cooler than in the north.

The humidity caused by high rainfall means that spraying is essential.

Soil

Hotel & Spa do Vinho Caudalie, surrounded by vineyards near Bento Gonçalves.

The lush landscape implies very fertile soils, which, because they encourage excessive vegetation (according to Richard Smart), are not always the best for growing grapes for quality wine.

The prevailing soil type is argillaceous, with plenty of clay. This suits Merlot well, of course, and also tempers the acidity promoted by the region’s high altitude. Bento Gonçalves is at 690 metres above sea level, though vineyards in the Vale dos Vinhedos tend to be a bit less than that.

Viticulture

Traditional pergola vines are still widespread but for the production of “fine wine” trellising is essential, not least to impress visiting wine hacks. Pergola used to give a yield of 40 tons/ha. On average, trellised vines yield ten tons/ha.

Vinifera rather than hybrid vines are now universal for “fine wines.”

Most estates claim to use espalier trellising, though some of them looked more like guyot.

Mechanical harvesting is difficult in Serra Gaúcha because of the undulating landscape.

Brazilian waxing

It goes without saying that the hospitality shown to my fellow travellers and me was extraordinarily generous. The joie de vivre of Brazilians is infectious. I am grateful to Wines of Brazil and all the producers cited below for the opportunity to visit them and to taste their wines.

I have noted winery and vineyard details when the estate has actually been visited. Sometimes we were shown an estate’s portfolio over dinner at a restaurant and such details were not available. They can of course be found on the relevant websites but I would rather research and write than recycle and write…

Panizzon

Ana Paula Panizzon

The lovely Ana Paula Panizzon hosted a tasting of her wines at the Trattoria Primo Camillo in a handsome old building at Garibaldi, a small town south of Bento Gonçalves. The enormous “Champagne” bottle at the entrance to the town is indicative of its vocation for sparkling wines.

Panizzon was established in 1960 and, as is often the case in Brazil, in addition to its wines also produces grape juice, cider, vinegar, hot drinks and so on.

Chardonnay Brut NV

There is 20 percent Riesling in this Chardonnay (!), which would mean declaring it as such for EU export markets. Charmat method. Persistent but not aggressive mousse. Soft and creamy, with a hint of marzipan. More grapey on the palate. Dry and plenty of acidity.

Rosé Brut NV

Charmat method. Pale salmon pink. Soft red fruit aromas. Simple, though it has a similarly pleasing texture to the Chardonnay.

Moscatel NV

Asti method. Simple and grapey, but not too sweet or cloying (70–80g/ltr sugar, we were told). Frothy. An enjoyable dessert wine. Drunk with Primo Camillo’s pièce de resistance (or should that be coup de grace?) ice cream and chocolate sauce on pizza.

www.panizzon.com.br

Don Guerino

The winding pothole-filled road that leads to the winery gives little clue to the investments made here.

The Don Guerino winery

The Motter family originally came from Trentino, hence the Italian habits but German surname. They built a new winery in 2001 at Alto Feliz in the eastern-most part of Serra Gaúcha, 40km southeast of Bento Gonçalves where the vineyards receive cooling sea breezes that encourage acidity in the grapes. It sits at 500 metres above sea level, surrounded by 50ha of vineyards on argillaceous soils that bathe in sunshine during the summer months.

It is challenging to clear land for vineyards here, they explained—the forest dominates everything. And of course there is also the cost of purchasing land. Typically one hectare would cost R$20,000, equivalent to about £7,000. So the vineyard here entailed an investment somewhere in the region of £350,000. By comparison, land in Bordeaux for basic AC Bordeaux grapes costs a minimum €18,000/£16,115.

Probably the winery cost a similar amount. The Motters have made a big investment, with much of that money coming from their well-established fruit juice business. They intend eventually to produce 500,000 bottles of wine per year.

Brut Champenoise 2007

Some toastiness at first, then a bit cheesy. More autolytic character with aeration. Dry and quite fat.

Brut Prosecco 2008

Soft, creamy and frothy. Simple and just about dry—13g/ltr. Some acetate on the nose.

Moscatel 2009

Very pale colour. Sweet and frothy, like lemonade. 60g/ltr sugar but not cloying.

Victoria Chardonnay 2008

Buttery nose, à la Macon. Clean, simple, quite fat but with good length. No barrels but chips were used during fermentation. A 2009 tank sample of this wine made in the same method was far more marked by oak.

Emma Rosé 2008

Named after the family’s 84-year old grandmother. Slightly bitter finish and rather tart. With aeration, quite oxidised.

Reserva Tannat 2005

Tar, leather and spice on the nose, but also a bit oxidised. Probably this was brutally tannic when young so ageing was necessary to tame them but in the process it has lost freshness. A bag-in-a-box Tannat was also tasted—no oak, simple and fruity, though again a bit oxidised.

Gran Reserva Teroldego 2007

Now here’s something interesting… A Trentino variety that I have not tasted from elsewhere before. The palate is supple and juicy, so it is a pity that the bright fruit flavours have been overwhelmed by oak.

Gran Reserva Ancellotta 2007

Another Trentino varietal. Very similar to the Teroldego, a nice structure but too much oak.

www.donguerino.com.br

Vinhos Boscato

The very Italian-sounding town of Nova Pádua is characterful, with villas painted as brightly as a Giotto fresco. The dramatic orange hues of sunset across the hills of the Rio das Antas valley are a wonderful sight, especially after a hard day’s wine tasting.

Vinhos Boscato

Here, 800 metres above sea level and 70km from Bento Gonçalves, lies the Boscato estate.

Sitting atop the slopes, the vineyards are relatively flat and have been planted at a not very dense 4,000 vines per hectare to allow machinery, though harvesting is done by hand. Total production is only 45,000 bottles per year, mostly sold domestically but some is exported to Germany and the USA.

There is a “weather” station here that records humidity levels and so on. The data is transmitted to a computer at the winery every 15 minutes and then appropriate action is (or is not) taken.

The Chardonnay vines were already budding though Ancellotta and Cabernet Sauvignon had not yet budded.

Atypically, Boscato does not make sparkling wines, only “fine wines.” And these are all monovarietal.

There is also a wine school and restaurant attached to the winery.

Reserva Gewurztraminer 2009

Excellent varietal character, Turkish Delight and so on. One-third was fermented in oak and this shows a bit on the finish. Made in quite a powerful style, à la Alsace. Good wine.

Gran Reserva Merlot 2005

A bit stewed on the nose, with some liquorice and cinnamon. Fleshy palate, finishing sweet and juicy. Nearly 2.5 g/ltr sugar here, which shows on the finish… Drink now to 2012.

Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Sweeter fruit on the finish than the Merlot—not sugar but brighter and fresher. Fleshy again. Better acidity than the Merlot.

Reserva Chardonnay 2008

Simple and perfectly drinkable. Just slightly oxidative.

Cabernet Sauvignon Sofia 2005

“Cooler” nose than the previous red wines, with less of the sweet fruit. Rustic tannins. Good food wine.

Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Much sweeter than the 2005, with a chewy finish.

www.boscato.com.br

Casa Valduga

This smart estate, with accommodation and excellent restaurants as well as projects in Argentina, Chile and Portugal, showed its wines to us over an extravagant dinner of Gigas oysters prepared by Jaime Barcelos of Ostradamus restaurant in Florianopolis.

Casa Valduga

The wines generally had civilised alcohol levels of 12.5–13 percent and showed good, fresh fruit.

I visited by myself a few days later. Valduga produces 1 million litres of wine per year, half of which is sparkling. It began to export in 2002 but has not yet ventured successfully into the UK.

The 200-metre long “Champagne cellar” has a 6-million bottle capacity though it will not be full for at least 20 years.

All this has been self-funded, I was told. The restaurants and accommodation are excellent but the bumpy road has not yet been finished…

Espumante 130 Brut NV

Named in honour of 130 years of Italian immigration to Brazil and blended from the 2003, 2004 and 2005 vintages. Two years on the lees. Very persistent mousse, fresh and fruity. Not quite as bright on the palate, which is more leesy than the nose. 8g/ltr dosage. Fairly simple.

Gran Reserva Extra Brut 2002

Noticeably deeper in colour. Toasty and very Champagne-like. 4g/ltr. Good.

Nature 2002

Colour as before. Persistent mousse but not quite as fine as for the Gran Reserva. Fresher and less toasty on the nose, though the palate is toastier and the finish is unsurprisingly rather austere. A spoonful of sugar makes the Gran Reserva just that bit more charming.

Premium Chardonnay 2008

Unoaked but with interesting flavours—a hint of toast. Warm finish. Drink now.

Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Nice texture, with bright fruit not overwhelmed by oak. More savoury and “cool” on the palate than the nose. Age to 2012 for more interest?

Premium Brut 2006

Served with fresh oysters. The wine was a bit too heavy and fat for the food.

Then oysters with mango, apple and Brie, a rich dish that better suited the wine.

Premium Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Oysters with garlic and oil and bread with almonds

The wine was a bit smoky and went well with the very tasty bread.

Premium Blush 2006

Oysters in balsamic cream

A superb balsamic, intense and thick. But just too much for this or any other sparkling wine.

Oysters in ginger and honey flamed in cognac

A good match, the wine picking up the ginger.

Gran Reserva Chardonnay 2009

Shrimp risotto

A very good dish but the wine was too oaky for this. The Sauvignon was a better match.

Premium Cabernet Franc 2006

Octopus with smoked almonds and oysters, together with mini corn, mushrooms and almonds

A very typical Brazilian dish, smoked heavily, or at least too heavily for European palates. The smoke absorbed the oak of the wine but also most of the fruit. A better match with the Chardonnay.

Premium Moscatel 2009

Pumpkin with coconut and orange sauce

A very sweet pud. The fizzy Moscatel was probably a bit too simple and grapey for this—it needed something a bit richer.

www.casavalduga.com.br

Don Laurindo

This tiny 15ha estate was established in 1887 by the grandfather of the current owner, the delightful Ademir Brandelli. Like so many other long-established businesses in the Vale dos Vinhedos, Laurindo originally sold grapes to wine-producing estates. The vineyards were all Vitis Labrusca but have since been replanted to Vinifera. Yields have also been tamed from 30,000kg/ha to a more discreet 8,000.

At Restaurante Sbornea’s with Ademir Brandelli

Some wine is already exported to Mexico, the USA and the Czech Republic, all sold direct by phone or Internet without any agents.

Ademir claims that the first Malbec in this region was imported by Laurindo from Argentina.

Ademir is not as averse to oak as Lidio Carrarro (see below) but he dislikes it in excess: “Caffe, caffe, caffe!”

Brut Methode Traditionelle Reserva 2006

Seventy percent Chardonnay with 30 percent Riesling Classico. Toasty nose (eight months on the lees) and quite full on the mid-palate, though the finish is not as full. Tasty, with a nice texture. More leesy with aeration. Drink now.

Ancellotta Reserva 2006

Garnet colour. Tobacco and leather on the nose. Good acidity, with chewy tannins on the finish. Rustic and characterful. Drink now to 2012.

Assemblage Reserva 2005

Forty percent Merlot with 30 percent each of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Smoky nose. Not as much acidity as the Ancellotta, nor as tannic. Fresher and younger, even though it is a year older. Drink now.

Malbec Reserva 2006

Turning to garnet. Not as developed as the previous wines, though there is some smoke and leather. Very tannic on the finish but happily fruit rather than wood tannins. Drink now to 2012+.

Tannat Reserva 2005

Very deep colour. Dark, meaty nose. Tannic. High alcohol—13.8 percent.

Tannat Reserva 2008 (tank sample)

Not as reduced as the Merlot tank sample. Bright fruit, juicy middle and a chewy finish. Should be good.

Ancellotta Tannat Reserva 2005

Eight percent Tannat. Very deep colour. An extracted, modern style, wearing a lot of new oak makeup. Very tough and hard, with bitter flavours. Please stick to the “old” style!

www.donlaurindo.com.br

Vinícola Miolo

Just up the road from our accommodation at Hotel & Spa do Vinho Caudalie, Miolo is the slickest operation in the region. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, so visitors are asked to wear an apron and cap when visiting the winery.

Vinícola Miolo

It claims to be the largest producer of “fine wine” and Champagne-method fizz in Brazil.

Winemaker Arley Pereira is a Carioca, born and bred in Rio de Janeiro. He admits that he had to “adjust” to Serra Gaúcha’s climate, which is nowhere near as warm as further north.

In 2008 Miolo received 120,000 cellar door visitors. It also hosts one day wine courses.

Michel Rolland advises—as the colour of the red wines suggests…

Fortaleza do Seival Pinot Grigio 2009

From Campanha Gaucha vineyards near the border with Uruguay, 500km from Bento Goncalves, where altitude and rainfall are both lower and the average temperatures are higher. Typical Pinot Grigio character—pear aromas and a slightly bitter finish. Very correct and sleek.

Reserva Chardonnay 2009

Twenty percent in American oak for the malolactic, the rest in tanks. Soft, round, quite fat. Again very correct and sleek.

Brut Millesime 2006

An equal blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Persistent mousse. Fruity nose, more evocative of Chardonnay than Pinot. Nice balance and very well-made.

Rar Collezzione Pinot Noir 2008

From Campos de Cima de Serra vineyards at 1,000 metres altitude. Medium-plus colour. Oak rather than fruit on the nose. High alcohol (14 percent) and verging towards flabbiness on the finish. Rather lacking in Pinot character and finesse.

Gran Lovara 2006

Sixty five percent Merlot, 20 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 15 percent Tannat. Medium-plus purple. Some tobacco on the nose. Medium-body and supple texture, with a bit of tannin on the finish. With aeration, Bovril flavours emerged… Starting to lose freshness and oxidise. Drink up.

Quinta do Seival Casta Portuguesas 2005

From Campanha Gaúcha. A Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Alfrocheiro blend, the latter an obscure Dão variety. Turning to garnet at the rim. Supple texture, as before, but a bit more lively on the nose. Rustic and characterful. Drink now to 2012.

