Midweek...may 30 31st

I just opened a lovely Cab Franc, Domaine du Mortier Les Sables St.-Nicolas de Bourgueil 2021. It has just the loveliest Cab Franc nose, juicy and earthy with a bit of Cab lift and freshness. Juicy and alive on the palate, really good acidity but equally ripe fruit, incredibly moreish. At under 20€ and at just 12,5% abv, I think this will become a regular bottle at my dinner table. Lovely.
 
On holiday in Spain this week, in the Marina Alta subzone of Alicante (our hideaway near Javea). As I've mentioned before many a time here, the wine scene has transformed beyond recognition here in the last 20 years or so, starting perhaps with the likes of El Seque and Enrique Mendoza, bringing some elegance to the local oxidative wines based on muscat, monastrell and the local grenache clone they call giro (though there is some discussion about whether or not this is the same as garnacha tintorera/alicante bouschet- I've heard arguments on both sides). More recently a natural leaning school has come to prominence, and the in-favour producers vary year by year.

Last year for example Les Freses, a producer in Jesus Pobre just up the road, who converted strawberry fields to vine, was top dog, and their muscat "amfora" aged in clay, was (and remains) a favourite, the clay seemingly soothing the bitterness of the muscat and enhancing some herbal and saline notes. This year a young chap called Manu Guardiola is on the up, and we have been enjoying his entry level red tonight, Els Marges, a natural blend of giro, monastrell, syrah, merlot, and the autochtonous white merseguera, robust, wild and fruity and great with bbq. The white is a similarly "new" producer of muscat seco, and this wine manages a heck of a lot of intensity, but not in any way OTT thanks to a fresh bitter twist and only 12% alcohol. Good Times, and plenty more to explore (both these wines retail locally around 12 Eur, so easily worth a punt)

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Irancy Les Mazelots 2019, Ferrari/Saint Germain. A nice Irancy which doesn't in any sense transcend the appellation but has a proper sense of place, a country wine but with no crudeness. Definitely for the burgundy fan rather than those looking for Parnassus but well worth drinking and which will probably unwind advantageously over a few years.
 
A Delamotte Champagne BbB and a 2006 Pegau reservée CdP last night. Champagne - my first Delamotte - was pretty decent and v good value. A notable step up from the usual lower-mid market stuff.
The Pegau was rather grumpy and a bit pinched to start. It unfurled very slowly so by the time we’d nearly finished it - 2 hours on - it was just starting to open up. So, a 2 hour decant is strongly recommended!
 
Dinner with some colleagues at Enoteca Turi, a favourite of mine.
Managed to keep some of my Italian going with Giussepe Turi, the owner, and he talked me in to adding a magnum of Gravner Breg 2009 to this list!


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Limited notes but captured these

Costanti BdM 2010
Really perfumed nose of plum, umeshu and a little sandalwood. Really enticing.
Really in a great spot - plum, dark cherry, mocha. Perfectly balanced. Brunello at it's finest.
I have some 2015 and hope develop like this
Edit: this note was brought to you by the word “Really”



Pergole Torte. 2011
First time having Pergole Torte, though 2011 was a bit of a hot vintage.
Sold off the nose alone. Really laser focused nose of dark but slightly sweet red cherry and a little saline. Deep intensity, weighty while also elegant. Very juicy sapid fruit. Finish is moderately long but with the volume fading. This is excellent and I can also see what this could be in a different vintage.



Felsina Colonia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2011
Minty fresh nose with some dark cherry and savoury herbs.
Wonderfully rich dark cherry and plum on the palate, almost cherry brandy esque but still very elegant. Tannins still present but all well balanced for now. This was great.


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I did a trademark Ian H style poll and the Pergole Torte was a clear winner, followed by a tie between the Franciacorta and the Gravner Breg (which I thought was absolutely superb) and in 3rd the Costanti.

Fun night!
 
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Today has been awesome. Started at 5:30am doing a load of ironing and finished via multiple meetings (one of which was 5 hours long) with me cleaning the kitchen floor for the 3rd time today - bloody kids.
So.... I looked at the mint tea I had made myself and then looked at a bottle of Louis Latour Marsannay sitting there and thought "bugger the mint tea".

The Louis Latour Marsannay 19 is 23 quid in M&S and actually gives a decent and accesible Burg hit.
 
Took these 3 to La Trompette last night:

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The Comtes was drinking beautifully - rich and toasty with a fresh seashell minerality coming through after half an hour. The Fieuzal was just an absolutely classic style claret - mellow cassis, menthol, cigar box and a hint of butter on the finish - it was superb with a confit duck leg, ponme sarladaise and petit pois a la Francais (also good with Vicki's lamb a la Nicoise). The Coutet was typical of the house style - relatively light in body yet hugely botrytised, full of saffron, butter, roast peach, marmalade.

The food was wonderful too:

Salad of heritage tomatoes, courgettes and green olives was served as an amuse:
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Guinea Fowl Tortelloni with BBQ sweetcorn, girolles, broad beans and pancetta:
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Confit duck leg, petit pois a la Francais...
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...served with these pomme sarladaise (I cannot begin to tell you how good these were!)
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Meadowsweet custard with poached cherries and almond brittle:
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Last night five of us met in Terra Rossa, upper the street from me, to taste some Nebbiolos blind. We were hoping to get something from outside Piedmont, outside Italy even, but alas it was not to be.

The gathering had somewhat biblical overtones - Simon, Peter, Thomas, Joseph and John (Ian is Scottish John) - Mark had to drop out - if we formed a band we would call ourselves the Apostles or the Disciples - and even though there were no miracles all the wines showed well.

I mislaid my notes and hence the scores on the doors but the 2011 Torraccia was the clear winner I think by virtue of it being the oldest wine (2011) by a margin of four years (the Bersano Barolo and 15% ABV Roero were 2015s, probably my least favourite wines of the evening).

I loved the Claudio Mariotto Timorasso white but I think the others preferred Simon’s Refiano, which was also delightful and crisp. Great fun, but quite a lot of vino even though it was a Thursday night.

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We are planning a 2012 Barolo-Barbaresco dinner on 21 June, same time, same place, ping me if you are interested.
 
Last night draught ciders of devastating purity at the Yew Tree Peterstow, near Ross-on-Wye. I was moved to wonder if these brilliantly austere drinks are the best ciders in the world, not being any kind of fan of the wineification of cider. One does need a fairly willing constitution given the acid levels.
Today at the Walnut Tree a beautifully apposite Gewurtztraminer 'Les Fous' 2020 form Leon Boesch, full of fragrance but almost weightless for this grape. I loved our lunch, a really vivid reminder of how the nicest food tasted forty years ago, entirely unforced and the very opposite of 'fine dining'.
 
Thom Blach said:
Last night draught ciders of devastating purity at the Yew Tree Peterstow, near Ross-on-Wye. I was moved to wonder if these brilliantly austere drinks are the best ciders in the world, not being any kind of fan of the wineification of cider. One does need a fairly willing constitution given the acid levels.
Today at the Walnut Tree a beautifully apposite Gewurtztraminer 'Les Fous' 2020 form Leon Boesch, full of fragrance but almost weightless for this grape. I loved our lunch, a really vivid reminder of how the nicest food tasted forty years ago, entirely unforced and the very opposite of 'fine dining'.
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Mrs C & I need to return to WTI, after a considerable absence. The good news is that currently Karen has to visit Cardiff occasionally, so some diary coordination should do the trick.
 
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