In Nova Scotia, Canada, visiting the remarkable Benjamin Bridge sparkling winery

It was my first time in Nova Scotia. This is the eastern-most province of Canada, and it’s the youngest of Canada’s cool climate wine regions. I was here to visit Benjamin Bridge, the sparkling wine producer that’s making waves, and has the reputation of being Canada’s finest sparkling winery.

I was travelling with three sommeliers from Toronoto: Krysta Oben, Jay Whitely and Jake Skakun, and our merry tour guide was Nicole Campbell of Lifford, who represent Benjamin Bridge in Canada.

Our first evening was spent exploring Halifax, in the company of Chris Campbell and Jean Benoit Deslauriers, the winemaking team of Benjamin Bridge. We began in the Stillwell Beer Garden, which is a lovely outdoor space, and then progressed for some dinner at Little Oak, which has a really good wine list. Gimonnet’s Cuis went down well, as did a Tempier Bandol Rosé and the Lapierre Morgon 2015. We then headed off to Obladee, Heather Rankin’s place, which also has a really good wine list and some nice beer. Overnight was in the lovey, grand Admiral Nelson hotel.

Then it was off to the Gaspereau Valley, about an hour’s drive. This is where Benjamin Bridge is located, and it has a unique microclimate that enables Vitis vinifera to ripen perfectly to create sparkling base wines.

New high-density plantings

The valley looks pretty stunning, although we had a day of solid, heavy rain for our visit. This was welcomed, though, because the previous few months had been really dry, and the vines needed this extra drink to set themselves up for the last push to ripeness.

Harvest was underway for some of the hybrids, such as L’Acadie Blanc. Until recently hybrids were the rule here, because the cool climate and winter low temperatures make growing vinifera varieties properly marginal.

Gerry McConnell

Benjamin Bridge is the vision of Gerry McConnell. He has an interesting story. Growing up in a humble background in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he worked hard to put himself through law school, getting a scholarship. When he began practising law in the 1970s he saw that a lot of large companies had moved manufacturing plants to Nova Scotia because of the lack of labour laws, which meant that they could save money by exploiting the workers. So his focus was on labour law and he helped unionise the work force and campaign for better rights for the exploited workforce. Then he decided to go into business, and saw an opportunity for gold mining. His NovaGold operation became huge, and he sold it, remaining on the board.

In the late 1990s he and his wife were looking for the next thing and they witnessed the Gasperau vineyards being established. ‘I was captivated by the symmetry of the vines,’ he recalls, ‘so we thought we should find a place here.’ He identified what is now Benjamin Bridge as probably the best farm in the valley, but it took some manoeuvring to persuade the owners to sell. Many of the family farms here have been in the same hands for many generations, and so people are reluctant to be the ones who broke the chain by selling. In the end, Gerry convinced the Westcotts to sell by offering to allow Chris Westcott to stay on as vineyard manager. ‘He takes tremendous pride in seeing what we’ve done.’

When the current batch of plantings is complete, there will be close to 90 acres under vine here. Scott Savoy, the viticulturist here came on board in 2015 and he’s been looking to remodel the vineyards, planting at a higher density and getting each vine to do less work, moving from 3 kg per vine to 1.5 kg.

Jean-Benoit Deslauriers

‘This was an experiment,’ says Gerry. His view was that if he couldn’t make internationally acclaimed wines, he’d abort the project. So he looked to hire the best consultants he could. He began with Peter Gamble and Ann Sperling, who had a lot of experience (and are still involved in the project), but they didn’t have experience with sparkling wine. So when they recommended to Gerry that there was potential here for world class sparkling, Gerry realized he’d have to find a consultant from Champagne to supplement this team. He spoke with Tom Stevenson, one of the world’s top Champagne writers, who gave him a short list of three names. Top of the list was Raphaël Brisbois of Piper Heidsieck, who initially was a terrible sceptic. He eventually joined when Gerry convinced him that there’s be no risk to his reputation. Brisbois oversaw the development of sparkling wines here, and loved coming to Nova Scotia, and getting his hands dirty. Sadly, in 2013 he was diagnosed with cancer and died a month later. ‘But his legacy is here,’ says Gerry. The new hire as consultant is Pascal Agrapart, who has just begun working with Benjamin Bridge. ‘Pascal is absolutely connected to the vineyard,’ says Gerry. ‘We’re looking forward to receiving some good advice.’

The advantage of this region is the final stages of ripening taking place in very cool conditions. ‘The proximity to the bay stretches the growing season,’ says Jean Benoit ‘It allows us to pick at low sugar and high acidity two-and-a-half months after they pick for sparkling wine in Sonoma.’ [He was working in Sonoma before he was hired here.] A typical vintage here for vinifera would be first week of November, while Sonoma would begin in the second week in July. ‘It’s the foundation of everything,’ says Jean Benoit. ‘Phenolic maturity that’s through the roof with modest sugar and acidity unspoiled. There’s no substitute for time when it comes to skin and seed ripeness.’

Pinot Noir

The typical analysis here would be 10.5% potential alcohol (18 Brix), pH of 3 and 9.5 g/litre acidity, but with brown seeds and a tremendous amount of phenolic ripeness. ‘It’s the gateway stylistically for doing what great traditional method sparklings are supposed to do. It allows freshness and richness to emerge at an elevated level but not one at the expense of the other.’

‘There will always be a foundation of freshness in these wines,’ says Jean Benoit. ‘We always have electricity and tension, but not all the wines have a richness. We have to work at getting inherent richness from within, rather than relying on hefty dosage.’

‘When you scratch and claw your way to ripeness and get there at the 11th hour, that’s the territory for greatness,’ declares Jean Benoit. Chris Campbell adds, ‘you are still pushing for it at the very end, and that’s where the magic happens.’