Merlot Terroir 2008

Ruby purple—très Rolland! Oak prevailing over the fruit at the moment, especially on the finish. Supple fruit and good length. Drink 2012–2015+?

Miolo Lote 43 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2005

Colour as before. Tobacco nose and some earthy Bordeaux-type character. Very skilfully made. Still very tannic and probably ageworthy. Drink 2012–2020+?

Ces Marias 2008

Again from Campanha Gaúcha, this has no less than ten different varietals in it. On Rolland’s advice, they were all barrel fermented… Opaque ruby-purple. Medium-body and velvety texture, with wood tannins on the finish. A showstopper that is meant to be “the best wine in Brazil.” Sold en primeur over the Internet.

www.miolo.com.br

Lidio Carraro

Established in 1998 and debuting on the market in 2004, this self-proclaimed “boutique winery” has a philosophy of “pure wine”, according to the pulchritudinous Patricia Carraro. No oak is used: “We are not against wood but we want to show we can have excellent results with purity.” Nor is there any filtering, micro-oxygenation or any other form of alchemy.

Lidio Carraro

The estate has two labels—SulBrasil and the “premium” Lidio Carraro range. The labels are essentially defined by their yields and the effects thereof—SulBrasil wines are cropped at 3kg per plant, Lidio Carraro at 1.4kg. So twice as much of the former is made than the latter. SulBrasil vineyards are planted on the usual argillaceous soils but the Carraro vineyards are mainly on granite.

SulBrasil Dádivas Chardonnay 2008

A hint of aldehydes on the nose (I must have been in a very stern mood today…). Quite closed, fatty. Some tropical fruits. With aeration, a hint of minerality emerged. Drink now.

SulBrasil Agnus Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Bright and fruity, if a little jammy at first. Medium-bodied and juicy, with some grip on the finish. Not bad. Drink now to 2012.

SulBrasil Dádivas Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

More complexity on the nose than the Agnus. Plumper with the addition of Merlot and more grip on the finish. Juicy texture again. Drink now to 2012.

Lidio Carraro Elos Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec 2007

80 percent Cabernet, 20 percent Malbec. Fuller, richer and more structured than the previous red wines. A hint of jammy Cabernet on the nose, as per the Agnus.

Lidio Carraro Elos 2008 (tank sample)

A completely different blend—77 percent Touriga Nacional with 23 percent Tannat. Nice, supple texture and dark, rustic flavours.

Lidio Carraro Merlot Grande Vindima 2005

Tobacco nose, à la good Bordeaux. Supple and juicy, with earthy flavours beneath the sweet fruit. Slightly rustic tannins and the 14.2 percent alcohol shows. Otherwise good.

Lidio Carraro Quorum Grande Vindima 2005

Forty percent Merlot, 25 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 20 percent Tannat and 15 percent Cabernet Franc—the four approved red grapes for the Vale dos Vinhedos appellation. Mint and eucalyptus on the nose with something darker underneath. Sweet and juicy at the front and in the middle but finishes dryly tannic. Interesting and characterful but rather austere on the finish. Drink now to 2013?

Lidio Carraro Singular Nebbiolo 2006

Proper colour—mid-pale red. Smoky nose and a bit jammy, not showing much Nebbiolo fruit. Suitably tannic but the flavours are not appropriate. Very high alcohol—14.9 percent.

Lidio Carraro Tannat Grande Vindima 2006

Almost opaque ruby purple. Liquorice aromas. Very tannic and a daunting 16 percent alcohol. Age to 2015 if you are an optimist—or send it to an American friend.

www.lidiocarraro.com

Brazilian nuts

In 2008, Brazil sold 6,207,658 litres of sparkling wine to Russia, which is by far its largest market for this style of wine. But the value per litre was just US$0.38. In Denmark, it was US$30.70; in the UK, US$1.86, though of course both at much reduced volumes. (Twenty litres went to Haiti at US$1 a pop).

Brazil has much in its favour to enable it to export its wines to the UK and elsewhere. After all, the country is shaped like a bunch of grapes.

The wineries are well-equipped and so spotlessly clean that even a supermarket buyer would be impressed. Apart from the negative connotations of the favelas, Brazil brings to mind only happiness—wonderful footballers, beautiful women, beaches, bikinis, cocktails, carnivals, a thriving economy, the 2014 World Cup (a shoo-in for the seleçao!) and the 2016 Olympics.

Wine production in Brazil has surely become more dynamic and better organised since the establishment of Ibravin, the Brazilian Wine Institute, in 1998. Ibravin’s mission statement is, “To order and to promote in a participative form the Brazilian Viticulture by means of fixing objectives, establishment of strategies and the execution of actions aimed at its strengthening, making them become competitive and sustainable.”

Money, mostly private, is being pumped into the wine industry like newly-fermented wine into an empty steel tank. Large investments have been made by the 50- and 60-somethings. A huge amount of responsibility now rests upon the shoulders of the 20- and 30-somethings to make those investments profitable.

At a panel for “Opportunities for Brazilian wines in foreign markets,” I suggested to the assembled winemakers that their best opportunity in the UK market at the moment would be their sparkling wines, which at less than £10 a bottle represent excellent value for money at a time when Champagne sales have sunk like a brick in water.

The still wines, however, are a much harder sell. It is possible that a brand such as Miolo, which already has some presence in the UK, could continue to establish itself and other brands “surf” on the crest of its wave. Domaine Chandon has the might of LVMH behind it but doubtless it has its own agenda rather than broader generic concerns.

"You look like a naughty schoolboy": SDG with Ilka Lindemann and Junior Vianna MW at the XVII Avaliação Nacional de Vinhos

Think of how Chilean brands—Concha y Toro and so on—have reinforced the market for that country. A lot of it—too much perhaps—goes into supermarkets where Brazil would struggle to stand out from the crowd. For the time being Brazilian wines would be a hand-sell by dedicated independents and sommeliers, though there are very few Brazilian restaurants in the UK.

The UK market is not dissimilar to the luggage carousel at São Paulo airport—bits keep falling off and sometimes there is a breakage. Hardly anybody bothers to pick up the pieces unless it is their own luggage. Perhaps I am trying too hard to turn the mundane into the philosophical here! But the image of self-absorption and broken ambitions I think is apt.

Taxation levels on wine in Brazil are extremely pernicious. An imported bottle of JP Chenet costs R$30, or £10.  Exported wines are also taxed heavily.

Excessively high alcohol might also be a problem in the UK market. Even if the wine does not show its 15 percent booze, seeing that figure on a label would put off many people.

In his book The Finest Wines of Tuscany and Central Italy, Nicolas Belfrage MW wrote, “the limits of a winemaker’s ambitions are the limits of his palate. Think about it.” His point is that winemakers need to have tried the best wines in order to gauge their own efforts. Brazilian winemakers should travel and taste as widely as possible.

Ultimately, they must ask themselves, “Why would a UK consumer want to buy and to drink Brazilian wine?” Only they can answer that question.

