Chapel Down, Bacchus, 2016, uk
You have to drink Bacchus young was what the experts say, which this Chapel Down Bacchus from 2016 proves is rubbish because at 8 years old is still stonking. Dry, and beautifully rounded with vibrant citrus and pineapple poking through. Excellent.
Camel Valley, Bacchus, 2013, Cornwall, England
Camel Valley know how to make great wine but this Bacchus from 2013 is something else. Drink Bacchus young has been the saying but at 11 years old thus is still great. Dry, balanced acidity with crisp citrus and a slight hint of grapefruit is a wine to enjoy watching a sunset. At about £15 a bottle for current vintages it’s one to just buy.
Potash Field, Bacchus, 2023, Essex, UK
Potash Field vineyard is not a big player, a local place with a lot of passion and an experienced wine maker. This is an off dry bacchus with a soft feel, good acidity and chunk of gooseberry with hints of lime and lemon. Its a very easy drinking wine that would go well with a zesty salad or fish dish.
Coastal Reach, Bacchus, 2022, England
Made for Grape Passions in Essex this is sold in a Michelin restaurant in London and a big seller all round and I can see why. Madd by an ex Cloudy Bay wine maker it’s hot excellent qualities. Off dry with high acidity there are flavours of citrus, apple, tropical fruits, hints of gooseberry and grapefruit. There’s a creaminess sitting around and a chunk of sweetness, yet light and fresh. At £22 a bottle it’s way over priced though.
East Anglia can produce some fantastic Bacchus wine and Tuffon Hall is in this category. A wonderful light lemon color with aromas of grass, green apple and hints of pineapple. It’s a light wine in texture and the flavors are subtle with citrus, lemon, pineapple and a creaminess undertone that makes this dry white wine absolutely delicious.
At about £12 a bottle it’s on the money for English wine, which is a shame in some ways as it will put some people off what is an excellent white wine.
Tuffon Hall, Bacchus, 2015, East Anglia, England
Winemakers and wine sellers evening – wines drunk
Each year we invite a few winemakers and people in the wine industry for a bit of food, drink.and possibly intelligent conversation, or at least conversation! In past years this has included people from the Decanter magazine, winemakers and wine sellers. Usually we have some English wine, unusual wine, weird wine and crackingly good wine. This evening was no different. Above are the wines drunk. For food we had tapas style food, breads, pates, fish, meat and cheese selections.
Going from left to right we started with Mexican sparkling wine made with Macabeu (a spanish grape), Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. A little sweet for my taste but more of the Macabeu grape character coming through. It got a bronze medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards. Next was Bethnal Bubbles from a winery in Bethnal Green, east end of London. Some said weird, I said “oooohhhhh, it’s weird” unfiltered sparkling with a hoppy taste and green apple notes. At £23 a bottle it’s a good party conversation piece but not one I’ll get.
Then we went through some English white wines, light and fruity with lots of citrus. The Toppesfield vineyard 2018 Bacchus was excellent, I tried it just after bottling and thought they over extracted, a few months on and the wine is tasting much better with much more fruit. The Ashdown Estate from Bluebell vineyard white was lighter but very drinkable.
The Alsace Schlumberger Grand Cru 2014 Riesling. Full rich flavours of citrus, peach, lychee and a smell of petroleum, magnificent. Burnt Foot Pinot Noir rose followed. Good red fruit flavours and one of the better Pinot Noir wines from the UK.
Next was King Coel red, 20 year old English red that tasted fresh and had vibrant red fruit flavours. For me the highlight as it was under the winemakers stairs for much of that time, please see the blog for a write up. The Potash vineyard red was only 7 years old! but had lost some of its fruit flavours, drinkable but one wine to slip and not knock back, so to enjoy the flavours. A South Africa red followed, Lemberg-Louis 2016 made with Shiraz, Mourvedre and Granache, richer red fruit flavours with black cherry and higher tannins, excellent with the meat course.
The last wines were 2 late bottle vintage ports, grahams 2005 and Quinta Sta Eufemia 2019, both excellent ruby ports with rich fruit and smooth finish were drunk with the cheese course and on their own and finally we had a Czech desert wine, Pechor Vinarstvi 2015 Ryzlink Rynsky, light and full of citrus flavour.
The next afternoon the ones that stayed and had a midd BBQ felt the long night!
The afternoon after the evening
Copdock Hall from Suffolk is a small producer but their wines are of a good standard. This has hints of grass and lychee with a little gooseberry. it’s lighter than the usual British bacchus and it makes a refreshing change. It’s a great summer drinking wine for the garden and it’s reasonable value at about 13 pounds bottle.
Copford Hall Bacchus 2017