L’Acadie Blanc with its distinctive red stems

There are perils here, chief of which is winter cold. ‘Twice we’ve seen -24 C,’ says Scott. ‘This is the challenge for bringing vinifera to fruition.’ To this end they hill up the graft union in the winter, as this is the most vulnerable part of the vine. In good winters they’ll have snow deep enough to help protect against the lows, too. But vine balance is critical in helping the vines go dormant at the end of the season. Another challenge is downy mildew, but again, balanced vines with well adjusted crop loads seem to be much more resistant to this.

The wines? They’re quite lovely. There’s a precision and freshness here, but it’s allied to real depth of flavour.

Benjamin Bridge Brut 2008 Nova Scotia, Canada
This was the last traditional method sparkling Benjamin Bridge made containing hybrid varieties. It’s 10% each of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with 80% L’Acadie and Vidal. There’s a beautiful balance here, with ripe pear and white peach fruit, a bit of richness but a lot of fresh acidity. There are also hints of apples and honey, with linearity and finesse. 91/100

Benjamin Bridge Blanc de Blancs 2009 Nova Scotia, Canada
This small production wine was made from a vineyard with limestone soils in Bear River. So linear and focused with lovely reductive hints, some mineral notes and lovely precision. Lemon and subtle toast notes, showing amazing precision and finesse. 93/100

Benjamin Bridge Brut Reserve 2008 Nova Scotia, Canada
60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, low yields of 0.8 kg per vine and a dry extract twice the level of Dom Perignon. Concentrated and intense with real power. Tightwound citrus fruits with some pithy notes and well integrated acidity. Intense, pure, lemony and focused with amazing intensity. Has a really long finish. 94/100

Benjamin Bridge Rosé 2011 Nova Scotia, Canada
43% Pinot Meunier, 42% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay. Lively, linear and bright with fresh raspberry and cherry notes. Lovely supple green herbiness, showing nice freshness and focus. 91/100

Benjamin Bridge Rosé 2012 Nova Scotia, Canada
70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir. Nice purity with lively, pithy, bright fruit. Cherry and plum notes. Fresh and vivid with lemony acidity. Fine, delicate and pure. 92/100

Benjamin Bridge Brut NV Nova Scotia, Canada
This is a blend of hybrid and vinifera varieties, with 2010 as the base. Very fresh, linear and fruity. Direct and lemony with nice fruit quality and a bit pf pithiness. 90/100

Benjamin Bridge Blanc de Blancs 2004 Nova Scotia, Canada
This was the wine that caused the world to sit up and take notes of Benjamin Bridge. It’s from Dr Al McIntyre’s Kingsport property. There’s a bit of toasty development, but it’s still pretty youthful with nice lemony fruit. Really linear and rounded with a faint (nice) hint of cheese, and some ripe apple notes. 92/100

Find these wines with wine-searcher.com

from jamie goode’s wine blog http://www.wineanorak.com:/wineblog/canada/in-nova-scotia-canada-visiting-the-remarkable-benjamin-bridge-sparkling-winery

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Notes on the 2016 Cape Winemakers Guild Auction wines

Each year, one of the most anticipated events in the South African calendar is the Cape Winemakers Guild annual auction. Ad it’s coming up next weekend. Special lots of wines made by the Guild’s members are sold off, badged with the famous CWG auction label. These represent some of the Cape’s finest wines, and they fetch high prices.

Back in 1981, when the Cape Winemakers’ Guild was first formed, the South African wine scene was very different to how it is today. One of the founder members of the CWG, Kevin Arnold of Waterford Estate, recalls how the organization began as a way for isolated winemakers in the Cape to share knowledge and taste more widely. The inaugural meeting consisted of just five winemakers tasting through all Bordeaux five first growths. Since then, the CWG has grown, the South African wine industry has matured, and it is now a multifaceted winemakers’ association. As well as the high profile auction of CWG wines held each year, there are monthly meetings where the members get together and taste and discuss. And there’s also a mentoring aspect where young winemakers are helped along their journey by more experienced colleagues.

The auction wines are chosen in a blind-tasting format. Winemakers enter small, exclusive lots of wine and these are then entered. Once they have been accepted, they can only be sold at the auction, and the maximum quantity for the auction is 100 cases.

Particular strengths this year were Chardonnay and Shiraz. ‘For me collectively it is the best grouping of Chardonnays I have seen in the Auction,’ says Arnold. Boela Gerber thinks the strength of Shiraz is that it responds so well to the diversity of growing conditions found in the Cape.

I tasted through many of the auction wines, and these are my notes.

Graham Beck Wines Non Plus Ultra MCC 2008 Western Cape, South Africa
81% Chardonnay, 19% Pinot Noir. Lovely depth here: has some toast and spice too. Very fine with ripe apple, peach and citrus as well as a nice spiciness. Generous but focused. 91/100

Ntida Swan Song Sauvignon Blanc 2015 Durbanville, South Africa
From Benhard Veller. Elegant grassy, pure, focused nose. Wild ferment with a portion in French oak. Lovely elegance and concentration here with real finesse and lovely subtle grassy green notes. It’s a beautiful grassy green, complemented by grapefruit and passionfruit. A lovely wine. 92/100

Cederberg Ghost Corner Semillon 2015 Elim, South Africa
From David Nieuwoudt. 13.5% alcohol. 8 h skin contact and 50% barrel fermented in one year old oak. Such a distinctive wine with a striking grassy, green nose and palate. Hints of blackcurrant and spice with citrus and herbs. So fresh and grassy with an almost saline edge. It’s a remarkable wine that some people will hate, but I really like it. 91/100