Open up that Golden Gate: Travels in California

“Joni Mitchell’s voice and guitar wafted through the speakers as the plane landed in San Francisco…”

The young Joni Mitchell

How’s that for the opening sentence to a pulp thriller? At any rate, it was a nice way to arrive in California.

The mood turned Hitchcockian when I was unable to find the driver who had been sent to collect me by my host Dr SuHua Newton. Eventually we found each other—he had even walked right past me while I was sat outside in the sun reading David Frith’s Bodyline Autopsy, one of the best cricket books ever.

Of course, the drive into (or rather past) the city was for me thrilling, especially over the Golden Gate Bridge. I had been told that I would be staying at Dr Newton’s “hotel” in Mill Valley, a prosperous suburb just north of SF. I thought I was staying in her house, so I was bemused to learn that I would be parked in a hotel and one that wasn’t even in the city. When I arrived, all was revealed. The “hotel” turned out to be a splendid house that Dr Newton uses as her office. It was Friday so I would have it all to myself for the weekend.

We went for dinner that evening at a the Tong Kiang restaurant and drank a half-bottle of 2001 Newton Vineyards Merlot, which was mature, balanced and supple though rather short.

Mill Valley, looking towards San Francisco

On Saturday morning I woke up and gazed from the patio across Richardson Bay to the city, which was shrouded in thick fog. It was cool too, “a nipping and an eager air.” The climate of San Francisco and the Bay Area is extraordinarily capricious.

I caught a ferry from Sausolito to the city. Taking a punt on the sunshine that had emerged earlier that morning, I was in shorts and sandals. I froze as the ferry alternately bobbed across the water through thick fog or bright sunshine.

Dr Newton told me off for leaning out of her car window while she was showing me round the city. (She is a very impatient driver). Apparently some kid had his arms or legs sheared off by a passing car when leaning out of the window so a law banning such things was passed hastily. San Francisco’s weather is capricious but so is its legislation. In the city of Haight-Ashbury, the Beat Generation, hippies and the Summer of Love you cannot even lean out of a car window without breaking the law. This famously liberal city is bound up by legislation tighter than the bark on a Giant Sequoia.

It has a dark and disturbing underbelly, too. There is a magnificent and sombre film made in 2004 by Eric Steel that explores why so many people end their lives at the Golden Gate Bridge. The images captured by Steel of people leaping from the bridge into the icy water are shocking and linger in the viewer’s memory like a bad dream.

Pacific Heights, San Francisco

On a more cheerful note, Dr Newton lives in a Pacific Heights house with magnificent views across the city and harbour. We sat in her lounge eating, drinking, talking and watching the occasional container ship go past Alcatraz as it headed out to sea. The ships were rarely fully-loaded, their plimsoll lines usually visible. The shipping industry has been hit hard by the “crisis”. I visited some friends in Hamburg recently and they told me that for a couple of days last autumn the usually thriving shipyards there were eerily still. If local residents were spooked just imagine what it would be like if you worked in that industry.

On Saturday evening we went to a Thai restaurant called Yukol and drank 1982 Newton Vineyards Merlot. The nose was cedary and good but the palate was drying out and left acidity rather than fruit on the finish. Nonetheless, it was a rare treat.

A taxi was ordered at closing time to get me back to Mill Valley. Dr Newton was due on a nightshift in her role as a paediatrician. She is an extraordinary lady—a winemaker and doctor of medicine, with qualifications in every subject imaginable. She also paints well, speaks several languages and used to be a model. What a woman she is! I hope that somebody captures her remarkable life in words before it is too late.

In London, taxi drivers always know where they’re going. If they don’t, they consult a map or SatNav. I assumed my man would know where to go. He didn’t. Nor did I. It was late, it was dark, I had barely seen any of Mill Valley and I was tired. So we drove for at least an hour around Mill Valley to find the “hotel.” He had the courtesy to switch off the fare machine but I had been advised $40 would cover the trip from SF to Mill Valley. So that is what I offered him.

“You’re kidding?”

No, I wasn’t. This led to an earful of abuse. I pointed out to him that UK cabbies usually have a map handy. Why didn’t he?

He wanted to know why I didn’t know the way.

“Are you slow or somethin’?’”

Something, since you ask. And I’m too tired to argue and want to go to bed. More abuse. He sped off before I could note his registration plate. But, like Jerry Garcia, I believe in Karma.

"Captain Trips"—Jerry Garcia

Sunday was spent in a very warm Napa, the temperature hitting nearly 90 degrees that day. Dr Newton showed me her Carneros Vineyard, which supplies grapes for the Unfiltered Chardonnay. Lara Abbott, Domaine Chandon’s and Newton’s Australian-born but US-raised PR, joined us here. She took my digs over The Ashes in good humour. I had been reading about Bodyline, after all.

The Razi vineyard was also visited. The owner had a charming ticking-off (sic) from Dr Newton over various things, irrigation and burned grapes and so on. She explained to me afterwards how she turns on the charm to get the best out of people. A good lesson for life!

I joined a tour group at Newton Vineyards to have a look around the estate. It’s a long way up—the pine tree that is shown on the bottle labels is at 1,700 feet above sea level. Some of the vineyards surrounding Newton’s winery are at a 60-degree slope—nowadays, new plantings are only permitted at up to 30.

Lunch was at the Auberge du Soleil restaurant up in the hills at Rutherford. SuHua and Lara cooed at Colin, the boyish-looking and charming sommelier. It was very good, especially the cookies made to order for Dr Newton. Being a generous soul, she let me and Lara try them.

The afternoon was spent with John Caldwell at his estate in Coombsville. I had arranged to meet John after having had to request images from him for a brilliant Jonathan Swinchatt article that I edited in my previous dayjob.

John and Joy Caldwell

John used to sell his grapes to Pahlmeyer Winery and others but began bottling his own wines with the 1998 vintage, though production has remained tiny at less than 1,000 cases per year.

The red wines are big and fleshy, especially the Proprietary Red. Caldwell Vineyards’ winemaker is Marbue Marke—from Sierra Leone! But he hasn’t yet made a blend called “Palm-wine music.”

The Caldwell bottles with the “C” logo mould cost $3.50 each, John told me. Money is tight but “I love it too much to sell.” He and his wife Joy have a young family. He’s one of the good guys and deserves his successes.

Three days is hardly enough to see California but I was due back in New York on Monday night.

At JFK airport I was refreshing myself with a beer when a car ad appeared on the bar’s TV screen. It was subtitled “Do not attempt yourself. Professional driver on an enclosed track.”

Next stop Brazil.

No sleep till Brooklyn: Travels in New York

This was my first visit to the USA. Ashes series meant that I always went east out of Heathrow. But an increasing number of friends Stateside made it more attractive to visit than ever. Accommodation and guided tours would be free. All I had to do was turn up.

The flight was entertaining. Departure was late because of a Spanish-speaking prima donna. The entire plane could overhear her complaints. She was booked into first class but had turned up late and her seat had been given to somebody else. So she had to sit next to me in cattle class. “This is so unfair,” she moaned. Life is unfair, isn’t it? Especially when you don’t get that extra six inches of legroom you paid for. She decided that being sat next to me for six hours was intolerable, so off she went.

