Why not come and join us for a free pre-Christmas tasting at our showroom in Castle Ashby?
Come and taste a great range of fine wines including Champagne, classed growth Bordeaux, Brunello, Super-Tuscans and Chianti and great Rhone reds.
All our welcome, but please let us know in advance so that we can organise numbers.
Well actually I must confess that my exposure to the delights of Lisbon’s old town has been limited over the last few days in favour of my attendance at SISAB – The large annual trade fair of Portuguese food and wine which has been the focus of a hectic week, the purpose of which has been to improve my knowledge on, and indeed familiarise myself with the table wines of Portugal.
From the moment the gates opened on Monday morning until just before they closed on Wednesday afternoon, I sampled some of the very best, (as well as some of the not quite so inspiring) wines that Portugal has to offer. What quickly became clear is that there is currently a wealth of winemaking talent in all regions, producing sensitively-styled wines, often from the innumerable indigenous grape varieties, at an extraordinary quality to price ratio.
On balance I would argue that the regions offering finest table wines are Douro in the north (famous of course for its production of Port), Dão just beneath it (from whose high-altitude vineyards come some of the most elegant and subtly complex wines of the country), and Alentejo in the south.
A personal highlight was undoubtedly the opportunity to taste Blandy’s, Terrantez 1976 medium dry Madeira. Not officially on show, not given to many of the attendees, and certainly not widely available today, it had been slowly aged in very old US oak casks for 23 years before bottling, and offered up an immensely complex nose of rich fruit cake, black tea, chocolate, dried prunes and figs, all of which continued on the palate in a very smooth style with little suggestion of the alcohol level, becoming savoury and nutty on the long and complex finish. It was an unforgettable experience for which I consider myself extremely lucky.
Oh, and wine aside, there were some truly wonderful, cholesterol-raising, artery-clogging biscuits, olive oil, cured meats and chorizo sausages on offer at every turn.
The diet starts here.
A number of Cadman employees unearthed a handful of treasures from the cellar last night, and, seasonal colds aside, our taste buds revelled in a collection of truly once in a lifetime experiences… accompanied by the odd fragment of cork.
All bought at auction over the last year, the line up included Beychevelle 1961, Joseph Drouhin Richebourg 1957 and 1962, Château Latour (vintage unkown) and Graham’s 1963 vintage port.
Not bad for a weekday evening!
All the wines were eminently drinkable, if slightly past their prime, (and despite a little spirity heat in evidence from the Graham’s), but the general consensus was that the Joseph Drouhin Richebourg 1962 was the outstanding discovery of the night.
Jamie Goode of the Wine Anorak (one of our favourite critics and all round good egg) has just reviewed two entry level wines from Nicodemi in his blog commenting: “Two nice wines here from Abruzzo producer Nicodemi. Affordable and delicious, with plenty of personality.”
Anyway, here’s what Jamie had to say:
“Nicodemi Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 2009 Italy
Really lovely aromatic nose with citrus, grapefruit and herb notes. The palate has a warm nutty edge to the fruit, which is rounded and broad with a bit of grapefruit freshness. Very appealing wine with a bit of personality. 88/100
Nicodemi Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2008 Italy
13.5% alcohol. Nice sweet cherry and plum fruit nose with a bit of chocolatey richness and some savoury bite. The palate is ripe, sweet and juicy with some damson bitterness as well as sweet plummy fruit. A really delicious, intense, full-flavoured, fruit-driven, savoury red, finishing with some grippy tannins. 89/100″
Just sat down to a rather delicious glass of Chateau Moulinet Pomerol 2007 to console myself as another English wicket falls at Lords. I was thinking that, frustratingly, some wines fall under the radar and quite frankly they deserve better unlike the English middle order!
I do remember on a trip to Pomerol tasting the 07′s how impressed I was by the wines of Eglise Clinet. The great winemaker there Denis Durantou also showed us the Moulinet for whom he consults. Well two years plus on and it’s a real winner – supple, fleshy with lots of ripe succulent fruit. And no leafy tea notes you get in many 2007s. Exactly as Pomerol should be and at £20 a real steal quite frankly.
Ah well back to Aggers and Boycs – and the spreadsheet of course.
For quality control reasons I was forced into reassessing this Burgundy Grand Cru. It’s a tough job sometimes.
Bourée Charmes Chambertin 1997 is a mature, delicate, elegant sweet Pinot…like an angel crying on your tongue.
This wonderful Charmes Chambertin is at its peak now, and is so so seductive with aromatic lifted tea notes and eastern spice – gamey mushroom flavours and sweet beery fruits.
I just wish I’d had a roasted pheasant or partridge to hand.
“Wine is bottled poetry”
Robert Louis Stevenson
“Phew! Great whiff of cracked black pepper, stony minerals and superb aromatics of black and red fruit. Vibrant and concentrated blackberry and dark cherry fruits. Really juicy sweet with supple tannins. This is a young pup with bags of potential but hard not to drink now as it offers great enjoyment.”
Welcome to our new blog. Let’s get straight to it with our first tasting by our General Manager….
New from the cellar – Fondreche, Nadal 2007
I have done this so many times but it still excites. You sit down, pen in hand, nose at the ready- glass swirling and swilling away, eagerly awaiting the wine. Will it give up its secret, can I detect the nuances? Is it as good better or worse than previous….the sheer anticipation!
Then you’re off and your senses go into overdrive and your brain and thought processes attempt to put all into a structured manner. Relief, it’s a winner! You are desperate to communicate this, to tell the reader, how good the wine is, to share your pleasure. You are imploring them to try it – frantically scribbling away – and then finish your note hoping you have achieved something in part…
“An absolute knockout nose, aromatic sweet red berry/ rosehip/fruit. Hints of dark berries and mineral-stone notes as well. The palate has great vitality- and explodes with wonderful ripe dark and red fruit- soft supple with toasty savoury flavours and a long luxurious finish. This is hugely impressive.”
Then the knockout punch – all seems redundant and pales when you come across this fabulous tasting note from Jim Barr of K & L Wine Merchants in California…
“The “Nadal” is mind-boggling. I can’t remember tasting such a complete, seductive, thought-provoking wine. Produced from 50% Grenache, 40% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre, it is deeply colored, explosive on the nose, with blackberries, anise, white pepper and cedar that carry over to its broad, complex palate. This is a wine that you could put down for a lifetime, and it deserves all the accolades of the vintage… It is remarkable.”
Jim – I love the quote, but I really love the tache, very 80s and reminds me of DK Lillee and Merv the Swerv – but I suppose this would be all new to you being from the US of A an all.
PS is Jim the next Parker? We should be told.
Welcome to Cadman’s new blog – where our experts can’t wait to share our news and views on the world of wine with our customers.
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