Mullineux Clairette Blanche 2015 Swartland, South Africa
From Andrea Mullineux. 40 year old dry farmed vineyard on Paardeberg granite. Delicate, lemony and pure with a hint of pear richness. Nice weight on the palate: quite refined and primary at the moment with hints of toast and wax. Pretty. Give it time. 91/100

Simonsig Mediterraneo 2015 Stellenbosch, South Africa
Johan Malan makes this. 66% Roussanne, 28% Grenache Blanc, 6% Verdelho. Seasoned French oak for fermentation. Complex, fresh and nutty with some ripe apple, some pear and nectarine with a rich texture and a bit of cedary oak, but it meshes really well with the flavours working in harmony. 90/100

Beaumont Family Wines ‘Morse Moer’ Chening Blanc 2015 Bot River, South Africa
From Sebastian Beaumont. Made from bulk-filtered solids, barrel fermented, naturally fermented. Amazing matchstick flintiness here, with a lovely mineral acidity. Fantastic precision and detail, with beautifully managed reduction alongside the spice, apples and pears with a lively citrus kick. So delightful and complex. 94/100

Waterford Estate ’88 Kept Aside Chardonnay 2015 Stellenbosch, South Africa
This is a vineyard selection from a corner on granite soil with no irrigation, almost 30 year old vines. Very fresh with complex notes of wax, grapefruit and herbs. Lovely texture here with some apple and pear character. Has lovely breadth and some understated minerality and power. Such good acidity. This is lovely. 93/100

Tokara Siberia Chardonnay 2015 Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, South Africa
Wild ferment, barrel-fermented (one third new). Unfiltered and unfined, and picked early with higher acidity. Full malolactic. Decomposed sandstone soils, giving perfume and vibrancy. Supple and focused with pear and white peach. Lovely texture with mineral undercurrents to the fruit. Textured and appealing with lovely precision here. 93/100

Newton Johnson Family Vineyards Seadragon Pinot Noir 2015 Upper Hemel-en-Aarde, South Africa
One hectare block that normally goes into the Family Pinot Noir, with no sulphur dioxide in the winemaking. From broken claystone in the granitic soil – a specific subplot of the vineyard. Fine, expressive, elegant slightly spicy refined red cherry and plum fruit. Has finesse, detail and texture. So delicious and pure with real refinement and a delicious sappy green edge. Such finesse. 95/100

Gottfried Mocke Wine Projects Pinot Noir 2015 Coastal Region, South Africa
Wild ferment, 15% whole bunch, 50% new oak. A unique inland site at high altitude, between Villiersdorp and Worcester. In a small valley, Kaimansgaat. Incredibly aromatic spicy nose with ginger and herbs. Powerful, pure, grippy and youthful with a slight mintiness. Very tight and focused with some elegance but also bold, vivid red fruit character. Distinctive. 94/100

Groot Constantia Auction Shiraz 2014 Constantia, South Africa
Boela Gerber. This is from a gravel ridge. The focus is on perfume and elegance, says Boela. Aromatic, fresh and quite expressive with lovely blackberry and blackcurrant fruit. Grippy and a bit minty on the palate with nice purity and balance. 91/100

Saronsberg Sneeusig Shiraz 2012 Tulbagh, South Africa
From Dewaldt Heyns. Sweet and intense with rich, spicy black cherry and blackberry fruit. Nice freshness allied to the ripeness, with lovely bold flavours and oak meshing well with the ripe fruit. Generous but balanced.

Strydom Family Wines The Expatriate Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz 2013 Stellenbosch, South Africa
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Shiraz. Slopes of the Helderberg. Lovely pure aromatics on the nose of sleek black fruits. Lovely elegant, supple black fruit on the palate with a bit of grip and sleek ripe fruit complemented by some spicy oak, which hides in the background. There’s lovely freshness to this wine, and fruit purity. Ripe but elegant. 93/100

Rust En Vrede CWG Auction Estate 2013 Stellenbosch, South Africa
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Syrah, 5% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. From Coenie Snyman. This is 100% new oak, and you can taste it: it’s spicy and cedary with ripe black fruits. Bold, with a bit of heat from the 15% alcohol. Dense and spicy with a modern feel to it. Has a bit of freshness but it’s too international for me. 89/100

Jordan Sophia 2013 Stellenbosch, South Africa
56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc. From Gary Jordan. Supple and elegant with a lovely roundness to the blackcurrant and plum fruit. Ripe but balanced with a nice fine-grained, chalky tannic structure under the generous fruit. Lovely depth here; this should age nicely. 93/100

Kanonkop CWG Paul Sauer 2013 Stellenbosch, South Africa
From Abrie Breeslar, this comes from 28 year old vines in the Simonsberg. It’s 69% Cabernet Sauvignon with 17% Cabernet Franc and 14% Merlot. Fine, herb tinged raspberry and blackcurrant fruit nose. Has a lovely liqueur-like edge to the fruit. The palate is really pure with sleek red and black fruits backed up by good acidity and tannic structure. This should really age well. Juicy and grippy with lovely focus. 95/100

Etienne Le Riche Special Select Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 Stellenbosch, South Africa
100% Cabernet Sauvignon, from the Jonkershuik, aged in new oak. 14.7% alcohol. Generous, pure and silky with lovely ripe blackcurrant fruit. It’s ripe but has lovely balance with some grainy, chalky notes hiding under the ripe black fruits. Great concentration here and it ageing really nicely with the oak swallowed up by the fruit. 94/100

Hartenberg CWG Auction Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 Stellenbosch, South Africa
From Carl Schultz. 70% new and 30% used oak for 21 months. Generous with a strong core of bright blackcurrant fruit. Tight and quite structured with lovely pure fruit. Great concentration and depth here. Hints of olive and herbs, too. Grippy finish suggests this has a way to go. 92/100

