Is wine the new rock 'n' roll (again)?

Christmas catalogues are upon us again, and in browsing through the ones for clothing, I notice that the color they used to  call “Burgundy” is now known as “Malbec”—no kidding. Congratulations, Argentina, you’re arrived. Sort of.
          Also in the news, Decanter reports that hip-hop artist Jay Z has bought a substantial stake in Armand de Brignac Champagne (price per bottle: £210 in the UK or $299 in the US, though of course that could change now). The performer has referred to the wine in his music in the past. Other rappers are referencing other Champagnes in their music, and are reportedly interested in also buying in. Bling alert?

English wine: More good news

Good news about English wine keeps coming in, beginning with optimistic reports from several vineyards about the high quality of the harvest. . .

       This summer I visited Steven Spurrier and his wife Bella in Dorset, coincidentally on the day Steven was going over to Furleigh Estate to taste the final blend of his and Bella’s Bride Valley sparkling wine, which had been resting there in bottle for more than a year, while undergoing secondary fermentation. I was happy to go along. (Here they are afterward, contented.)

I’d never been to the winery, which has a tasting room that would rival anything in the Napa Valley, as well as lovely wines. I can say the same for Steven and Bella’s—freshness and elegance were the words that came immediately to mind. Afterward, we walked through the Bride Valley vineyard with Bella, quite relaxed now in her role as vigneronne after a couple of good harvests in a row; the view of their village below, and their house, was postcard-perfect. The wine will be released soon.

       Another notable sparkler is from Davenport, a winery in East Sussex, which I encountered on the wine list at Fera, in Claridge’s—bracing and delicious. It’s also made from organically farmed grapes. Will Davenport took the organic plunge just over 10 years ago, and it’s paid off. For example, his Horsmonden Dry White (named for the vineyard in Kent where the grapes are grown) just won the well-established (28 years!) and prestigious Soil Association Organic Award.

       Finally, London Cru, a winery based in London that makes wine from grapes purchased in various countries (but which isn’t allowed by the Food Standards Agency to say which countries or even which grape varieties on their labels), has made their first buy of English grapes, 3,000 kilograms of Bacchus from Sandhurst Vineyards in Kent. “This is the year to do it,” said winemaker Gavin Monery. As the grapes are local, the wine should be allowed to be labeled with locality and variety.

Just sayin' . . .

“Aromas of peach, oatmeal, subtle notes of charred peat, seasoned by complex lees derived characters, with flashes of matchstick, zesty orange rind and ginger deftly laced with complex seasoned oak. . . “  That’s an actual tasting note for a wine, though it’s edited down from the original, which was even longer (and sillier). Somehow, back in the 1980s, wine writers decided that stripped-down descriptions of wines wouldn’t do any more, maybe because they were looking to make their work more distinctive. So, what winemaker John Parducci once called “fruit-salad tasting notes” began appearing. They continue, despite much deserved derision, in some places. Now, supermarket chain Tesco has announced they will start using descriptions from consumers who have attended a special tasting of their new range; I was thinking it could be a good idea until I got to the end of the announcement, which noted that wine bloggers would also be included in the trials. Oh well. . .

English wine harvest 2014 looking good

Furleigh Estate, in West Dorset, is expecting its best-ever harvest this autumn, anticipated to be twice as large as the previous record yield, in 2010, as a result of two consecutive years of great summer weather, which enabled vines to thrive. Rebecca Hansford, owner of Furleigh Estate, said: “We are so excited about this year’s bumper harvest. A dry Glastonbury Festival and a warm Wimbledon are usually reliable indicators that the grape harvest is going to be good, so we’ve had high hopes. We are so fortunate that the English climate has been kind to the vines this season!”  I called around, and several other English winemakers said the same thing, so this could be the break-out year. (By the way, Furleigh Estate is where Steven Spurrier’s new sparkling wine, Bride Valley, was made. I visited the estate this summer and tasted the wine, which was quite impressive; more on that very soon.

Rambling in the Piedmont (part 1). . .

I was invited to speak at a four-day festival in Barolo, where Italy’s best wine is made, and of course jumped at the chance. It was all slightly nutty, called Collisioni (collision) for good reason: Music (Jamiroquai and some Italian rap groups), literature (Ian McEwan, David Sedaris, V.S. Naipaul, and Michael Chabon—I’m still trying to imagine reading “Telegraph Avenue” in Italian), and wine (a group of us from Decanter magazine, doing talks and tastings).
       I was talking about Italian food and wine, trying to explain how Italian-American cooking is a genuine, separate aspect, and making a comparison between, for example, New York’s Little Italy Sicilian—red sauce, etc.—and San Francisco’s North Beach, based more on pesto sauce and with maybe a little more refinement (that was the subject of my first e-book this year, “The Flavor of North Beach Revisited”). Since Liguria is a neighbor, right down the road south from where we were and reeking of basil, the audience seemed receptive to the shout-out.
       I was mainly there to promote my newest e-book, “The Wine Lover Cooks Italian,” and I solved the problem of its having no hard, physical existence by waving around a copy of the original book and exclaiming “revisita!” Don’t know if they got it, but when I finished, I was given a wheel of local cheese, known as Toma, which is very good. I’ve certainly had worse wages. (It was a gift from the local cheese-makers’ association—someone there had read the book, and they were very pleased that I’d included three Piedmont versions in the cheese chapter.)
       Wine? Wonderful everywhere we went (and we got around), and some of the best was made by female winemakers. I especially liked the Dolcetto from Pira & Figli, which Chiara Boschis labels “no oak, no Berlusconi.” Delicious, and good advice. And a nice discovery, a lovely dry white from a heritage grape called Naschetta, being revived by several young winemakers. I tried Rivetto’s--one of those wines that’s serious but also makes you smile. Quite auspicious. For information on the festival, have a look at www.collisioni.it. More wine notes to come soon.