It Must Be Wine O'clock

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet …

White Castle Vineyard 1581 Fortified Wine 2016

What’s in a name? If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to produce a fortified wine (i.e. Port) in the UK, then here you have it! Although White Castle Vineyard’s 1581 cannot strictly speaking be called Port because it’s not from the Douro region in Portugal, it has been made using the same techniques as a Late Bottled Vintage Port, and it goes down a treat!

Named after the Grade II* listed Tudor barn at the foot of the vineyard, the wine is made from Regent grapes, hand harvested in 2016 and then fermented in stainless steel vats before four years’ ageing in oak barrels.

The result is a unique fortified Welsh wine that has blackberry and bramble aromas on the nose, and rich blackberry and plum flavours on the palate. Deep ruby in colour, this is a soft, smooth wine with a long finish. In a word, heavenly.

Enjoy it with desert or cheese, or indeed by itself as a digestif. And with fewer than 100 days now to Christmas, consider this a great accompaniment to your mince pies!

Available from Grape Britannia

There is more to Greek wine than Retsina!

With its hot Mediterranean climate, it stands to reason that Greece will be a successful wine producing country. But there is a lot more to Greek wine than Retsina! Indeed, there are over 200 indigenous grape varieties in the country with Assyrtiko, Xinomavro, Agiorgitiko, Moschofilero and Roditis amongst the best known.

Here are a couple of examples to tempt your palate.

M & S Found Moschofilero-Roditis, Peloponnese (2020)

This wine is part of Marks & Spencer’s celebrated Found range, which seeks to introduce interesting and less easy-to-find wines for discerning wine drinkers to discover and enjoy.

Produced from grapes grown at altitude on the Peloponnese peninsula, this is a well-crafted blend of Moschofilero (80%) and Roditis (20%) grape varieties and brings together the floral attributes of the former with the tangy, zippy citrus flavours of the latter.

A dry white wine with fresh, light acidity, is has Muscaty, honeyed tones combined with a minerally, lemon tang to create a well-balanced wine with a lengthy finish. A perfect match for seafood and offering excellent value for money.

Available from Marks & Spencer (£8.50)

Atma Xinomavro, Macedonia (2019)

This dry red wine from Naoussa, in the Macedonia region of northern Greece, brings a touch of Greek sunshine with it to brighten up our rather sun-deficient summer … It’s a smooth, fruity wine with medium tannins and a medium (+) finish. With pronounced aromas of cherry and raspberry, and a hint of spiciness on the nose, leading to ripe red fruit, coffee and roast meat flavours on the palate, this is a very appealing wine with echoes of Nebbiolo and even Mourvèdre.

Xinomavro is a difficult grape variety to get right but this wine from renowned winemaker Apostolos Thymiopoulos is a fine example of what the grape is capable of in the right hands.

This will go perfectly with meze, or a lamb dish.

Available from Waitrose (£11.99)

If you are looking for a change, this is definitely worth trying …

Oyster Bay Merlot 2020 (Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand)

You are probably familiar with Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc, from Marlborough, New Zealand. This light, crisp, aromatic wine, with its citrus and tropical fruit flavours, has been a firm favourite of mine for many years. It is consistently very good and is a great match for seafood. I hadn’t really paid much attention to other wines in Oyster Bay’s range so decided give the Merlot a try. I’m glad I did; here are my thoughts.

The grapes for Oyster Bay’s Merlot are grown in Hawke’s Bay, on the east coast of the North Island. This is new Zealand’s warmest grape growing region and the combination of the warm maritime climate, the long sunshine hours and the rich soils creates an ideal home for Merlot vines, and others such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Chardonnay.

Deep ruby in colour, this is a smooth, mellow wine with medium acidity and medium tannins. With pronounced aromas of blackcurrant, and hints of vanilla and chocolate on the nose, leading to ripe black fruit flavours and hints of oak and chocolate on the palate, this is a medium-bodied wine with a lengthy finish. A very good value wine which went perfectly well with moussaka.

Available from Tesco (£10)

MUSCADET & BEAUJOLAIS: THE COMEBACK KIDS!

Date for your diary: Thursday 16 September 2021, 7pm

Online wine tasting session, hosted by Steve Hovington, Cambridge Wine Academy.

Steve is a very knowledgeable and entertaining presenter, and this promises to be another interesting and informative session. I have attended several of his virtual wine tasting sessions this year and always had a very enjoyable evening.

Both Muscadet and Beaujolais are currently enjoying a renaissance so if you’d like to learn more about these underrated wine regions, and try some very appealing samples to boot, you can sign up here.

For something a little different, why not try an Australian Viognier?

Yalumba Y Series, Viognier, 2020 (Australia)

We generally associate the Viognier grape with Condrieu in the Northern Rhône region of France. It’s one of those connections that go together like a horse and carriage, much like Malbec and Cahors, or Chenin Blanc and Vouvray. But of course, the grapes are not unique to those places so perhaps it should come as no surprise to find a Viognier from Australia.

