A heady, wild cocktail of Syrah and Grenache from the hills of the Roussillon region of southern France. Youthful, fiery, spicy, with notes of lavender, thyme, sweet red fruit and liquorice. Needs food, preferably rich food, to show at its best, but this is an unoaked star, with bags of flavour and focus.
July Sample Tasting
12 August 20122009 Domaine de l'Espigouette for Harvey Nichols, Plan de Dieu, Côtes du Rhône Villages
( £12.50, 14.5, Harvey Nichols )A really first class Rhône blend specially blended for Harvey Nichols by Domaine de l’Espigouette. It’s a spicy, full-throated number from a warm vintage, based on Grenache but with 15% Syrah and 5% Mourvèdre for support and complexity. It’s still youthful (though very drinkable) with dense black fruits, lovely balance and the sort of perfume that really reminds you of the south of France. Heady stuff.
2009 Marimar Estate Chardonnay La Masía Don Miguel Vineyard, Russian River Valley, California
( US$35, 14.5%, Contact the winery for details )This is the most elegant Chardonnay I’ve tasted yet from this Green Valley winery, marking a step change in freshness, minerality and balance. The wine is still Californian in style, but the oak and acidity are nicely intertwined adding a refeshing backrop to the pear and citrus fruit. The lees work is exemplary, too. A wine that wouldn’t look out of place in a line up of top Meursaults. Bravo.
2009 Assyrtiko de Mylos, Santorini
( £25, 14.5%, Theatre of Wine )There can’t be many more complex Greek whites than this old vine Assyrtiko from the volcanic island of Santorini. Rich and textured, wtih aged flavours of toast and honey underpinned by steely acidity. There’s a lovely undertone of Mediterreanean herbs here, a hint of sweetness and a long, minerally finish. Very complex stuff.
2011 Phaedra Xynomavro Rosé, Macedonia
( £9.99, 12.5%, Waitrose )The best red grapes, Greece’s Xynomavro among them, invariably produce the best rosé wines. Good on Waitrose for listing a Greek example with ambition and personality: raspberry and wild strawberry fruit, a touch of sweetness and a nip of tannin on the finish.
2010 Thymiopoulos Rosé de Xinomavro, Naoussa
( £12.99, 14%, Theatre of Wine )This is something of a curiosity, but there’s nothing wrong with that: copper-tinted, almost Pinot Noir like, with sweet and savoury fruit flavours, refresing acidity and a long, wild strawberry finish. It’s got a nip of tannin, too, which makes it perfect with food. Try it with a summer salad.
2010 Neudorf Moutere Pinot Noir, Nelson
( NZ $49.90, 14%, Contact the winery for details )Lighter and more approachable than the Home Block release, but not far behind it in quality, this is a ripe, structured, red fruits scented Pinot with savoury, toasty oak, subtle, filigree tannins and some grip on the finish. Another wine that needs a year or two in bottle to show at its best.
2010 Neudorf Moutere Pinot Noir Home Vineyard, Nelson
( NZ$79.90, 14.5%, Contact the winery for details )This is unashamedly New Zealand, even Nelson, in style rather than a Burgundian copy. It’s rich, savoury and textured, a wine whose pale colour belies its concentration, depth and complexity. The oak is a little too evident at the moment, but don’t hesitate to give it five or more years in bottle. Sweetly fruited, perfumed and very long.
2011 Neudorf Moutere Riesling, Nelson
( £17, 9% )The Riesling from this brilliant Nelson winery is often overlooked, such is the quality of its Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs, but this medium dry style is a delight, all lime peel and stone fruit, with a steely backbone of acidity that wouldn’t look out of place in the Rheingau.
2010 Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay, Nelson
( £35 (approximately), 13.5%, Local stockists from the vineyard )Neudorf’s status as one of the very best Chardonnay producers in New Zealand is only enhanced by this delicious new release: nutty, savoury, bready notes with well integrated oak, citrus acidity and nuanced lemon, vanilla and peach flavours. The wine has the concentration and structure to age further in bottle.
2010 Mere et Fils Adelaide Hills Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills, South Australia
( NA, 13%, Contact the winery for details )The qualty of Australian Chardonnay has leapt forward like a roo on heat over the last few years. This cool climate example from the Adelaide Hills is typical of the quality on offer from Down Under. Wild yeast fermented in older oak, some creamy lees on the palate and fine, citrus-tinged fruit with an echo of apricot. Subtle winemakin from Matt Gant.
2011 Semeli Mantinia Nassiakos, Mantineia
( £10.95, 12%, The Wine Society )Greece’s answer to Gewürztaminer? This perfumed, floral white, made entirely from the Moschofilero grape, is just the thing for a late summer tipple: crisp and zesty with rose petal notes and a refreshing finish.