Que? Reserva? Que?

In Yesterdays post I mention very breifly the subject of the word Reserve or Reserva on wine labels. Now the assumption we all make when we see this word and the accompaning price increase is that the quality of the wine must have increased and in many cases it will have however there are no rules governing the labeling of Reserve and Reserva wines, with one notable exception Spain. The Spanish are particularly ruthless in their labeling of wines as reserva and gran reserva, with a long established system. I know not what you thinking when you see Manuel in Fawlty Towers, yet its true. The Spanish system varies slightly from region to region but the basics remain the same.

• Joven sees absolutely no oak at all. Joven means young and the style of the wine is fresh and fruity.
• Crianza must be aged for a minimum of one year in oak barrel and at least one year in bottle before release
• Reserva must be aged a minimum of three years in barrel and bottle with at least one which must be in oak;
• Gran Reserva has to be aged for a minimum of five years, a minimum of two years in oak followed by the remaining years in bottle before release.

The Spanish are so serious about this system that even if the producer doesn't display the level of aging of the bottle ( a very rare and unlikely occurrence), that the authories will, next time you have a Rioja or Ribera del Duero wine look at the back of the bottle for the Government Seal, a hologram which tells you the region from which the wine came and the aging, they are even colour coded. And we think the Germans are crazy about rules, well maybe their labels are so complicated you need a code book to crack them.

Old Enough to Drink: Old Vines

Many bottles of wine particulary from Australia and France have the short phrase 'Old vines' or 'vieilles vignes' on the label, this is to let us know that the vines from which the wine has been produced are consider of an Old age, the problem is, that in general, there are no real rules about how old vines must be to be called Old Vines. This is similar to the problem with calling a wine reserve, which with the exception of Spain, also does not have any real guidelines. But why bother with adding this information is it just another line to bamboozle wine drinkers or is their an actual reason for it. Well yes their is a belief that becuase older vines yeild less fruit the flavours and expressions of terrior will be greater. But the question of how old is old no rears itself again.

If most people had to guess as to where the oldest vines are, we would naturally say france however we'd be wrong, most of French and indeed other European vines where destroyed by that most devious of bugs Phylloxera (if what they did wasn't bad enough, their name is hard enough to pronounce with out feeling like you made it up, "fill-oxer-a"). Any way back to the old vines some of the recognised oldest vines still used in production are in the Barossa Valley in Australia, and there would be more if during the 80s the Aussies hadn't ripped them up to plant fruit!

Now the Aussies appreciate their Old Vines and in the The Barossa they have established their own classification based on vine age. A specific name applies to the vines based on their age:

• Old vine: 35 years or older
• Survivor vine: 70 years or older
• Centurion vine: 100 years or older
• Ancestor vine: 125 years or older

So next time you open a bottle with Old vines on the label consider the fact that those vines maybe older than you!!

Terroir V.S Regionality

It seems only fitting to follow up the last post on terroir, with an fine example of Australian Terroir, because it's not just the French, much as they would have you think so, that have terroir. In Australia they jsut tend to call it regionality. Both idea accept that wineproduced in differnet climates within one country can show differnt aromas and flavours, the Aussies however are slightly more generous when it comes to letting you know whats in the bottle, and where the wine is from.

The Clare Valley is Australia's premier riesling producing region, although it is only the third most planted the region after Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Riesling loves diurnal temperature changes, ie, warm days and cool nights, the Clare Valley is perfectly suited to this. Clare valley riesling is approachable when young but still delicous when ten or twelve years old, a real gem when one considers many whites fade after a year. Another great example of Regionality from Clare is Cabernet Sauvignon, oddly the most planted red in the area, Clare Valley Cabernet has a has a wonderful mint and euculyptus edge which is indicative of all Clare Valley reds. O'Leary Walker do both a Clare Valley Riesling from the sub-region of Watervale and a straight up cabernet from Clare, both of which demonstrate these terroir expressions in full.

Terroir...rific?