Beyerskloof Traildust Pinotage 2014 Stellenbosch, South Africa
From Beyers Truter. 14.7% alcohol, 20 months in new French oak. Powerful, grippy and spicy with firm tannins, good acidity and sweet, cedary new oak. A concentrated, tight wine of real intensity that’s primary and intense and need lots of time. 90/100

Boplaas Cape Auction Reserve 2009 Western Cape, South Africa
From Carel Nel. Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barocca, Sousão. Made in lagares. Ripe, sweet and concentrated with nice fresh blackberry and cherry fruit and some grip. There’s a warm spiciness here, and a hint of raisin. Quite delicious. 92/100

Paul Cluver Auction Reserve Pinot Noir 2014 Elgin, South Africa
From Andries Burger. Sweet, juicy cherry and plum fruit with some cedary notes. Grippy and structured with nice precision and some peppery characters. 91/100

Neil Ellis Insignium 2013 Stellenbosch, South Africa
From Neil Ellis. Supple, textured and juicy with nice sweet berry and black fruits with some grip and fine pepper characters. An elegant style. 90/100

Mullineux Trifecta Syrah 2013 Swartland, South Africa
Lovely meat and olive savouriness with some olive tapenade character alongside the ripe fruit. Raspberry and cherry with some mint. Fresh and elegant. 93/100

Boekenhoutskloof Syrah Reserve 2014 Western Cape, South Africa
From Marc Kent. Supple, fresh and focused. This is a very elegant style with some floral raspberry and black cherry fruit. Subtle meatiness and real finesse with some nice pepper notes. An elegant style. 94/100

Boschkloof Epilogue Syrah 2014 Stellenbosch, South Africa
From Jacques Boorman. Sweet liqueur-like cherry fruit nose. Ripe, supple and balanced with brightness to the raspberry and cherry fruit. A lovely wine in an elegant style. 93/100

from jamie goode’s wine blog http://www.wineanorak.com:/wineblog/south-africa/notes-on-the-2016-cape-winemakers-guild-auction-wines

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In the Douro: Niepoort

Niepoort’s Quinta do Nápoles

Next stop on the Douro trip: Niepoort.

It was a real pleasure to spend a few days at Quinta do Nápoles with one of my favourite people in the world of wine, Dirk Niepoort. Dirk picks early, so when we visited harvest, this year a little later in the Douro, was well underway, with the bulk of the grapes about to arrive.

Quinta do Carril

During our time at Nápoles we tried quite a few Niepoort wines, as well as many non Niepoort wines. Here are notes on the Niepoort Douro wines.

Niepoort Diálogo Branco 2015 Douro, Portugal
20% oak, 80% stainless. The oaked portion is wine that doesn’t make Redoma. Very fresh and pithy with bright lemons and herbs. Vivid and brisk with good acidity. Linear and refreshing with nice presence. 89/100

Niepoort Redoma Branco 2015 Douro, Portugal
12.5% alcohol. Linear, pithy and quite focused with lovely bright pithy, slightly herb-tinged fruit. It’s lemony with some white peach, fennel and a hint of mint, as well as a bit of spicy cedary oak in the background. Tight-wound and quite dense, this needs some time to open out. 92/100

Niepoort Redoma Branco Reserva 2015 Douro, Portugal
12.5% alcohol. Nutty, linear and vital with tightwound citrussy fruit. There’s a lovely lemon oil note here lurking above with some minerals and herbs. Lovely citrus core to the wine. Has great concentration and presence with good acidity, and it should age beautifully. There’s some cedary spicy oak here, too. 94/100

Niepoort Coche 2014 Douro, Portugal
Concentrated, linear, fresh and citrussy. Fine with incredible acidity and an amazing linear personality. Very fine and expressive with lovely mineral notes. There’s a touch of sweet pear and white peach fruit, together with lovely mineral framing. Such an expressive wine. 95/100

Niepoort Coche 2015 Douro, Portugal (cask sample)
Very fresh with lemons, and a pure intense mineral character. Has some ripe pear and white peach notes but there’s a lovely citrus drive and a hint of nuttiness around the edges. Lovely precision here and a bit of pithiness, too. 94-96/100

Niepoort Redoma Rosé 2015 Douro, Portugal
12% alcohol. Pale salmon pink in colour. Fresh with nice acidity and clean, slightly creamy, spicy, vanilla-edged fresh cherry and pear fruit. Nice spiciness. Very fresh and detailed with lovely personality. Fine and gastronomic. 89/100

Niepoort Redoma Tinto 2014 Douro, Portugal
Pure, focused raspberry and cherry fruit. Has freshness and grip. Structured and quite fine with red cherries and raspberries. Fresh and delicious. 94/100

Niepoort Redoma Tinto 1991 Douro, Portugal
Another chance to look at the first official Redoma. Spicy, vivid red fruits and herbs on the nose. The palate is vivid, fresh, peppery and juicy with detailed red fruits, and raspberries and cherries. Nicely linear and focused with some elegance. 94/100

Niepoort Redoma Tinto 1996 Douro, Portugal
Fine, spicy and expressive with red cherries, spices and herbs. Lovely raspberry and redcurrants here. Juicy and focused with good acidity. So fresh in style with some grip still. 93/100\

Charme fermenting in barrel

Niepoort Charme 2014 Douro, Portugal
The majority of the grapes for this come from Vale Mendiz, and there’s a lot of Tinta Roriz here. Sweet, supple and expressive with lovely red cherries, some redcurrants and herbs. So expressive and textured. Lovely balance to the red fruits with some spicy oak in the background. Youthful and primary with lovely personality and great potential for development. 94/100

