Pale ruby/pink with a hint of garnet. This is a rather light wine (delicacy is no bad thing in 2009), but it’s showing far too much oak for the weight of fruit. Chewy and firm, the wine lacks finesse. The barrels have swallowed the fruit.
Food Match: Chicken
2009 Domaine Denis Mortet, Clos de Vougeot, Burgundy
( ££££, 13.5%, Fine + Rare )There’s no denying the quaility or ambition of the wines from this revitalised domaine. This is a very powerful Pinot, closer to a top Gevrey than a Clos de Vougeot. There’s a lot of oak on the wine at the moment, but this is a wine that is built for bottle age. The underlying fruit is excellent, just waiting to strut its stuff in five years or more.
2009 Château de la Tour, Clos de Vougeot, Burgundy
( ££££, 13.5%, Fine + Rare )Intense mid rubyintense colour. Ripe, aromatic, heady (almost hedonistic?) nose, showing some forest floor and fresh leather notes. Big, ripe and bold, this is something of a statement wine. It’s arguably a little simple, reflecting the vintage as much as the terroir. The wine is ripe, with plenty of extraction and a slightly hot, dry finish.
2009 Henri Rebourseau, Clos de Vougeot, Burgundy
( ££££, 13.5%, Fine + Rare )Bright pale garnet-ruby. Closed with some reduction and very little fruit on the nose. Hint of rhubarb on the palate, tannic with high acid. Rather scrawny, with almost Italianate levels of acidity and very little flesh or sweet fruit. More like a 2008 than a 2009.
2011 Mas Llunes Nívia, Empordà
( E8, 13.5%, El Celler Petit )A wine that is a little too marked by oak at the moment, but has good underlying texture and concentration. Floral, saline and concentrated with toasty oak and good minerality. Needs a year or two in bottle, but I love the notes of fennel and wild rosemary and the strucuture and muscularity of the finish.
2011 Vinyes dels Aspres, Empordà
( E13, 14.5%, El Celler Petit )Sourced from the frontier village of Cantallops, this is a rich, powerful, wild wine that is almost unruly on the nose and palate. Even for a young wine, this is starting to show secondary notes of honey and marzipan, but there’s massive concentration and acidity to back it up. A slow burner of a wine, very dense, minerally and herbal with a salty, food welcoming finish.
2008 Oliveda Furot Crianza, Empordà
( E6, 13%, El Celler Petit )Good, honest drinking Samsó from high altitude vineyards on slate soils. There’s a little bit of oak here, but it’s not remotely intrusive. The wine shows aromatic red fruits, fresh acidity and attractive raspberry and cherrystone notes. Try it chilled with a plate of tapas. I did.
2010 Terra Remota Camino, Empordà
( E14, 14.5%, El Celler Petit )A fruit salad blend (if that doesn’t sound pejorative) of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha, Tempranillo and other varieties, this is another delicious release from this brilliant winery. It’s like a cross between a red Burgundy, a new wave Rioja and a Châteauneuf, with silky tannins, sweet raspberry and wild strawberry fruit, lovely oak integration and a lift of acidity and white pepper. Superb winemaking with noticeable French flair and finesse.
2011 Sinols Blanc, Empordalia, Empordà
( E4, 12%, El Celler Petit )Brilliant value, unoaked white blend of Garnatxa Blanca and Macabeu from one of the region’s best co-ops. Herbal, tangy and lightly spicy, with notes of jasmine and orange peel and a fresh, medium weight finish. A regular holiday pick for me.
2011 Arché Pagès Satirs Blanc, Empordà
( E6, 13%, El Celler Petit )Made by one of the best young growers in Empordà using only Macabeu, this is outstanding value at only E6 a bottle. It’s quite weighty for an unoaked style, capable of bottle age and great with food. Pear and some honey with refreshing lift from aciity a minerally undertone and a whiff of Mediterranean herbs.
2011 Gelamà Macabeu, Empordà
( E6, 13.5%, El Celler Petit )The 20% oak ageing is quite prominent on the nose and palate here, reminding me of a white Rioja (same grape, but more concentration in Empordà), but there’s enough texture and concentration for it to integrate over time. Another young producer who has rejuvenated old family vines to fashion something with real personality: minerality, wild herbs and some vanilla sweetness.
2011 Oliver Conti Treyu, Empordà
( E7, 12.5%, El Celler Petit )It’s easy to judge the white wines from Oliver Conti too young, even this unoaked cuvée of Macebeu and Gewürztraminer. This combines perfume, spice, fresh acidity and a touch of grapeskin bitterness on the palate, underpinned by some creamy, lees-derived fatness. It’s an unusual wine, with the Gewürz adding some ginger spice to the Macabeu. Try cellaring it.