Winner of a Decanter World Wine Awards platinum award in 2017 this is an excellent wine at a great price. (Spoiler £17 a bottle).
Aromas of blackberry, blackcurrant, vanilla and spice with additional flavours of red fruit. Silky smooth with balanced tannins and long lasting taste. Wonderful on its own or with steak, lamb or game meat. A superb red from Chile.
Aresti 2012 family collection
The Chet & Waveney Schonberger rose wine not made from a typical grape. Schonberger is widely planted in Germany but you don’t see it much in the UK. This is a dry, light, refreshing rose with subtle flavours of wild strawberry, an easy drinking summer wine along the lines of that from Provence. £12 a bottle is what you pay for english rose. Probably not an everyday drinking wine given the price but it does show that english rose can match Provence.
Chet and Waveney Schonberger rose 2017
2019 London Wine Fair
The London Wine Fair is over 3 days and its said to have approx. 14,000 wines on offer to taste from all over the world.
There were a few countries wines I wanted to taste and I even put an order in for a box of English Sparkling Mead from the Wye Valley Meadery. Lets start with them –
Wye Valley Meadery is a new setup with a product that is very different. A normal mead is honey that has been fermented, in this case the guys have added elderflower, hops or rhubarb to their mead and made it slightly sparkling. Its not a full on sparkling wine style but very pleasant. I hope to enjoy in the garden when I don’t want to drink anything too alcoholic. At approx. £3 a bottle its not cheap but worth treating yourself too.
Wyevale mead Wales
English wine
Winberri 2017 and 2018 Bacchus.
Winbirri won a Decanter Trophy at the Decant World Wine Awards in 2017, no mean feat for a winemaker. Their 2017 Bacchus vintage was light, aromas of citrus, lemon and gooseberry. The taste was more gooseberry with grassy notes. The 2018 vintage was a step up with aromas of grass, citrus and gooseberry, it was drier on the palate with flavours of gooseberry, citrus and minerals. lighter than 2017 and maybe a little bit more balanced. At about £14 a bottle its not cheap but decent value given the quality.
London Wine fair 2019, English Bacchus
2016 Plumpton College Sparkling
I tried the Rose and the Blanc sparkling wines. These were very dry with hints of red fruit strawberry for the rose and hints of grass & subtle citrus notes for the white, but both were light and easy drinking. It’s a little light for me, I tried Gusbournes sparkling white which was a step up on these.
Greek wine
White and blue label
Well, Greek Wine! Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Its pretty good, this was dry, with notes and hints of citrus, lemon, light and easy drinking. Not a great deal going on flavour wise but drinkable on a summers day, even in England.
London Wine Fair 2019 Greek wine
Silver label
Another dry wine which tastes more off dry, rounded with a little more flavour and a decent length. Flavours of citrus and lychee in the background
Rose label
It’s a step up over the previous whites. Subtle hints of strawberry and freshness on the aroma and great flavours of red berries, strawberries with a longer finish than the whites. An excellent rose for the summer.
2012 red
In some ways a surprise of the show but that’s just old habits of not expanding my mind enough. The 2012 red had superb aromas of vanilla, spice with flavours of dark red fruits, cherries, Blackberries, blackcurrants. It has very well integrated tannins making it smooth and absolutely fantastic quality. Silver or Gold medal quality here.
Babylonstoren – South Africa
Babel
This is an entry level wine by the winemakers at the 2nd most visited gardens in South Africa (so I’m told). We visited in 2017 and loved the garden, food (most from the gardens) and the wine. Not much has changed, quality is still there. This re is dry with firm tannins, black fruits such as blackberry, blackcurrant and plum. There are spicy notes with a decent long finish. At about £13 a bottle its not going to break the bank and will impress dinner guests.
London Wine Fair 2019 Babylonstoren
Shiraz
Red cherry, prunes with a hint of black fruits, pepper notes, silky smooth
with reasonable tannins, personally I think I like this the most as the tannins are lower and it’s a more fruit driven dry red. A reasonable priced bottle at about £15.
Nebukadnesar 2016
This is the flag ship Red from Babylonstoren. Dry with firm tannins, vanilla and spice notes. For me this is too young to drink now but give it 5-10 years to soften up and it will be outstanding. Not cheap at £20+ a bottle but if you can wait to drink it, a fair price for the quality. Do wait though to get the best from it.
Canada
Canadian wine is, on the whole, high quality, expensive and hard to get outside of Canada.
Burrowing owl vineyard has a reputation for high quality wines, their Merlot is dry, medium tannin red with well integrated red fruits and very easy drinking. Price is a factor on this and there are cheaper alternatives.
London Wine Fair 2019 Burrowing Owl
Cab Franc 2014 / 16
2016 is better than 2014, the 2016 has more concentrated fruit flavours, lots of redcurrant and cherry with reasonably firm tannins. The 2014 is a little washed out compared to the 2016. Both are very drinkable. At £30+ a bottle it’s a little too expensive for me.
Syrah
Aromas of vanilla, tobacco and spice and flavours of ripe black fruits, vanilla and
Spice. So very smooth and well integrated tannins, gorgeous but at a price. £30+ a bottle is pushing the higher end of what it’s worth. A special occasion can justify the price only.
Meritage
Lighter than the Sarah in some ways with slightly less fruit flavours. It’s the
tannins which you notice more, they are a little more grippier around the mouth. This is a Bordeaux blend and will benefit from laying down to soften the tannins and allow the fruit to come to the fore. Like the others this is not a cheap wine at £30+ a bottle
Wine Rascals stand
This firm specialises in Organic, Bio and Vegan wines, why? Well as they said it makes them stand out from the other wine merchants and there are excellent wines in these categories. The next shows how good these wines are. There are many vegan wines out there than don’t shout out vegan but for a vegan it’s easier if you can go to a wine merchant that makes the selection as simple as possible. What I liked about this firm is their enthusiasm, from the sales people to the marketing lady I first spoke too.