Niepoort Vertente 2014 Douro, Portugal
Mainly from Covas de Douro. 40% our vineyards. Mix of different varieties. Vinified in stainless steel with a long maceration of around 3-4 weeks. Aged in French barrels, mainly Francois Freres for around 20 months. 30% new oak. Fresh and vivid with a bit of spiciness. Juicy and focused with good acidity, and fresh, bright raspberry and blackberry fruit. Some cherries too, with a spicy finish. Fruity and easy with nice structure, and a hint of new oak. 92/100

Niepoort Redoma 2014 Douro, Portugal
The vineyards are always the left side of the Douro river. Carril goes mostly to Robustus, but when it doesn’t it goes to Redoma. Old vines, around 100 years old. Blends of different varieties. Vinified in lagars, mainly, with stems. This wine isn’t a fresh, elegant wine, but something that is more Douro. Aged in big foudres of 5 or 10 000 litres for 22 months. Robust, dense, spicy and vivid with lovely black cherries and firm tannic structure. Powerful and intense with lovely richness allied to spicy freshness. Grippy and a bit wild. Lovely. 94/100

Niepoort Batuta 2014 Douro, Portugal
Right side of the river. Mainly Tinta Amarela and Rufete. Very old vineyards, up to 130 years old. Fermented in stainless steel with a long (two month) maceration with very little extraction, and then 22 months in Francois Freres French oak, 20% new. Refined, structured, fresh and precise with lovely black cherry and raspberry fruit. Nice cedary structure here. Refined with good acidity and nice focus. Fresh and concentrated with lovely precision. This is tightwound and refined, and needs some time. But it’s really serious. 95/100

Niepoort Batuta 2013 Douro, Portugal
Focused and fresh with lovely bright cherry and raspberry fruit. Nice acidity. Powerful but balanced with lovely freshness and focus. 94/100

Niepoort Batuta 2011 Douro, Portugal
Brooding, intense black fruits nose. Complex, rich, tightwound blackberry and black cherry fruit with some tannic grip. Grippy and dense with richness and structure. Needs time. 93/100

Niepoort Clos du Crappe 2013 Douro, Portugal
Remarkable stuff. There’s some spicy reduction here but it’s nicely integrated into the smooth, quite elegant juicy red cherry fruit. Very interesting and detailed with some grip on the finish. 93/100

Niepoort Robustus 2009 Douro, Portugal
Comes from old vineyards, mainly Carril. ‘It’s not easy to make Robustus,’ says Carlos. ‘It’s difficult to keep the wine so long in old oak.’ This is the next release, and the one after this will be the 2012 or 2013. Vinified in oak and lagares, aged four years in big foudres. A warm vintage, but a big selection allowed them to keep the style. Brooding slightly earthy black fruits with some undergrowth and spice notes. Smoke, spices, blood and herbs. Some pepper, too. Concentrated palate has a hint of mint and spice. Dense and peppery with real intensity and structure. Lovely spicy wildness and a core of black fruits. It’s the essence of the Douro. 96/100

Niepoort Robustus 2008 Douro, Portugal
Complex, dense, focused and brooding with a hint of mint and lovely definition. Complex tightwound blackcurrant and black cherry fruit with a dry, tannic, slightly salty finish. This has a slightly Barolo-like character with lots of fruit but also firm structure and good acidity. 96/100

Niepoort Turris 2013 Douro, Portugal
The first edition was 2012. ‘This is the top of the top,’ says Carlos Raposa. ‘It comes from the oldest vineyard we know in the Douro that’s 130 years old.’ Some of this wine becomes Turris and the rest is going to Batuta. It’s on the right side of the river. Vinified Batuta style in a foudre of 1000 litres. Old foudres from the Mosel. Amazingly fresh and elegant with lovely pure black cherry fruit with some vital, iron, blood and mineral notes. This has such amazing elegance and presence with lovely sanguine character. The acidity is well integrated and there’s a lovely compactness, purity and floral quality to the red fruits. There’s a real spicy, tamed-wild character. Thrilling. 97/100

Find these wines with wine-searcher.com

from jamie goode’s wine blog http://www.wineanorak.com:/wineblog/portugal/in-the-douro-niepoort

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Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay 2015 Nelson, New Zealand

I have a thing for Kiwi Chardonnay. Its day will come. It doesn’t currently get the respect it deserves, but with wines like these from Neudorf, and the stunning wines of Kumeu River and others, things will change.

Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay 2015 Nelson, New Zealand
14% alcohol. Complex, intense lemon and grapefruit with some rich pear notes, as well as subtle mealiness. There’s spicy, mineral notes as well as freshness, with a lemony core. This wine walks the tightrope between richness and precision really well. It’s so pure with a vital tension, and a bit of spice on the finish. Lots of potential for development here. 94/100

Find this wine with wine-searcher.com

from jamie goode’s wine blog http://www.wineanorak.com:/wineblog/new-zealand/neudorf-moutere-chardonnay-2015-nelson-new-zealand

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Interesting wines from Bosman Family Vineyards with Corlea Fourie

Corlea Fourie is the winemaker behind Bosman Family Vineyards, based in the Wellington region of South Africa. I caught up with her to taste some interesting new releases, including the fabulous Optenhorst Chenin Blanc, made from vines planted in 1952.

