Italy at the AC Wine Club November 2017

This month we looked at a range of Italian wines. The results were surprising!!

We began with a very unusual wine. It was a skin contact Pinot Grigio. This, in effect, makes it an 'orange wine' ie made as they do red wines where the grape skins are allowed into the fermentation. This extracts colour. The natural colour of the Pinot Grigio grape imparts a copper or tawny hue into a wine. 99.9% of all Pinot Grigio wines on sale have been made without any skin contact and so are white wines only.   

Attems Cupra Ramato Pinot Grigio 2012 

   

This is a fabulous wine that almost no-one liked at all!! It needs to be opened for a while longer than we gave it. It is monumental after a few hours ... recommend decanting. Intensely floral with fabulous structural integrity ie acid and fruit balance! Because it is an older vintage it came across as a bit stewed when it was first opened - my mistake. Sorry guys. It was astonishing later on .....

Lambrusco 2016 secco (Marks and Spencer)

A dry red Lambrusco! Sparkling. This was a surprise when it was poured as everyone was expecting a white wine. Liked by everyone on the night. I love this for its exuberant and yet dry fruit. Rich and delicious. Excellent wine.

              

Bosco Prosecco Frizzante (Spar and Eurospar €8.99 to end of Dec)
Great value. Loads of soft pear and honeysuckle elements. A crowd pleaser. Liked by everyone on the night. Frizzante Prosecco wines are Ireland's most popular sparkling wines. Low in alcohol good value fun!

Duca di Sasseta  Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Reserva  (Lidl €14.99)
                                              Top class style and great value wine.
Really liked by the Club even though it took a while to explain that this is a Sangiovese based wine from Montepulciano in Tuscany and not a Montepulciano grape from anywhere else!
Smooth, warm, rich, light tannins, touch of balsamic, lots of stewed tea in the background.

Tenuta San'tAntonio Valpolicella ( Classic Drinks)

I have always been a fan of Valpolicella and as it happens managed to visit this winery many years ago. (At the time no-one spoke any English. Awkward enough ...) It was run by four enterprising brothers and the wines they were making were absolutely fabulous. Judging by this Valpolicella they still are! (I can still remember that it was there that I tasted, for the first and only time, a Reciotio di Chardonnay!)

This is a 70/30 blend of Corvina and Rondinella grapes showing a typical deep cherry imbued ruby colour and an intensely aromatic bouquet. Palate has a great depth of rich cherry/red berries with moderate tannin and a finely sculpted acidity. Really liked by the Club members.

     Photos from way back in 2006 of Tenuta Sant'Antonio

Gianni Gagliardi Barbera d'Alba 2014 (Classic Drinks)

Gagliardi is pure genius stuff. Situated way up in Piedmont they make Barolo of the highest order where a ton of attractive fruit meets masses of structure. Anyhow that's Nebbiolo. We'll have to make that another night. I had none to show!!

This time around we had the Gagliardi Barbera d'Alba.  

I'm also, as it happens, a Barbera fan where softness and rich fruit combine so well. All of Gagliardi wines are exceptional and its great to see them well distributed here.  

Nicosia Etna Rosso (Marks and Spencer €15.50) 

Sicilian wine of the highest pedigree.(Grapes: 80/20 Nerello Mascalese/Nerello Cappucio). Oodles of red berry cranberry like fruit. Excellent softness and depth and a really fine length. Great 'teaching wine' for anyone who might be wary of Italian reds. Shows southern warmth to a tee!

The point was well made this month that Italy is treasure trove of unique grapes and wine styles. Its also a well that wine drinkers can visit again and again and not grow bored or jaded. It is always exciting!  

Next Month: December 3rd. It must be Sparkling.

May June Came Together in Portugal

As the Bank Holiday Mondays clashed with our first Mondays of the month meetings we had both our May and June meetings on Monday May the 29th. I know. The First Monday became the Last. It worked!