Yes Yes this Blog will be focusing on that brilliant little word the French coined- Terroir! Even just saying aloud fills me with a sense of knowing exactly what I'm talking about! If you ever want to impress someone, try saying it about the wine you're drinking, ie- oh my you can really taste the terroir from this wine OR mmmm this wine is really infused with its terroir, but this is the most important part- you have to say it in your most pompous french accent, otherwise whats the point? There's a very strong chance they won't know what you're talking about, but should they ask won't you be glad you read this Blog! So the word itself was coined in an attempt to account for the subtle differences between the varying regions, within France. Basically the french see the wine they produce as an expression of the area- they aren't just making Pinot Noir, they're making a wine with a grape that best exudes the sense of Burgundy. And because of this that's why French wines don't put the grape on the bottle- because as far as they're concerned its not about the grape, its all about the region! Its because of this idea that the region is whats important, and not necessarily the grape, that the french Apellation Controle system came about- a unique region will have a unique wine that cannot be replicated! So at this point it would only be natural to assume that french view the wine making process as entirely up to nature... wrong, in fact the wine maker can do certain things which will bring out or suppress the terroir. For example things like flood irrigation, or excessive oak aging would kill the terroir, whereas pruning so that they get low yields or using old vines are all things that would enhance the terroir in the wine. Basically land has always been viewed as something that had to be works in order to get the best results from it- the idea behind a terroir is that it has to be worked WITH in order to get the best unique product from it!

Hurtle V Champagne

So in honour of O'Leary-Walker wines wining a load of awards we've decided to put them on promotion! Now i know a lot of you will have tried most, if not all, of the O'Leary Walker wines- but one which may have eluded you is the Hurtle. The Hurtle is a Sparkling Wine made in the Classic Champagne way- so I thought it fitting to do up a blog on Champagne!

First bit of interesting information about Champagne- it became popular because of its association with the anointment of French Kings, so it then became associated with Luxury and Power. All this coincided with the emergence of a middle class, which had a bit of money to spend and wanted to show this fact off- So they bought a lot of the Sparkling Stuff! So that's your History lesson for today... but its important when you realise that Champagne's price tag comes pretty much from the word Champagne... Now I don't know about you but if i have any money nowadays I'm not spending it on fancy pancy status symbols like Champagne... but every now and then the fancy pancy Pop of a Sparkling wine is needed- which brings us on nicely to the Hurtle! Its called the Hurtle because Nick Walker's Grandfather Hurtle Walker was revered as one of the best producers of Sparkling Wine- ergo its only fitting that this Sparkling Wine be named after him!

So I know you are all dying to know what is the traditional Champagne method... well basically after the first fermentation takes place- its bottled and a bit of yeast is added to so a second fermentation happens. This is where the Bubbles come from. Apparently it takes 1 and a half years for all the flavours to come through in the Champagne. So what they just put it in the bottle, leave it for a year and a half, slap a huge price tag on it... easy! WRONG! One man is actually responsible for turning the bottles a fraction each day so the yeast doesn't settle... so a lot of Love goes into that Sparkling Stuff!

Ohhhhhh'Leary-walker!

Every now and then certain things happen which allows us to be pretty smug on this Blog- like the Eternum Viti from Toro winning best value under €15! Or as is the case here the wines of O'Leary-Walker winning a bucket load of awards! If you don't believe us just take a stroll by the shop we've got all the articles up in the window- don't believe the articles then try some of the wines and see what all the fuss is about! They Started their Winery in 2001 with a simple Philosophy-source the best grapes from the best Vineyards and therefore make the best wines....

Best Grapes+Best Vineyards=Best Wines!

Ya I can see how that works so well for them... So for anyone who follows the Blog (all the millions of ye...) Ye will know that James Halliday gave them 5 stars out of 5 stars- pretty good once you realise the requirements to get such an award (here's the link to our own blog on this...). So they couldn't simply be an overnight success by taking the best fruit, from the best regions, to make the best wine. On the contrary both worked at several different vineyards in Australia producing great wines until they got bored of their success- and decided instead to start producing for themselves... They are essentially living the dream- doing what they love to do, and doing it better than everyone else. So you see we're not the only ones who get to be smug over their success- they can be pretty smug about it too!

Appelation Sensation: Combining Chocolate and Wine

Now their are many of us out there who enjoy a nice glass of red wine and chocolate, it is one of the top food wine combinations. If you haven't tried it then- my god- get out there and get some nice chocolate, the darker the better and a nice full bodied red. Two great wines to try with dark chocolate are the Blue Cutting Road Cabernet Merlot and Spain's own Eternum Viti from Toro, and both could be worth a go this weekend when trying to impress your Valentine. But the king of this combination is undoubtedly Recioto della Valpolicella from Italy, one word describes the combination of dark chocolate with Recioto, Divine.

But a husband and wife wine making team based in Bordeaux, France have taken the wine chocolate combination a step further, and created Appelation Sensations. Which brings us wine-filled chocolates. Appellation Sensations does two variations on this theme. Their all-natural dark chocolates (shown here) are 72 percent cacao and filled with red Bordeaux estate wine. The perfect gift this Valentines maybe??