Bosman Fides 2013 Wellington, South Africa
This is a skin-fermented Grenache Blanc. This particular vintage had 8 weeks skin contact, but this differs with the year. 30% is then aged in Russian oak; the rest is unoaked. Yellow in colour. Fresh, with a distinctive nose of mint and fennel, and nice mineral notes. Very pretty and expressive with freshness and grip, and a nice savoury twist. 92/100

Bosman Optenhorst Chenin Blanc 2014 Wellington, South Africa
This is a single vineyard, planted in 1952, with bush vines. This year it has been repackaged, and also a portion is fermented in concrete tanks (previously, it had all been oak aged). ‘We’ve always wanted to say more about the vineyard than about the oak,’ says Corlea Fourie. This has lovely textured pear and lemon fruit with real elegance and a subtle creamy hint. It’s mineral with freshness and purity. So textural. 94/100

Bosman Twyfeling 2015 Wellington, South Africa
Juicy and fresh with fine, expressive raspberry and red cherry fruit. Textural and direct with fresh fruit and an expressive personality. Fine-grained tannins. Bright and elegant at the same time. 93/100

Find these wines with wine-searcher.com

from jamie goode’s wine blog http://www.wineanorak.com:/wineblog/south-africa/interesting-wines-from-bosman-family-vineyards-with-corlea-fourie

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Domaine des Ormes Saumur 2014: an amazing value Loire red

Occasionally I taste a wine with no idea of where it’s sourced from or how much it costs. This is one of those wines, and when I found out it was an inexpensive supermarket wine, I was stunned. So I tasted it again, from a bottle that had been open two days, and it was still lovely. So this is a hearty recommendation, if you have any love for Loire reds. I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but when they are good they are thrilling, life-enhancing wines. And this is stunning value for money.

Domaine des Ormes Saumur 2014 Loire. France 
13% alcohol. This co-operative made wine (Vignerons de Saumur) is from Pascal and François Champion. From one block, and mostly Cabernet Franc, on a clay, chalk, sandstone soil. Floral, aromatic black cherry, herb and forest floor nose. The concentrated palate shows sweet, textured, multilayered black fruits with green herb and pepper notes. Generous, a bit grippy, slightly sappy and beautifully balanced. Essence of Loire Cabernet Franc. 92/100 (£7.49 Co-op)

from jamie goode’s wine blog http://www.wineanorak.com:/wineblog/loire/domaine-des-ormes-saumur-2014-an-amazing-value-loire-red

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We have the wrong map: how false directions impede our search for happiness

A while ago I posted on happiness, and in the short essay I mentioned that one reason people might be unhappy is that they have false beliefs about how happiness might be attained.

I am walking along a London street. I am approached by a tourist. She speaks good English, but they are clearly lost. I’m happy to help and I ask her to pass me her map, so that I can point out where she is. [This would be a helpful start.] Then I can show her the best way to her destination. She hands me the map and I start to look at it. But there’s something wrong: some of the parts of the map are accurate, but others are clearly wrong. ‘This map is wrong,’ I point out gently. ‘In fact, it’s completely useless: it’s just going to keep getting you lost. You need to get a new map.’

She looks surprised. ‘It’s OK she says. ‘I’ve had this map a long time, and it’s dear to me. I don’t want to change it.’

‘But doesn’t it keep getting you lost?’

‘Yes, often. But it’s my map. So could you at least point out where I am on it, and I’ll try my best from there.’

I decide that there’s nothing I can really do to help, so I point out where she is, once again urging her to consider changing the map.

So it is with our ‘map’ to happiness. We each have our own map, which we use to guide us through life. Some of it is written by our experience, and some is passed on to us by our family background. Other bits – usually quite substantial – are written on it by the cultural values we pick up from the societies we live in and the social groups we belong to. Films, books, broadcast media and the advertising industry also write our maps. And, like the London tourist, we have maps that simply don’t work when it comes to making us happy. Yet we are loath to discard these faulty maps. We are familiar with them, and we cling to them, resisting any opportunities to reform them.

If we are to progress to happiness, we must discard these maps and allow fresh ones to be written. There are large obstacles in the way of this. First, we must admit that we can be wrong, and that we often are. Second, we must recognize where our current beliefs come from, and the degree to which they have been absorbed from the unreliable source of our culture. We need to cling less hard to our current beliefs and be open-minded and brave enough to assess them honestly.

One exercise I find healthy is to go somewhere busy, buy a drink, and sit and watch people going past. Then practice ‘sonder’ – this is the term used to describe the fact that the people around you all have lives that are as real and full and detailed and complicated as your own. All those people walking past. Imagine what is going on in their lives. How differently they might see the world that you and they are passing through. This is a helpful first step in putting our map down. To put our map down requires that we recognize that we are part of something bigger, and while we certainly matter, we are not at the centre of the world. We need to step aside from our ego that puts us in the middle of everything, and somehow look at ourselves from a distance.

from jamie goode’s wine blog http://www.wineanorak.com:/wineblog/uncategorized/we-have-the-wrong-map-how-false-directions-impede-our-search-for-happiness

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In the Douro: Vallado

Francisco Ferreira

After visiting Vallado’s property in the Douro Superior earlier in the week, it was time to visit the original Quinta, which is on the border of the Baixo and Cima Corgo subregions. Vallado has some lovely old vineyards, and we tasted the whites at the top of the hill with Francisco Ferreira, winemaker and co-owner. Francisco started here when he was in his mid-20s, and together with his cousin João Ribeiro, has done a great job in developing the Vallado table wine portfolio, with some consulting help from Xito Olazabal of Vale Meão.

Both Francisco and João are direct descendants of the famous Dona Antonio Adelaide Ferreira: they’re the sixth generation.

The basic Vallado red is a really good value introduction to the Douro. We tried a couple of vintages.

