All good in suburbia

At VinItaly last year  I was introduced to a jovial German fella by Peter Zemmer, our producer from the Alto Adige. This guy is a pretty serious German wine broker and it turned out that he had often holidayed in Schull and was a big fan of hurling. Honestly I’m constantly amazed at how in the oddest of places I am reminded of my nationality. I was in a remote forest park in Honduras in January and went white water rafting – the instructor was from Derry.

Anyway I explained to him that German wines – despite their consistently remarkable quality – were too much of a niche for me when you considered all my other currently stocked niches: USA, cru Prosecco, biodynamic wines etc. I love a niche as much as the next guy, but sometimes I do have to put on my business hat…

So about a month later I received samples from Weingut Hofmann in the Rheinhessen! I really don’t like producers incurring the cost of shipping samples without my request as it’s a hugely expensive process, and always advise potential suppliers against it until I have checked out the other elements and made sure that their product could potentially fit into our portfolio. Naturally I informed my contact that I was not actively looking for German wines, and that the samples would be joining the far end of the que.

Well I got around to one or two over the last while, and on Wednesday night I decided to crack open this bottle as it was a rare sunny evening on the suburban decking and we were cooking Sea Bream with a sweet pepper salsa:

2007 Hofmann Riesling Hundertgulden Trocken

Hofmann relaxed on the deck, soaking up the summer vibes

Simply put it was awesome. A hugely complex wine with wonderfully layered crab apple, honey, quince, slate and satsuma flavours. Phenomenal length, concentration, balance and restraint. One of the best whites I’ve had all year.

By the end of my glass my eyebrows were cramping from spending so much time raised.

Summer has been relatively kind to us so far, and here’s to hoping we get a few more days where we can toast the sun, dine al fresco and be fortunate enough to have some great juice on hand. It’s just a pity that there isn’t more of a market for German wines here.

 

Sampling: Alpamanta Estate

Alpamanta Malbec

 

Last year I was contacted by Andrej Razumovsky of Alpamanta, a brand new estate in Mendoza, Argentina. Now I get a lot of emails and phone calls looking for business, but what interested me in his estate was that they were practising biodynamic viticulture. There are quite a few organic vineyards in Argentina due to a positive combo of altitude/rainfall/vine health that often renders chemicals un-necessary. 

The estate was only founded in 2005, and the wines are being made by the world-renowned Alvaro Espinoza. There’s lots of info anyway on their beautifully produced website. I received samples (admittedly quite a while ago) so last week I was able to taste the Alpamanta Estate 2007 Malbec and 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, and I’ve got to say that the wines were excellent. The Malbec was the winner for me,  just take a look at my glowing notes:

“…soft and luscious mouthfeel; deep plummy flavours are balanced by a refreshing natural acidity, and ripe fruit tannins are supported with judicious oaking which weighs in on a long finish that’s packed full of ripe blackberry and mulberry flavours. Excellent balance throughout, and very enjoyable.”

This is really good juice, so hopefully we’ll see it available in Ireland some time soon (*wink wink)

 

Ummm, this is new.

So why do a blog – who cares what I think?

The quick answer is that more than likely nobody cares, and that this blog might be visited solely by people wanting to sell me cheap medicine/incredible stocks/enlargement supplements and a supportive wife. See I used to do a printed newsletter, but effectively couldn’t find the time each month to collate our news, design, execute, print and post. This is slightly easier, and it’s certainly slightly cooler.

So first off here’s what I was drinking this weekend, one of my own and two from a producer not currently available in Ireland:

• 2006 The Four Graces, Pinot Blanc (Oregon, USA)
• 2006 Summerland, Paradise Road Vineyard Viognier (California, USA)
• 2005 Summerland, Rancho Santa Rosa Pinot Noir (California, USA)

The Four Graces Pinot Blanc (pictured right) is absolutely one of my favourite white wines – from beautiful packaging to biodynamic viticulture this wine insists that I put my wine anorak on when I drink it. Unashamedly off-dry, this one’s flavour profile just keeps on shifting as you drink. The one caveat to its enjoyment is if I am in the vicinity, as I can’t help myself rabbiting on about it. It is awesome stuff.

Summerland are an interesting winery based in the Central Coast of California, and make a huge array of different wines. They have an entry level range and a single vineyard range, and it was from this upper tier that the two wines above came from. I’ve been convinced for years that Santa Rita Hills is a region that can produce serious Pinot Noir, and everything I’ve tasted from there – Demetria, Sanford, Fiddlehead – is very, very good. This Rancho Santa Rosa Pinot was no different: complex, stylish and quite subtle. Santa Rita Hills is a great little bookmark for top quality Pinot Noir, but expect to pay for it. Most of the wineries above retail their Pinots in the states for $40-60 a bottle.