Just Chillin' with Port

In the middle of summer the last thing I would want to drink is Port. Or so I thought until the most recent tasting put on by Bluebird wine shop. Penny, the manager, has done a great job of arranging interesting and plentiful wine tastings this summer.

The trick in the summer is chillin', not only you but the wine as well. Port may have a stuffy, stodgy reputation but it was a fabulous to drink once it'd been cooled down a bit. Henry Shotten, the winemaker was in attendance and he recommended slightly chilled port, not just for Tawney's but Vintage Port as well. Purists are probably frothing at the mouth at the idea of slightly chilled Port but it does work. For the complete history of Port click here, fascinating and quite illustrious but I'd rather talk about what I drank.

The Warres Otima 10 year old Tawny was served up nicely chilled. The Otima bottle and packaging was redesigned in 1999 to give it a more contemporary feel and appeal to younger consumers. It has proven to be very successful going from sales of 2000 cases in 1999 to over 28,0oo cases in 2007.

The tawny style of port is not as heavy as vintage port, lighter in colour and feel. The wine is aged in small oak barrels allowing for controlled oxidation. The ports used in the blend are a minimum of 10 years old but can be older. Tawny is released ready to drink, no need to lay it down or wait decades to drink. As a matter of fact, a stopper is used instead of cork because the wine is not made to be laid down.

The Otima was tawny pale amber with a reddish tinge and flecks of dark brown on the edges. Despite the fact that it was chilled, aromas of candied nuts, nutty orange peel and dried fruits wafted up and I felt like diving right into the glass. It had a delicate, honeyed palate with notes of hazelnut on the finish. It was light and fruity, not heavy or sticky sweet. A lovely alternative aperitif for a hot summer's day.

Patagonian Pinot

Patagonia. Howling wolves, wind-driven snow storms over a desolate landscape and survival of the fittest. That's what I imagine Patagonia to be like, and I'm sure you can find that out there, but it's not all Bear Grylls and Ironman. Valle Perdido is a new winery/spa resort in Patagonia that has recently started producing excellent wines. Penny Johns, manager of the Bluebird wine shop, recommended today's vino to me. She says it's one of her new favs and after gulping it down, I can say I wholeheartedly agree with her.

It's another pinot noir from S. America but this time from the "right" side of the Andes, as the Argentines love to remind me. Argentina's flagship grape is Malbec but if you scratch the surface of their viticultural portfolio, you'll find that they are beginning to branch out into other varietals and doing a very good job of it.

Valle Perdido has a state of the art facility but their philosophy is to use as little intervention as possible and let nature take it's course. They get up at the crack of dawn to pick the grapes and use a gravity system to move the must (or juice) around the winery. This helps to preserve the aromas and flavours of the wine.

The 2007 Pinot Noir was a pure delight from start to finish. Before we knew it, this little baby was gone, baby, gone. Looking at it, it was a clear, pomegrante red in the glass. A fresh, red fruit nose was the first thing I noticed. Then it evolved into perfumed raspberry and cherry scented aromas with a hint of sweet spice. Swishing it around my mouth, I found spicy red cherry, strawberry and a warm toastiness with a fruity finish. There was one last, lingering, bitter chocolate note that seemed to hang on by it's fingertips before slipping away. The tannins were very soft, almost velvety which made for an easy drinking, medium bodied wine.

An impressive example of Patagonian pinot noir and for less then a tenner. In these credit crunchy times, it's good to know you don't have to scrimp on quality wine. Keep'em coming!

14% alc
RRP £8.99
Bluebird Wine Shop

Falanghina (or anything but pinot grigio)

For those of you looking for an Italian white other then the ubiquitous pinot grigio, Falanghina is your grape. Falan-what? Unless you spend a lot of time in Rome or Naples, you probably aren't familiar with this grape but you should be at least on nodding terms with the wines that come from it.

Falanghina is grown primarily in the northern regions of Campania and produces wines that are quite aromatic, rich and minerally. Campania encompasses Naples, the Amalfi Coast and that Mediterranean jewel, the isle of Capri, where I once had a lost weekend with some crazy Italian but that's for another blog. Most of the vineyards are situated inland, on the hills of the Apennine Mountains, thus escaping the scorching summer heat while at the same time enjoying the ocean breezes. Perfect conditions for white wine production. Campania has been producing wines for over 2700 years when the Greeks first brought their vines over but it's only been recently with the boom in Italian wine that this region has finally seen investment. In 1970, only 3 wineries were making wine commercially. At last count, that number had blossomed to over 120 wineries.

We got an allotment the other day of a Falanghina '06 produced by Epicuro. The wine was quite pale, a watery lemon-green colour was the best we came up with to describe it. But what a nose! So aromatic and intense. Passionfruit, papaya, very ripe banana, slight vanilla tinge. This had tropical fruit written all over it. There was a slight wisp of alcohol on the nose but it was more like an afterthought. I only noticed it after some time.

On the palate, med-bodied, slightly waxy, and rich. Very fruity but dry, again with the ripe banana and tropical fruitiness but also some minerality around the edges, medium acidity and a clean finish. It was reminiscent of a New Zealand S. Blanc but it didn't have that bracing acidity that is the hallmark of those wines and was richer and fuller. A food friendly wine that would go well with a light lunch and have some left over to drink in the afternoon (if you can resist). Something other than Pinot Grigio from Italy that is worth seeking out.

RRP £6.99

No Burgundy Clones here - Viña Leyda P. Noir '07

Last week we tried a new Pinot that arrived in the shop - Viña Leyda Pinot Noir, Las Brisas Vineyard, 2007.

I like a good Burgundy any day but I keep an open mind to the New World, especially when it comes to Pinot Noir. I've had some great stuff from New Zealand and the Pacific Northwest. There is a difference, no doubt, but I think that good producers of pinot noir in the New World do their best to stamp their own identity on the  wine rather then try and make a Burgundy clone.

The Leyda pinot noir is made with fruit sourced from a single vineyard, Las Brisas. Brisas means breeze in Spanish and this vineyard is situated on the southwest slope of the estate, where there is less direct sunlight and more exposure to the ocean breeze, which keeps the grapes cool and allows them to develop slowly. 

When I opened this one, the first thing that hit me was a rather fruity attack to my nose and I hadn't even poured it yet! This wine had a full-on nose of red cherries, ripe strawberries and raspberries. After a minute or so, we began to detect spicy notes and hints of bramble,wild herbs and a subtle smokiness. The wine spent 8 months in used French oak barrels, which was apparent but not overbearing. 

On tasting it, I thought it had a juicy, mouthwatering palate of ripe red berries, cherry and bramble with a bit of smokiness. A silky, medium bodied number with a hint of minerality on the finish. Despite the fact that the alcohol level was 14%, the alcohol didn't assault my palate or nostrils. This wine had jumping acidity and was great on it's own but I'm not sure if it was necessarily food friendly. I had some chicken with it and it didn't really add anything to my enjoyment of dinner. This is a very fruity wine but it's not subtle. And that's the difference between Old and New World, big fruit in your face but none of the finesse or subtlety of a red Burgundy. Which isn't to say I didn't like this pinot, I did. It's no Burgundy clone and it's a great example of New World pinot that won't break the bank. 

14%alc

RRP £8.99