Vallado Tinto 2011 Douro, Portugal
80% young vineyards, 20% 70 year old. About half Touriga Franca in this blend. 200 000 bottles. Sweet, fresh raspberry jam nose with some black cherry. Perfumed and attractive. Lovely fresh black fruits palate with a bit of grip. Really attractive and balanced, and amazing considering that this sells in Portugal for 7.5€. 89/100

Vallado Tinto 2014 Douro, Portugal
Lovely floral black cherry and blackcurrant fruit here. This was a tricky vintage with harvest interrupted by rain. At the beginning the wines were a bit tannic, but this is looking like a really good vintage now. This has lovely fresh, supple, yet structured black fruits with pepper, meat and a lovely herbal twist. So drinkable and very fresh. 90/100

Things are taken up a notch with the single varietal wines, of which the Touriga Nacional and Sousão are particularly noteworthy. Sousão does really well here, but less well in the Douro Superior.

Quinta do Vallado Tinta Roriz 2013 Douro, Portugal
Last made in 2003. It’s a variety that can be a bit rustic here. This comes from a rented quinta in the Douro Superior, and it has 40% American oak. Fresh and vibrant but with sweet black fruits. Has some tar and spice from the oak, with a hint of vanilla. Very spicy and rich with roast coffee hints. Concentrated, dense and tannic, this is quite interesting but a bit primary right now. 91/100

Vallado Quinta do Orgal Douro Superior Organic Vineyards 2014 Douro, Portugal
This is 60% Touriga Nacional. 37% Touriga Franca and 3% Sousão, aged in older barrels. Fro three year old vines. Concentrated and intense with structured black cherry and raspberry fruit. Really dense with lovely black fruits and a nice floral edge. Lovely fruit intensity here. Primary but with potential. 93/100

Quinta do Vallado Touriga Nacional 2014 Douro, Portugal
Very fresh and floral with good concentration and a salty edge to the black fruits. Quite mineral and with some savouriness. Vivid and grippy with a pretty peppery, meaty edge to the lovely dense black cherry and olive core. 93/100

Quinta do Vallado Sousão 2014 Douro, Portugal
Vallado were the first to make a single varietal version of this grape in 2004. Very powerful with taut raspberry and red cherry fruit. Very bright and intense with good acidity. Made in a lagar, foot tread and then during fermentation extract only gently. Primary and intense with some herby notes. Intensely fresh, sappy and with very high acidity (7-9 g/litre normally). 94/100

The Reserva is from old vineyards, which are, as is normal for older Douro plots, planted with a mix of dozens of varieties. These old vines all look a bit beaten up, and vary widely in their appearance, but the results are excellent.

Quinta do Vallado Reserva Field Blend Tinto 2008 Douro, Portugal
Very old vineyards: schist soils, low vigour, high density so lots of competition, small bunches. Subtle spice and malt notes on the nose, with a hint of mint. Concentrated palate with herbs and spices and some lovely texture. Nice weight and combination of freshness and lushness with hints of dried meats, mint, herbs and warm spiciness. Grippy and structured with focus. Very stylish; beginning to develop nicely. 92/100

Quinta do Vallado Reserva Field Blend Tinto 2011 Douro, Portugal
20% Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, with the rest from very old vineyards. 18 months in 70% new French oak. Very pure, fresh and textured with powerful but silky tannic structure. Vivid, grippy black fruits here showing complex spice and cured meat notes. Broad but balanced with lovely focus. Stylish and complete, this has a massive potential. 93/100

Quinta do Vallado Reserva Field Blend Tinto 2014 Douro, Portugal
Just 5% newer vineyards, the rest very old. Less new oak, too. Amazingly fresh with lovely pure raspberry and cherry fruit. Stylish, vivid and juicy with lovely bright berries and cherries. Has good acidity and nice tannic structure. This is pretty serious stuff with a bright future, some herby hints, good acidity and lovely presence. 94/100

Quinta do Vallado Adelaide 2012 Douro, Portugal
Beautifully intense blackcurrant, blackberry and cherry nose with some spiciness. The palate shows great concentration with some minty, spicy freshness, firm tannins and good acidity. Real precision here. It’s taut, tannic and a bit backward, and needs some time. But it’s pretty serious stuff with great structure and intensity. 95/100

We also tried some cask samples of the impressive 2015s

Sousao 2015
Very inky, intense, vivid with high acidity and lovely tannins, but also lots of spicy oak. Amazing

Touriga Nacional from Orgal 2015
Incredibly aromatic and dense with really perfumed, pretty black fruits. Brilliantly intense.

Touriga Nacional, 20 year old vines, rented Douro Superior quinta
Pretty with lovely green-edged floral cherry fruit and lovely focused, high acid palate. Supple and pretty.

Old Vines 2015 (1)
Dense, structured, lovely fruit, nice complexity and exotic spices with really nice tannins.

Old Vines 2015 (2)
Dense and structured with good concentration and acidity, and real power. Quite backward.

Of late, Vallado have also been focusing on Port, and are building up good stocks of tawnies, as well as making very nice vintage.

