| Spring 2010 news |
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Special Offer February 2010 Any wines can be mixed – we offer 10% discount for any full case of 12 ordered of the same wine.
ALL THE WINES ON OFFER ARE AVAILABLE AT OUR SHOP or Email:
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WHITE
2008 Rioja Iñigo Amezola Blanco Maria & Cristina Amezola, Bodegas Amezola de la Mora, Torremontalbo 75cl £23.50
The wine is made from 100% Viura fermented in 30% new oak, 70% 1 year old French and American barrique, with 5 months in barrel before bottling in May 2009. All the grapes come from 40 year old vines in the Maria Antonia vineyard, but currently only 1ha of the 5ha is used for the production of this wine. Pale, lemon gold with gold and lime tints. Melon and peach kernel on the nose, minerality and freshness on the palate with some background texture and slight viscosity, lots of matière.
RED
2007 Perita Charlotte Allen, Almaroja, Fermoselle, Arribes delDuero75cl £17.60
100% Juan García approximately 12 months in 2nd and 3rd fill French barriques (ex Belondrade y Lurton), bottled end April 2009. Very low yields due to old vines around 10hl/ha. This is deep/purple ruby, opaque to rim, it has a lovely smooth texture on the palate, with damson and blackcherry style fruits, and an attractive underlying minerality and acidity, giving a fresh finish to the wine. Pirita is named after “fool’s gold” pirites. Recently bottled it needs some aeration before serving.
Bodegas Juan de la Barreda, Corral de Almaguer, La Mancha
There is a wonderful story of the transformation from ugly duckling to beautiful swan with this family estate. The families were great friends of Iñigo Amezola. Effectively Spanish aristocracy, they have land holdings all over Spain. This included a 300ha estate in La Mancha growing grapes for harvesting and vinification on an industrial scale. The bodega was populated with enormous stainless steel depositos and the wine left in tankers, some allegedly on its way to Rioja. Juan was persuaded that his very old, but healthy, low yielding vines could be converted, at least in part, to something more interesting that could be bottled on the estate. The first tentative vintage was produced in 1999 with much consultation and hand-waving with the local co-operativa. Now in 2009 the bodega still ships off wine in bulk, but their limited production for bottling is a finely tuned operation. Juan’s son has taken a full role in the business, managing their international markets and overseeing the domestic one. They have built up a reliable wine-making team, perfected their winemaking techniques and added some new cuvées to the range. As a family they are very proud of their wines and so are not tempted to overproduce their bottled wines, keeping production limited with a keen eye on hand crafted wines in stark contrast to their bulk production.
RED - 2007 Torre de Barreda, Vino de la Tierra de Castilla 75cl £9.60
This is their original cuvée, referred to as “Roble” made from 100% old Cencibel vines (Tempranillo), grown en vaso, traditional, untrained, low to the ground, basket shaped vines. The wine is aged in French and American oak for an average of 4 months depending on the vintage. 2007 actually spent 5 months in oak. The colour is purple/ruby opaque right to the rim and the nose is rich and ripe with hints of compote fruits. There is a punch of fruit flavours on the palate but the tannins are supple and integrated, with crisp cut of acidity on the finish. This wine is seldom below 14%, characteristic of this hot arid region, but it has a harmonious and very approachable style and is particularly good in this 2007 vintage.
Jorge Serôdio Borges, Quinta do Passadouro, Pinhão, Douro
Innovation, modernization and development continue a pace here at Quinta do Passadouro. Dieter Bohrmann, a Belgian industrialist, bought the estate in 1991 and Jorge has worked with him, full-time as winemaker and estate manager since 1999. Dieter recently underlined his faith in Jorge by making him a partner in the business and with a substantial investment in a nearby Quinta (as of last November), to make available a further 20ha of vineyards for the production of Passadouro. Jorge plans to use some parcels to improve the red wine blends, but the port production will remain entirely from Passadouro own vineyards to preserve its single Quinta status.
My favourite among recent innovations is Jorge’s new white wine, made from grapes bought in from the Murça region, further east up the Douro from Pinhão. The schist soils and altitude here at 500 – 600m, are, in Jorge’s opinion the best combination of terroir and microclimate in the Douro for the production of white wines. Jorge sees a potential growing market for white wine from the Douro and this “experiment” as he called it, is a stunning first attempt.
WHITE - 2008 Passadouro Vinho Branco 75cl £15.40
A blend of local varieties Viosinho, Rabigato, Códega do Larinho, the must is fermented 75% in tank and 25% in French oak barrels. Very pale with only a hint of colour in the glass, this has a wonderful zing of citrus of limes on the nose, developing to peachy notes in the glass. The first impression on the palate is of a crisp minerality which then fills out with to more luscious, slightly tropical flavours. Elegant and delicious.
RED - 2006 Passadouro Vinho Tinto 75cl £18.00
35% Touriga Nacional, 30% Tinta Roriz, 15% Touriga Franca, 20% old mixed varietal vines, 18 months in French oak barrels, 70% new oak. Deep purple, black cherry fruits, very clear notes, plenty of depth and crisp acidity on the finish. Elegant and fine this should begin to show its potential next year. Bottled in July 2008.
Please note - from January 1st 2010 VAT has increased again to 17.5% - the drop down costs on the order by section will show the price with 17.5% - the other prices will be adjusted shortly to show the vat increase
Thursday 22nd April 2010
A unique opportunity to try wine from the Roussillon region, we will taste some wine from the best growers, white and red appellations and some impressive Vin De Pays plus some very old sweet red wine from the '80s '60s '50s and 1928…
Limited numbers – £22.50 pp including cheese from the Roussillon .
Thursday 20th May 2010
Discovering the wines from the smallest wine region in France and creator of the first cooperative in France . An impressive wine history, lots to talk about.
We will taste some organic wine from Sparkling, Classic to indigenous grapes, some rare Pin de Paille and Vin Jaune.
Limited numbers – £18.00 pp including cheese from the Jura
Thursday 17th June 2010
A classic selection of wines to enjoy this summer.
Aperitif with our favourite Crémant d'Alsace 'Vallée Noble' Brut, followed by our popular house wines, then red and white from Europe .
£10.00 pp
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