“Close the door behind you, please.”

She cut me a filthy look.

There was also a group of Hasidic Jews, who made such a fuss of finding their seats. It must have taken them 20 minutes to be happy with their seating arrangements. They made a bit of a mess with their nibbles and biscuits. A (white American, presumably well-off) lady seated close to me said, “My, they’re a bunch of slobs.” It would not be the last time I heard such casual racism on this trip.

I was met at Newark by the delightful Bernardette Lyon, a friend of a friend who I’d met only twice before. For my first night in NYC she had very generously invited me to stay at her mother’s house in Brooklyn. We drove into Manhattan, me grinning like Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy as he looks around NYC for the first time.

SDG and Bernardette in Brooklyn

Bernardette took me on a tour of Brooklyn, including Saturday Night Fever territory in Bay Ridge. I think we went through Bensonhurst, too, where that brilliant car chase was filmed for The French Connection. The obligatory pizza was followed by dinner at Tatiana in Brighton Beach, or “Little Odessa.” There are lots of Russians in London (in Belgravia, anyway) but I’m sure Bernardette and me were the only non-reds in the hood.

We walked along the boardwalk towards Coney Island, sat underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (Saturday Night Fever again), walked down Cranberry Street where Moonstruck was filmed, and then refuelled at Junior’s, a Brooklyn joint famous for its cheesecakes. A slice about the size of the Isle of Wight (or Staten Island) was put in front of me. Bernardette and the waiter were amused by my horror at the amount of calories on my plate.

The final pit-stop was at Farrell’s, just up the road from Bernardette’s place and where a scene in As Good As It Gets was made (so many films today!).  Bernardette had never been in there, which seemed surprising at the time but once inside I could see why… It is a very macho, Irish/cops place, though the regulars turned out to be friendly enough and we stayed there until 2am. Bernardette has vowed not to go again unless it’s with me, bless her.

An American Football match was on the TV in the bar. I have not yet grasped how this sport works but today (22 October) I was at The Oval cricket ground to see a friend. The pitch was being prepared for a “top secret” training session by the New England Patriots (or Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I can’t remember which) ahead of Sunday’s NFL match at Wembley. They are completely paranoid about their practices being filmed, my friend told me. She won’t be allowed in the The Oval tomorrow (she works there!) and the Americans had expressed great concern about the flats that overlook the ground. They were politely told that nothing could be done about that. My friend also said that the team’s cheerleaders have a full-time (male) manager. The best job in the world or the worst? We couldn’t decide.

After one night chez Bernardette, I spent the next three nights on the other side of Prospect Park with Lisa Granik MW and her partner Sandy at their splendid house.

Lisa is smart, funny and very candid—which is to say she speaks with great honesty and integrity. Her brilliant mind (and palate), lesbianism and links to Russia mean that she does not fit easily into the mainstream. Nor does she suffer fools gladly. We spent a morning debating the merits or otherwise of various mutual acquaintances. With perhaps one exception, we liked and disliked the same people.

Lisa invited me to a dinner in Chinatown with several of her friends and colleagues. Before coming to the restaurant I met Lisa and her friend Gaetano and we tried the esoteric Domaine Ferret Pouilly-Fuissé Le Clos Tête de Cru 2004 and a quite lovely Huet Le Mont Sec 2005. I brought with me to the restaurant two vintages of Dr von Bassermann-Jordan’s Deidesheimer Kalkofen Riesling Spätlese Trocken. The 2001 was very tightly coiled, with guillotine-like acidity. By comparison, the 2002 was a big softie. It was hard to believe that two such different wines came from the same vineyard and cellar.

We also tried some Champagnes—a simple Jacques Lassaigne Les Vignes de Montguex Blanc de Blancs NV; a good Piper Heidsieck Rare 1999 and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé 1999 (though not at all flattered by the restaurant’s glassware); and a woody and fat Vilmart Grand Cellier NV.

Lisa, being a responsible adult, went back home after dinner but the rest of went for cocktails in the West Village. I was asked by one of our dinner companions, “Don’t you ever laugh?” It’s true that my natural expression is a curmudgeonly frown. But I do laugh at things that I find amusing (as this picture taken at Santiago airport proves).

By midnight only Gaetano and myself were left standing. We went to a bar where he knew (and fancied) the manageress. A youngish bloke and four younger ladies parked themselves on the table next to us. I struck up a conversation with one of them, “Kath, from Michigan.” She was blonde, had lips that implied the assistance of collagen, and wore a skirt slightly narrower than my belt. At first glance she was attractive She told me she had studied Victorian Literature in Glasgow. I was excited—perhaps finally I had found an intellectual soul mate wearing a two-inch skirt.

“And who is your favourite Victorian poet?”

“Oh, I think that would be Edmund Spenser.”

SDG and Kath from Michigan

Kath then made me an offer that normally I simply could not refuse. But, having put Spenser in the nineteenth century, I declined. Perhaps they do teach Spenser as part of the Victorian Literature course in Glasgow. But more likely Kath was a dumb blonde who was drunk or stoned or both. She looked thoroughly discombobulated by my refusal. As Spenser wrote: “But the trew fayre, that is the gentle wit,/And vertuous mind, is much more praysed of me.”

Gaetano did not believe that I had received such an offer. I told him to ask Kath. Then he was downright disgusted at me for refusing it.

The chaperone, who spoke fluent Italian, claimed to be an “erm, historian” and blinked nervously like the villain in Hitchcock’s Young and Innocent, was a very odd fellow. Think of Ed Balls’ (the UK Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families) twitching eyes, too—would you trust him? I suspect that accepting Kath’s offer might have meant an exchange of cash before anything else.

I got back to Brooklyn at 5am. Fortunately I did not have any appointments that day and was able to sleep off my evening of over-indulgence. But in-between the cocktails, interesting offers and hangovers, I did actually do some work. I went to the “California Wine Rush” tasting at Grand Central station, Terry Theise’s “Tasting Grower Champagne: Your how-to Guide” and a Sauternes tasting at Vermilion Restaurant.

I interviewed Jamie Ritchie, Sotheby’s head of wine, and have written-up this for Harpers. Rik Pike of Christie’s was met on an informal basis. I also caught the train from Grand Central to Scarsdale to speak with Jeff Zacharia at his enormous and copiously stocked Zachys store.

After four nights in New York, I went to California for the weekend before returning to NYC  for one night. I had planned to stay in the airport but all the best sleeping spots had already been taken and I needed to wash and rest. So I paid $170 for the privilege of staying in a very basic Best Western hotel next to the airport. Ouch.

That left me with a full day to kill before flying to Brazil in the evening. I raced around the city, doing all the cheesy things that English tourists are supposed to do— walking through Central Park, going to the top of the Empire State Building, eating hotdogs, seeing the Yankee and Citi Field stadiums, the Chelsea Hotel, walking over Brooklyn Bridge, the Staten Island Ferry… I also did a few things that would only occur to me, like going to the building at St. Mark’s Place in the East Village that was used for the cover of Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti. (My dad was at school with John Bonham!).