Quinta do Vallado Vintage Port 2014 Douro, Portugal
Good concentration here with lovely, pretty black cherry fruit and nice spicy framing. Pure and quite lush with fine tannic structure and real purity. Fresh, juicy and lively. This is 100% old vineyards. Intriguing with nice purity and fine herby notes. Lovely wine. 93/100

Quinta do Vallado 10 Year Old Tawny Port NV Douro, Portugal
Lovely freshness with some cherry fruit and spicy raisin notes. Juicy and vivid with nice focus and purity. Fresh and complex, showing lovely balance. 93/100

Quinta do Vallado 30 Year Old Tawny Port NV Douro, Portugal
Pale coloured. Lovely mint and herb notes with fresh raisiny notes and pretty citrus fruits. Fine spicy notes here with real freshness. Marmalade, lemon curds and fine raisin and spice notes. So fresh and complex. 95/100

Vallado ABF NV Douro, Portugal
This is a wine from 1888, and it’s a follow-up from the Adelaide Tributa. It’s impossible to know that it’s the original wine, but from the analysis and the taste it’s clear that it’s a very old wine, and this is how it is sold. So complex and intense with cedar, spice, treacle, raisin and herb notes, with some mint and coffee notes, too. Very sweet but with amazing acidity and depth, and a savoury salty edge. So complex with freshness and a very long finish. Astonishingly intense and really beautiful. Profound. 96/100

from jamie goode’s wine blog http://www.wineanorak.com:/wineblog/portugal/in-the-douro-vallado

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Foot-treading grapes at Quinta de Vargellas, Douro

One of the remarkable things about Port wine is foot treading grapes. For top quality Port, it’s necessary to extract as much as possible from the skins as fast as possible, but also as gently as possible. The best way to do this is in shallow fermentation vessels called lagares, which are usually made of granite.

The reason the extraction needs to be fast is that the fermentation period is short: just a few days. Then the wine is combined with brandy while it still has lots of sugar left in it, and fermentation stops. It’s at this stage that the wine is separated from the skins.

At Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas, where the foot-treading here is taken place, human feet are used for the top Ports. They also have some robotic lagares, designed to emulate the foot-treading process, for less expensive Ports. Pictured above is David Guimeraens, Taylor’s chief winemaker, standing next to the keyboard player who provides the musical accompaniment.

The lagares are trodden for four hours in the evening. The first two hours is the cut, which is done in an orderly fashion and in silence. Then it’s liberdade: music begins and people dance around for another two hours in a celebratory mood. It’s a remarkable thing to experience.

from jamie goode’s wine blog http://www.wineanorak.com:/wineblog/portugal/foot-treading-grapes-at-quinta-de-vargellas-douro

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In the Douro: Quinta do Crasto

Quinta do Crasto is one of the most beautiful properties in the Douro, perched on a steeply sloped promontory sticking out from the right bank of the Douro, in the heart of the Cima Corgo.

We parked our rental car in Pinhão and caught the train to Ferrão. It’s a 7 minute ride along the bank of the river; by car, it’s a tricky 25 minute journey through some scary roads that go up and down the hills and through the middle of Covas de Douro. At Pinhão station, one of the famous tile graphics shows Crasto as it used to be in the 19th Century (it’s labelled a Quinta at Ferrão), and later that day we were to ascend the vineyards on the hill behind, which have been developed by Crasto, to catch pretty much the same view.

The vineyards here are pretty special. As you look down at the property, towards the river, the steeply sloped terraces to the left flank of the Quinta are a special old block called Vinha Maria Theresa. It’s 4.7 hectares, and by later afternoon it’s in shade. There are 49 different varieties here, and they are harvested in three pickings. They know how many because they have done a research project in which each vine (28 000 of them) is geotagged, and then DNA is taken to identify them. This research project has thrown up a couple of previously unknown varieties. In good years, Maria Theresa is bottled separately, as is the 1.9 hectare old vine Vinha da Ponte block just up the hill.

Manuel Lobos, winemaker

Crasto has been an important player in the table wine revolution. David Baverstock, ex-pat Australian winemaker, was involved at the beginning (1994 was the first vintage of the table wine era here), and he played an important but often forgotten role in the beginnings of the modern table wine scene. He brought in fellow Aussie Dominic Morris as consultant, and then Dominic hired Susana Esteban to work alongside him. The current winemaker is Manuel Lobos, who’s been here for seven years. He was previously at Quinta do Côtto, one of the even earlier pioneers of Douro table wines.

Crasto has 90 hectares at the Quinta, and also 114 hectares at Quinta da Cabrera in the Douro Superior, a project started in 2002, with the first vines planted in 2004. This runs for 2.5 km along the left bank of the Douro from Castelo Melhor. To keep the vines watered at Cabrera it’s necessary to pump 1 million litres a day from the river, which is distributed via 17 km of drip lines.

We took a ride to the top of the property, passing through the older plantings of Touriga Nacional (from the 1970s; the old vineyards were field blends and had very little of this star variety). Then we saw where new plantings of whites were going in, at the top of the hill where it’s much cooler.

Crasto wines have been known for their ripeness and reliance on oak in the past, but there are some signs that this is changing, at least for some of the wines. Lobo is a talented, thoughtful winemaker. ‘It’s very easy to have a wine in the Douro with high alcohol, lots of colour and also rusticity,’ he says. ‘We try to understand balance and preserve freshness.’ He recognises the excesses of former times. ‘I think in the past Douro wines had too much extraction. Crasto wines are big with oak, but one of my concerns is to have a wine of freshness from the entry level to the top wine.’ He adds, ‘In the Douro we have so many things to discover still.’

The Crasto Superior wines are impressive, with lots of focus on fruit and with plenty of freshness. Lobo uses acacia heads on the barrels for the whites, to tighten the wines up a bit and give less obvious oak character. He also uses the oxoline system, which allows battonage without opening the barrel simply by rolling it to suspend the lees. The reds have a lovely floral perfume and the oak is very much in the background.

Of the estate wines, I find the Reserva Old Vines still a little too oaky and ripe, although newer vintages seem more focused than older. The star of the tasting, though, was the Maria Theresa 2007, which shows just what a top old vineyard can achieve. It’s rich, but it’s fresh and elegant. The Ports are also good here, and this is an increasing emphasis of Crasto, as with some of the other Douro boys who made their reputation first with table wines.

from jamie goode’s wine blog http://www.wineanorak.com:/wineblog/portugal/in-the-douro-quinta-do-crasto

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