A typical Condrieu Viognier is an aromatic wine with wafts of honeysuckle that transport you to Provence, followed by stone fruit flavours of apricot and peach. Heady and rich, the wines might not be to everyone’s taste.

But this South Australian Yalumba Y is a lighter, fresher variant of Viognier which retains the stone fruit flavours but also has more citrussy flavours, too. It is also lighter on the aromatics and has more vibrant acidity.

This is a dry, medium-bodied wine with medium acidity and a lengthy finish. It has orange blossom on the nose, and apple and grapefruit as well as peach and nectarine on the palate. We had it with salmon but it will also go well with a creamy chicken dish or a tagine.

Available from Majestic, Sainsbury’s, Co-op.

Can England produce a cracking Pinot Noir? You bet!

Gutter & Stars, Hope is a Good Swimmer, Pinot Noir 2020

Chris Wilson, who established Gutter & Stars, the UK’s newest urban winery in Cambridge in 2020, produced the winery’s first Bacchus wine earlier this year and it was a great success. Since then, I have been looking forward to the release of their first Pinot Noir and now that I’ve been able to try it, I can definitely say that it was well worth the wait. It’s brilliant!

Made from grapes grown in Crouch Valley, Essex, this is a smooth, refreshing wine with prominent cherry and raspberry aromas on the nose, and fresh red fruit flavours, and a hint of peppery spice, on the palate. Light in colour, with medium acidity and medium tannins, this is a very attractive, well-balanced wine that just shows that we can produce a cracking Pinot Noir right here in Blighty!

This is a great debut for Gutter & Stars’ Pinot Noir … and I can’t wait for the Chardonnay due out in the autumn!

With so much to discover right on our doorstep, have you tried an English wine lately?

One of the things I like most about drinking English and Welsh wines is the opportunity to try new grape varieties and enjoy wines with new, interesting profiles. Here are two very appealing wines from Three Choirs Vineyards in Gloucestershire, one of England’s oldest vineyards, established in 1973, which are well worth trying.

Three Choirs May Hill 2017

This is a light-coloured, medium-sweet wine, made from a blend of Reichensteiner, Müller-Thurgau, Solaris and Orion grape varieties. Older readers may remember Müller-Thurgau from the days, not so long ago, when Liebfraumlich and Piesporter German wines were the done thing. But fear not, this is a world apart from those days.

With pronounced aromas of grapefruit and blossom on the nose, and peach, nectarine, and ripe citrus flavours, with honey overtones, on the palate, this is a full-bodied wine with medium acidity and a lengthy finish. It’s a refreshing appealing wine, and if you are partial to a Riesling, you will probably enjoy this.

Three Choirs Ravens Hill 2018

Deep ruby in colour, this is a blend of Regent, Rondo and Triomphe grapes. It is a delightful wine, with pronounced aromas of blackberry, cherry and plum on the nose, and cherry, damson, vanilla and toast on the palate. It’s a wine with medium acidity and medium tannin; a smooth, medium-bodied wine that’s a perfect match for Sunday lunch!

Both wines are available from Grape Britannia.

STOP PRESS: Cambridge-based Gutter & Stars releases first Pinot Noir

Cambridge is known for many things but who would have thought it was also the home of an urban winery! Journalist and winemaker Chris Wilson established Gutter & Stars in 2020, and I was fortunate enough to try his debut vintage, a very appealing, well-balanced Bacchus, earlier this year. This has now sold out but Gutter & Stars has just released their first Pinot Noir.

Chris has produced a fruit-forward and textured wine, with red cherry and raspberry characters coming together with cola and black pepper to create a juicy, fresh and well-rounded summer wine.

Availability is limited – 400 bottles have been produced, each one individually numbered.

For further details, and to order, please see here.

Winbirri, from Anglo-Saxon ‘win’ (wine) and ‘birri’ (grape); synonym for excellent wine.

If you have enjoyed the English white wines we have recently featured, why not try an English red this weekend?

Winbirri Signature 2017 (Norfolk)

This is a very good wine. Although it might look and taste like a Rioja, it isn’t a Rioja. It’s made from Dornfelder grapes grown in Norfolk. Dornfelder was created by August Herold in 1955 when he crossed Helfensteiner and Heroldrebe grape varieties, and is one of Germany’s most successful red grape crossings. It is most commonly found in the Rheinhessen and Pfalz regions of the country. Dornfelder wines are typically light bodied, deeply coloured, fruity wines with oak flavours and a hint of spice.

This Winbirri Signature 2017 has ripe plum, blackberry and vanilla with notes of coffee and spice on the nose, and blackberry, cherry and a hint of toastiness on the palate. It’s a well-structured, medium-bodied wine with medium tannin, medium acidity and a long, smooth finish. A perfect match for a Sunday roast, or with cheese.

Available from Grape Britannia. £14.99