Other things that amused me during this first trip to NYC included the umbrella salesman on the subway and his rhyming sales rap—“It’s going to rain, it’s such a pain, buy an umbrella, it’ll last forever” or something similar. At the Chinatown restaurant there was a reassuring sign in the loo: “Employees must wash their hands before returning to work.”

I will write about my travels in California, Brazil and Chile soon…

Sex & Pintxos & Rock and Roll: Food and wine at PINCHITOtapas

On 1 October, the newly-opened West End restaurant PINCHITOtapas launched the “Viva el Vino” campaign of matching food with Campo Viejo wines.

Customers choose the wines rather than the food, with various “surprise” tapas dishes matched to the appropriate wine. PINCHITOtapas will start serving “Viva el Vino” on 14 October until January 2010, with the concept due to be rolled out across the UK from February.

The PINCHITOtapas group is the brainchild of South African-born Jason Fendick and Bruce Batholomew and the Spaniards Tobias Blazquez-Garcia and Valeria Fossatti Noguera. Their first restaurant in Brighton attracted much praise, winning the Cocktail Bar of the Year award, but was increasingly unlucrative so they headed back to London.

The Bayley Street venue is apparently a bit “smarter” than the sister restaurant at Featherstone Street, with its décor described as “contemporary chic” (read loud music, neon lighting and bright posters). The site was formerly a YO! Sushi restaurant, hence what is now an “island bar.”

The wine measures for “Viva el Vino” are what I would call tasting sample size but if you are having eight wines and dishes, it soon adds up. As Campo Viejo’s UK Marketing Controller Mathew Bird said, “We take our responsibilities seriously.” It is commendable that Pernod Ricard is doing its bit to mend the pernicious drink culture of Broken Britain.

Certainly none of the pairings was anything but tasty but a couple were real successes. And the wines weren’t bad, either. It is very easy to be sniffy about such an ubiquitous brand but when paired with good food they can sometimes come to life and reveal a whole new side to their character—like the disco wallflower that has his first drink and suddenly becomes the life and soul of the party. The full wine list is entirely Spanish and has plenty of reliable names—Tio Pepe, Torres, CVNE and others.

“Viva el Vino” is very good value at £30 for eight wines/dishes or £20 for four.

Cava NV

Clean, fresh, simple. A good, very drinkable Cava, with none of the rootiness that mars some wines. Paired well with Manchego cheese and quince, but not such a success with the salted almonds. The flavours were fine but not the texture—the almonds were too crunchy and sticky for the Cava.

Viura 2008

Interesting nose—smokey and grapey. There is some oak influence on the palate that was hinted at by the nose. I guessed at barrel fermentation but 25 percent of the wine spent two months in new oak—skilfully done. The oak is even more apparent on the finish. A soft, quite fat wine. With boquerones (marinated anchovies over potato crisps), the wine was rich enough to withstand the marinade but perhaps it needed a bit more acidity to be even better with this dish.

Rosé 2008

Bled from Tempranillo grapes. Rather confected at first, with bubblegum flavours and some acetate. The pepper and onion salad was a bit spicy but fine with this rosé. The tortilla de patatas was utterly delicious but the wine’s acetone jarred with it. And the French fries and chorizo was very yummy but a bit too spicy for the wine. However, the rosé was much better with aeration and began to show soft red fruit aromas.

Crianza 2006

A very typical, simple, oaky young Rioja, with a fruity, supple texture and sweet oak on the finish. With the mango and pork belly dish, the sweet finish was ideal with the mango but the dark fruit flavours were not suitable with the pork. I prefer a lighter red with white meats—but that is purely my own taste.

Reserva 2005

A lighter colour than the Crianza, worryingly! Closed and not revealing much but, like the Crianza, made in a fruity style. A real success with the “mushroom bikini,” a toasted sandwich of mushrooms and Parmesan. The wine was smooth enough to match the cheese and rich enough to cope with the mushrooms. Also good with the hanger steak with paprika alioli, the spicy sauce bringing out the cedary flavours of the Reserva.

Gran Reserva 2002

Spicy, slightly dusty nose, the palate more chocolaty, and finishing sweet. With aeration, there were some liquorice flavours. An ideal pairing to the Morcilla (Spanish black pudding) with apple reduction, the dark fruit and sweet oak of the wine just about perfect with the dark pud and sweet sauce. The sweet oak and finish of the Gran Reserva also just about coped with caramelised onions on bread.

Dominio de Campo Viejo Reserva 2004

A single vineyard Tempranillo from the Cañada Valhondo plot overlooked by the winery. A more extracted style than the previous wines, with a darker nose, lots of acidity and some tannin at last! Very good with the lamb and cheese tapas and also paired with a very rich roasted pepper, the wine’s richness, sweetness and juiciness really good with that dish.

Cava Rosado NV

Made from Trepat. A sherbetty, “fizzy” nose, with some strawberry fruit flavours. A bit rough around the edges and quite rustic. Finishes dry. Tasted with Tarta de Santiago, which are almond-based. The pairing was about as enjoyable as wedding cake with Champagne…

Thirsty Buddhas: Food and Wine at Trishna

On 8 September, Trishna restaurant in Marylebone hosted an evening of food and wine matching to showcase its new Austrian wine-listings and recently launched Wine Club.

Opened in November 2008, Trishna is a sister outfit to the Mumbai restaurant of the same name, which, uniquely for a “destination” restaurant in India, is not part of a luxury hotel. Trishna’s London founder and owner Karam Sethi has a “brand agreement” with the Mumbai operation, though ownership remains separate.

“Marylebone has a nice feel to it, like a small village,” says Karam. “There are lots of boutique businesses, not many chains.” The lease on the Blandford Street premises was signed in May 2008 just before the credit crunch hit that autumn. But business has been quite good. Typically there are “a minimum of ten walkers per night.” Fifteen bookings can often turn into 60 covers. Nobu Matsuhisa himself has dined here!

Karam, who was previously a chef at Zuma, clearly works extremely hard—he had bags under his eyes like a harassed hound dog. Judging from his various titles, Trishna’s General Manager, Sommelier and Wine Buyer Leo Kiem also has a busy life. He has some radical ideas on matching wine with curries: “Did you ever think of emphasizing the heat of chillies and spices with a tannic Barolo 2004 from Burlotto? Or with deep flavoured reds such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape Grand Veneur 2004? Ben Glaetzer’s Bishop Shiraz 2006 from Australia? Or a powerful and full-bodied Valpolicella Amarone 2004 from Guerrieri Rizzardi? Choices, choices, choices… Does it seem to be complicated? Only if you see all this as a problem rather than a opportunity to discover something new.”

There are 120 or so bins on the wine list. The Austrian wines we tried were, with all due respect, not that well-known. But Leo argues that lesser names means lower prices. Erich Machherndl’s Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2007 is £34; F.X. Pichler’s Grüner Kellerberg would probably be at least £100.