London Wine Fair 2019 Wine Rascals
Henry of Pelham Old Vines Baco Noir 2017.
Aromas of spice and dark black fruits, very smooth tannins which just slide around the mouth. Absolutely amazing and one of the best of the show, esp at under £20 a bottle. Sure it’s not cheap but great value.
Pig in the House
This is a biodynamic red Shiraz which has floral aromas and faint hints of
spice and vanilla on the palette along with red fruits, cherries and plum. Tastes very smooth, not much in the way of tannins, a drink now wine. At under £10 its good value.
London Wine Fair 2019 Wine Rascals Shiraz
Wines of Germany
I like it when a country has an organisation to show case what it can produce, it make the consumers life easier (hint no wines of France), I only got to try 2 wines due to lack of time. It’s a shame as there are many excellent wines coming out of Germany, esp dry Rieslings.
Weigut Trossen 2017 Royal herb Riesling from the Mosel area of Germany is a dry quality with good concentration of citrus fruits, mineral notes and easy to drink. At about £10 a bottle good value and worth a try.
London Wine Fair 2019 German Riesling
Wedekind, Roter Hang, Riesling
Another dry Riesling with soft ripe fruits with citrus but this has the typical aromas of petroleum that you find with many Rieslings.
London Wine Fair 2019 German typical Riesling
Loire master class
London Wine Fair 2019 Loire master class
Rebecca Gibb (MW) took a master class on Loire reds which was excellent. She was a judge at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards. She has so much enthusiasm and knowledge and this really helps makes the class seem to fly by and makes it so enjoyable. The reds were varied and showed off the different styles within the red wine production area, not all of the Loire valley produces red wine. I really look forward to future master classes with her.
All in all a very successful wine fair.
Chile produces good wines at a fair price. This Riesling is no exception. You do get aromas of petroleum, lemon and lime with minerals that are also on the palette. Some people will have an issue with the petroleum smell and taste but at £6 a bottle is good value. Won’t set the world on fire but you can’t expect that at this price.
Blossom Riesling 2017. Chilian White wine
As summer fast approaches the salads come out at meal times, the BBQ gets pulled out and the garden furniture gets used. It’s also the time when Rose wine gets drunk. Sure us Brits don’t get the weather that Provence in France gets but we do like their wine, drunk in the garden. This is a typical Provence Rose, light, dry, hints of strawberry, peach and easy drinking. Not a gold medal winner but does what it says on the bottle. At under £10 a bottle Majestic have got it right with this wine.
Majestic winemaker series Rose
Chilean Carmenere is relatively new in the world of wine, or to put it more accurately not long discovered that the grapes were not Merlot or Cab Sav. Carmenere is a full bodied wine with black fruits, cherry and in this case some of the grapes have been dried, hence the “Apassimento” part on the label. Amarone wine from Italy uses the same method and this gives added concentration of sugars and flavour. A very drinkable red with added intensity and smoothness for about £10 makes this pretty good value.
Mayu Chilean Carmenere Apassimento 2016
I have an issue with red wine from Portugal, I have yet to have a bad bottle. Why is this an issue? I open the Portuguese bottle first over most other countries and hence have limited bottles. Made with Tina Roriz, Castelao and Touriga Nacional (used in Port) this is a good example of a cheaper red that delivers jammy fruit flavours, low tannins and is quick drinking. Can’t think this would win a gold medal, silver nor bronze is more like it but this is a drink it now wine and at £8 a bottle worth buying.
Porto 6 – Red Portuguese
This is a cremant made in a traditional champagne method but with Chenin grapes. With aromas and flavours of honeysuckle, citrus. Its a fresher and cleaner taste than most champagnes which have biscuit and toasty notes that often over power the fruit flavours. I much prefer a cremant over champagnes, both on price and taste.
At about £10 a bottle its good value and prefect to share with friends.
Bouvet – French Loire Cremant
Canadian wine is normally decent. It’s hard to get a bad bottle. This wine from Phantom Creek in the Okanagan Valley is amazing. I’m likely to die poor and pickled because of this one. Tannins are very well integrated, soft but there in the background.
There are aromas and flavours of black fruit, cherry and plum. Put your feet up in front of the fire or lay back in the garden on a summers night and gently sip this. The world suddenly seems ok after all.
At CAD75 a bottle it’s not cheap, very expensive for most people but exquisite.
Phantom Creek Syrah 2016, Okanagan Valley Canada
Well I had a real treat this weekend trying the Toppesfield Bacchus and Rose 2017 and also the 2016 Rose wine as a comparison. I’ve blog about the Bacchus before and it’s a real favourite of mine.
So the Bacchus first, clean fresh and said to be the english Sauvignon Blanc. It is closer to the french Sauvignon Blanc than the gooseberry fueled New Zealand one. There are flavours of grass, elderflower and hints of gooseberry. Its only 10.5% so great for a summer day. This is a fantastic example of a quality english white wine.
The Rose wine is very good. The 2016 has wild strawberries on the taste with a clean refreshing finish, the 2017 vintage is lighter than the 2016 one but still has the same flavour of strawberries and very easy to drink. 1 bottle or 2 would be the first question! Drinking these 3 wines side by side really helps to highlight the subtle flavours.
At £13 a bottle it’s not the cheapest but this is quality english wine and available at the Co-Op around East Anglia, UK.
Toppesfield Bacchus and Rose 2017-18