Portugal was introduced as a land of extremes from wet in the Minhos to baking and often too dry down south in the Algarve. Everything goes in between and Louise Wilson's fabulous book 'The Wine Lovers Coloring Book' was used to illustrate the regions!!! I kid you not. The book was very popular on the night ...  well done Louise. Mind you, the wines weren't half popular as well ....                                   Another great tasting at the AC Wine Club

   

   
WHITE WINES

Quinta da Lixa Vinho Verde 2015

We began with a Vinho Verde from O'Briens Wines €12.50. Surprisingly some club members didn't like this style. Thought it had the whiff of something unpleasant ....  Comments were disparaging towards the bouquet as not suiting a Club Tasting but would do very well on the patio, beside a barbecue on a very warm day. Positive , I'd say! (I know what they mean because in blind tastings its that whiff that often gives this wine away .....)

Crisp style of wine with exact acidity, long flavours from a lot of fruit and a pleasant touch of sweetness ( fact sheet says this is a dry wine...!?). The very obvious petillant hung around as a bubble corona in the glass. Sunny day wine made from a blend of Alvarinho, Loureira and Trajaduro. Gave us a great opportunity to talk about the Grapes of Portugal.

Monte Velha 2015 An Alentejo White from Esparão
A wine made by Australian and long time Portugal resident David Baverstock. This is modern Portugal where white wines are crisp, clean and essential summer time fare! I like nearly everything bottled under the Esparão label but keep coming back to Monte Velha as a really fine 'teaching wine'. In the warm (and warming!) Portuguese sunshine its not easy to coax freshness from its grapes and keep them that way all the way through to the retail shelf. The grapes here are the Antao Vaz, Roupeiro and Perrum (Palomino). Antao Vaz is THE white grape of the Alentejo. Remember it because its a winner!

Boas Vinhas 2011 Dao

Whites from the Dao region (just south of the Douro) tend to be rare beasts (in Ireland) these days. This fella is a tad old bit that in itself has advantages. The grapes used here are the Encruzado and Cercial Branco. The former of these is a specialty of the Dao region and gives its wines quite a rich assortment of perfumed fruits but also a sort of resin or a wood-sap quality. The Cercial is used mainly for acidity, bulk and light perfumes. A bit of age brings out the resin style as a nuttiness and this wine excels in this regard. Really good for creamed pasta dishes and lightly roasted meats

RED WINES

Opta Dao 2012

Interesting that member (in good standing!) Br liked this because it resembles a St Emilion. Good call. It has developed an earthiness with age. Made from Touriga Nacional, Alfrocheiro and Tinta Roriz it has a bricked ruby of medium depth, a red-fruit earth bouquet and a soft rich palate. I always find wines from Dao interesting

Distributed by Classic Drinks

Segredos de Sao Miguel  Alentejo 2016

Fabulous wine. Ripe fruit bursting from the glass. Agents Grace Campbell tells us that this is Ireland's leading wine from Portugal. We could all see why. It really is a wine you would want to purchase a second time. Acidity is excellent, tannins are soft - very much a 'smooth and silky' number as stated on the Corkscrew website who are selling this RIGHT NOW at only €60.00 for 6 bottles! where they show you the most recent Gold medal this wine has won

Pocas Vale de Cavalos Douro 2013

This is the unfortified Douro Superior red wine from Port House Pocas Junior. It is one of the wines that shows ho far the Douro has progressed with its unfortified offerings. This si  sensational in that it has an absolute presence and a really enormous 'fruit - quality - structural ratio'.  A classic blend of the Port grapes Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca it's a classy and very rich style. Sipped on the terrace this is the complete accompaniment to a 'summer holiday novel reading session' as the sun sets and a light chill enters the patio...! 

Colours of Portugal       R- L: Alentejo, Douro, Dao. 

HAPPY SUMMER  EVERYONE

THE AC WINE CLUB BREAKS NOW UNTIL AUGUST