We tasted the “Crab Festival menu” that is being offered as part of National Seafood Month in September. The menu is £34.50 for the food plus £32.50 for the appropriate wines—quite reasonable for the quality of the food and wine and the location. These are complex and often powerful dishes that are very challenging for wines. But Leo has done a great job on matching clean, relatively simple wines to tame the sometimes fiery dishes.

A “Lobster and Champagne” menu will be served 15-21 September, comprising Whole Tandoor-roasted Native Lobster and a half bottle of Champagne for £60 per person.

Champagne Alexandre Bonnet Blanc de Noir NV

Served as an aperitif. Alexandre Bonnet is based in Les Riceys in the Aube. This is a fruity Pinot Noir/Meunier blend that seems to have quite a high dosage.

2006 Weingut Tegernseerhof Riesling Kellerberg Wachau

This wine set the standard and template for the evening—clean, fresh and wearing no make-up, which can be fatal for wine with spicy foods. Clean as a whisker, it was excellent with the first course of Blue Swimmer Crab Rasam and Blue Swimmer Crab Tikki , the lemon fruit and mineral flavours of the wine just about standing up to the spices.

Blue Swimmer and Japanese crab are more packed with flavour, says Karam, and so able to absorb more flavours. British crab is comparatively lighter and “sweeter.” Richard Murray, a young fishmonger in Battersea, supplies Trishna’s crabs.

2005 E. Tscheppe Atanasius Neusiedlersee-Hugelland

A Zweigelt & Blaufränkisch blend paired with Dorset Crab Naan, Brown Meat Chutney and Tomato and Pickled Ginger Kachumber. The spicy, slightly dusty nose—the wine is aged in old barrels, apparently—did not inspire much confidence at first but the palate was less dusty and had a nice juicy structure, not dissimilar to Dolcetto. Karam advised trying together all three elements of the second course with the wine. He was right—it was delicious.

2006 Weingut Allram Grüner Veltliner “Hasel” Alte Reben Kamptal

Made from 25+-year-old vines, this was excellent with the challenging and complex dish of Japanese Snow Crab and Native Lobster Salad, Mooli and Cucumber, Cauliflower Pakora and Green Chilli and Lime—the restaurant’s best selling dish. This was perhaps the best pairing of the evening; by itself, the wine was less impressive.

2006 Juris Pinot Noir Selection Neusiedlersee

Chocolate and blueberry nose, suggesting power rather than elegance, with a rich and silky palate and a good, ageworthy structure.

It was paired with the richest and most delicious dish of the evening: Cornish Brown Crab with Butter, Pepper and Garlic, served with rice, spinach, spiced potatoes and naan bread. The potatoes were particularly yummy, spiced with Kashmiri chillies and roasted basmati rice, the latter giving a crunchy and nutty texture. But ultimately they were a bit too hot to handle for the wine, even if the sweetness of the Pinot fruit cut through the richness of the crab.

Leo said that normally he would pair this dish with Barolo.

2006 K+K Kirnbauer Welschriesling Icewine Deutschkreutz

This was harvested on 28 December 2006 at 15 °F (-7°C) and 35°KMW (41.2° Brix). On the basis that one degree Brix corresponds to about 18g/ltr sugar, this would mean residual sugar here of 741.6g/ltr, which seems a little excessive! Probably the figure is about half that.

It has the slightly “burnt” nose typical of very late-harvested wines, though it is also a bit grapey. The acid/sugar balance is excellent—it is not at all cloying. It was drank with an outstanding dessert of Poached Pear with Homemade Saffron and Pistachio Ice Cream. Yum.

Kasteel Cru

An eccentric nightcap. This is an Alsatian beer brewed using Champagne yeasts. It is very fizzy and quite sweet and honeyed. At Trishna it is usually paired with lamb chops, according to Leo.

More thoughts on wine competitions

Further to my comments on wine competitions after my recent stint at the Austrian Wine Challenge, Radio 4’s Today programme on 3 September featured a brief interview with Willie Lebus of Bibendum Wine Ltd. billed as follows: “Willie Lebus discusses why many wines, according to research published in the Journal of Wine Economics, are viewed as extraordinarily good at some competitions but viewed as below average at others.”

Willie argued that it is all about the “quality of judges… It is a lottery.” He made some very sound points but was given less than three minutes to make his case.

The broadcast is available on the BBC website until September 10. Willie’s interview is at 2:57, just before the end of the three-hour show.

The Third Man: AWC Vienna 2009

Vienna is such a beautiful city. I find its “Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm,” as Graham Greene put it, utterly beguiling. But for the daunting prospect of having to learn German and the paucity of cricket grounds I would live in Vienna. The third man is for me always an off-side fielding position behind the wicket-keeper!

I spent four days here tasting for the AWC Vienna 2009 during a central-European heat wave that saw temperatures in the city reach 31 degrees. It was warm but it does not appear to have had the same impact as the hot summers of 2003 or 2006. Michael Edlmoser, organiser of the AWC Vienna, was nonplussed by the temperatures, telling me that they were “perfect” for Austrian grapes as the vintage approached.

Every evening from 27 June to 30 August, a music film is shown on the enormous screen erected outside the 19^th century rathaus in central Vienna. Food and wine are in copious supply of course. I enjoyed rindfleisch-gröstl (a Tirol dish of fried meat and potatoes), würzige kässpätzle (egg noodles with cheese) and apfelschmarrn (diced pancake with apple sauce) with half-litre servings of the local Ottakringer beer in proper glasses. The Helles brand is quite light and refreshing; I found the unfiltered Zwickl Rot version heavier and more sullen. There was no drunkenness, litter or breakages—only people enjoying the food, music and weather.

Any notions I had about tasting for AWC in the cellars of Klosterneuburg Monastery were soon dashed when confronted with the grey, functional building that is home to the “Federal College and Office of Viniculture and Pomology” and where the AWC holds its tastings. It lies on a busy road north of Vienna, overlooking the strikingly modern Essl Museum, home to Austria’s largest private collection of modern art. There is a McDonald’s next door but happily lunch each day was at the Stiftscafe, cheek by jowl with the Monastery. You could eat what you liked as long as it was Wiener Schnitzel (breaded veal).

The AWC was first held in 2004 when about 4,000 wines were analysed. This year 9,500 wines were submitted from 34 countries. Three bottles of each wine are sent, so over 28,000 bottles have to be logged, sorted and prepared. There are 490 tasting “positions” available to 290 tasters that come from seven countries. I was the sole UK representative.

Wines are tasted single-blind in “cabins” (einzelkosterkabinen) with each desk divided by a portable wall. Scores are done on a 100-point scale in which 80–84.9 is “seal”; 85–89.9 a silver medal; and 90+ a gold medal. Faults were noted according to five categories: oxidative, reductive, microbiological, “uncleanliness” and “deficit of the grapes” (the last two are crude translations from the German). Faulty wines are retained at the Federal College to be examined by its boffins and the winemaker is then advised on what might have gone wrong and how to avoid such things in the future.

At the end of each flight there would be one or two wines that had already been tasted; ringers were also occasionally inserted to keep tasters on their toes. Oddities included a filthy Thai wine and a more impressive Canadian Sparkling Icewine, which if I had been asked about I might have guessed, knowing that Andreas Larsson, in a supreme display of logical thinking, nailed it to win the 2007 Best Sommelier of the World. I could not have done it without Andreas!

Although I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the AWC, I remain ambivalent about many aspects of wine tasting and of large-scale competitions such as this. We all tried hard to be “objective” of course. But when confronted with high levels of sulphur, wines that were poorly balanced, flavours and aromas that were intolerably ugly, and excessive levels of volatile acidity/ethyl acetate, it becomes testing. Your 50^th appraisal of a volatile Grüner Veltliner is unlikely to be as objective as your first, especially if you have only a couple of minutes to look at it. And we all have opinions, likes and dislikes that we cannot hang up with our coat and put on again when we leave. Nonetheless, I would hope that my fellow judges and I were as fair as we could be. There is no other way of judging wines if there are to be competitions at all.

The tastings

Full results of the tastings will be published on Monday 14 September. Until then even participating tasters do not know what the wines were.

Unless otherwise stated all flights covered the vintages 2009 to 2006.

Tuesday 18 August

Riesling to 12.9%

19 wines

I was hauled up for scoring the “test” wine too low. I am cautious (some would say curmudgeonly) by nature and prefer not to indulge in hyperbole. But Michael was correct to point out that I had scored nearly six points below the consensus score.

Chardonnay to 12.9%

27 wines

A poor set here. I disqualified three wines for faults, usually excessive ethyl acetate. There were a couple of decent wines, one of which I thought might have been from New Zealand—the corn flavours reminded me of some wines that I tried in Waipara a few years ago.

Chardonnay 13%+

26 wines

Two corked wines, otherwise nothing too untoward. But largely anonymous.

Grüner Veltliner to 12.9%

26 wines

Far superior to the Chardonnays, with some wines of character and good quality.

Blaufränkisch

25 wines

Some of these were killed by over-ambitious use of oak. The better ones retained the juicy fruitiness of the grape, though never showed distinction.

“Reserve red wines” (2005 and older)

21 wines

Too many decrepit wines here—oxidised, stewed and charmless. Two wines showed some freshness and shone by comparison.

Wednesday 19 August

Riesling to 12.9%

29 wines

The sulphur levels of so many of these wines made my head feel as though I had done a few laps on the Prater rollercoaster. The acidity was also challenging. But I suppose that the sulphur might eventually blow off and the acidity soften with age. A winemaker friend suggested that “Austrian farmers tend to be heavy handed in sulphur spraying during the growing season, because they have such unpredictable summers. As Riesling’s skin is rather thin, it does rot easily.”

On the whole these wines were distinctly average; the Grüner wines were superior.

Weiß- and Grauburgunder to 12.9%

26 wines

I found these very hard work, not for any perceived faults, but rather for the neutral character of so many of the wines. The worst ones were confected and volatile. The better examples were clean, fresh, grapey and simple but of very little interest.

Weiß- and Grauburgunder 13%+

26 wines

Ditto!

Merlot

25 wines

Not quite chips with everything but not far off…

Pinot Noir

25 wines

Apart from one really good wine that I guessed might be an Hautes Côtes de Beaune, these were largely unappealing. Inexpensive Pinot Noir is a not a wine that much appeals to me… A lot of tart finishes here.

Champagne, Schaumwein, Perlwein

14 wines

Any flight that includes schaumwein is unlikely to be much fun but this was not as painful as it might have been. With a couple of exceptions the wines were light, simple and short, and only one was faulty. Indeed, there were fewer faults overall today than on Tuesday.

Thursday 20 August

Chardonnay to 12.9%

22 wines

Dull, with several showing excessive VA. The more interesting wines showed skilful husbandry of barrel fermentation.

Weiß- and Grauburgunder to 12.9%

25 wines

No better or worse than on Wednesday.

Rosé, Schilcher, Blanc de Noir

26 wines

I had not tried Schilcher before; probably not much is exported from this tiny region. The wines that had an onion or oeil de perdrix tinge might have been Schilcher, I guess.

Prädikatswein: Spätlese/Auslese (minimum 19 KMW, 94 OE, 12.4 Beaumé)

19 wines

Started off well at 87 points but deteriorated quickly… Too many dull and charmless wines.

Red Cuvées

25 wines

Nothing of distinction here.

Shiraz/Syrah

20 wines

This flight included an absolute stinker from Thailand that everybody condemned. There were a few generous, fleshy wines with sweet fruit but also some underwhelming examples with the “dusty” nose of oak-chips.

Friday 21 August

Sauvignon Blanc to 12.9%

18 wines

A few showed excessive methoxypyrazine, or rather were made in that now largely passé style.

Grüner Veltliner to 12.9%

17 wines

Many dull examples, with Tuesday’s flight generally better.

Grüner Veltliner 13%+

16 wines

A couple of very good examples, the highest scoring 88.

Project Front Foot

Project Front Foot is a “kit for kids” campaign that aims to collect old, out-grown, cast-off and second-hand cricket kit and equipment and take it into Mumbai’s largest slum, Dharavi.

Cricket in Dharavi

A message from its founder Vic Mills:

“Three weeks behind schedule, and perhaps a little rustic around the edges, but I’m happy to report that Project Front Foot is now online. You can find us on www.projectfrontfoot.co.uk

With the website up and running I can now start to badger the airlines to ship the kit out to Mumbai. And, of course, the collecting of equipment continues. Currently trying to track down Danny Boyle or his agent. Not easy as he appears to be protected by some kind of cyber firewall. Bit of lateral thinking necessary, I fancy. Any thoughts on that front?”

A long lunch

Recently I visited a wine merchant friend at his home in Oxfordshire.

We had a few wines with our lunch of sausages and black pudding…

2006 Le Soula blanc

Unfiltered, so a bit cloudy in appearance. Clean and intense fruit. Grown-up wine. Drink now to 2012+?

2005 Le Soula rouge

“A blunt instrument” when it was very young, according to my host. The acidity is very striking but not sharp. Cherry and garrigues aromas. Drink 2012 to 2020?

2006 Le Soula rouge

Less of the 2005’s striking acidity but, consequently feeling a bit plumper, it seems to have more flesh on the bones. The tannins are more conspicuous than those of 2005. A hint of coffee with aeration, though the garrigues character is still there. Drink 2010 to 2020?

1991 Thierry Allemand Cornas

Very classic. Soft and not at all rustic. Very fine. Burgundian, dare one say it. Drink now.

NV Bruixas Solera

Not quite sure what this is exactly but it comes from Rousillon. Soft, rounded and balanced. Clean and fresh. Lovely.

2004 Quinta do Passadouro

Opened a week beforehand but still fresh. A drier style of Port, more mineral than many of the 2007s that I tasted recently. Nowhere near ready. Drink 2015 to 2025+?

Book reviews

I have added a book reviews page. Please have a look and let me know what you think.