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TERRAZAS RESERVA MALBEC 2007 (ARGENTINA)
This Malbec has lovely balance and great complexity showing it’s really at home in the Mendoza region. About 1000m altitude gives it a fresh edge. Black cherry, very ripe fig and violets on the nose. You can also make out touches of liquorice and pepper. It has a fruity palate and one year’s ageing in wood gives it vanilla notes. 1/3 new barrels, 1/3 second-fill and 1/3 third-fill add subtle silky tannins despite this wine’s youthfulness, and its lingering flavour signs off a lovely wine for laying down.
Best with: game, lamb tagine, Far Eastern chicken fricassee.
price: 16.50€
Independant Shops
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CHÂTEAU LOUIS 2006 SAINT-ÉMILION GRAND CRU (FRANCE)
Thierry de la Brosse, who’s owned the Ami Louis for 20 years, that famous restaurant serving up ultra-classic bistro cuisine made with first class produce, purchased this château in 2006. So he signed off his first vintage with this one. This wine is 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet franc. This 26-hectare vineyard with clay-limestone soils and 40 year-old vines comes down to 16 hectares in the end after a very fussy grape selection, making a lesser-known and unusual wine. A slightly toasty nose with little red and black fruits, ample mouthfeel and silky yet structured tannins that will soften over time. Very nice wine.
Best with: rib of beef or bourguignon style or Barbary duckling fillet.
price: 49.00€
www.caves-legrand.com
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Éternité 2007 Vacqueyras (France)
Pretty typical of southern Rhône Valley reds - Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre - this punchy wine has a blueberry and pepper nose with a touch of cloves. Its concentrated mouthfeel and tannins show its youthful side. Partly aged in vat and partly in new casks, its mineral-like tones demonstrate its keeping potential. It’s even a shame to drink it now: its power may hide its finesse, although this very well made wine should wait. Those tannins show velvety promise in five years time and its structure will round out. If you want to drink it straightaway, best to carafe it at least an hour in advance and not serve it too warm.
Best with: coq au vin, hare stew, pears poached in wine.
price: 18.50€
www.vigneronsdecaractere.com
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Délit d’Initiés Château Laurou 2008, AOC Côtes du Frontonnais (France)
Négrette is a virtually unique variety in the world that grows in the vineyards around Fronton, close to Toulouse. Fragile, using it without adding another variety has only just been allowed. It makes up 100% of this wine with violet, liquorice and very ripe red and black aromas. Its lingering finish is like sucking on a violet-flavoured liquorice. You get the full benefit of its unique aromas and flavours and black colour. Its supple tannins and full body make up for its low acidity. Young, it keeps fresh lively character. Lets salute Guy Salmona’s talent who’s given us a rich foodie wine without any oak drying out the tannins.
Best with: red meat, Venetian style calf’s liver, cassoulet.
price: 8.00€
guy.salmona@wanadoo.fr
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Domaine Duseigneur Antarès 2007, Lirac (France)
The round stones lying on clay are the same as the ones opposite, on the Rhône’s left bank in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The very dry soil forces the vines to plunge their roots deep down, and the pebbles help retain the little water there is and radiate heat at night. In addition, biodynamic farming helps retain pure aromas and the terroir influence. This gives a black cherry and cassis nose with hints of menthol and liquorice. On the palate, more of those very ripe fruits, pepper, supple tannins if you carafe it two hours before tasting, mineral notes keeping it lively and fresh edges due to vines facing into the wind. Philippe Faure-Brac, the World’s Best Sommelier, had a hand in making this blend. And it’s not just a name on a label, he’s very involved; and the quality of this wine will allow a few years laying down.
Best with: rabbit fricassee with spring onions, duck with olives, side of beef or kidneys cooked in their own fat.
price: 11.00€
www.domaineduseigneur.com
www.mcinley-vinters.co.ok
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Château Petit Village 2004 Pomerol
An 11-hectare block with a single owner well located in the best part of the Pomerol plateau, gives this wine lovely ageing potential from one year to the next. On the nose, red and black fruit aromas with very light blackcurrant leaf notes, which linger on the palate underpinned by silky tannins thanks to the 78% of Merlot. Light oaky tones subtly complete its structure. A mixed bag of weather for this vintage gives a wine not lacking in concentration, and it takes all the grower’s talent to bring in the harvest taking the ripeness of each variety into account (Merlot, Cabernet-Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc). Ageing in new and second-fill casks lends it well-integrated oak characters. Drinking now.
Best with: plump duck, confit-style or breast; rib steak in bordelaise sauce, leg of lamb.
price: 40.00€
independent wine shops
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Numanthia 2006 (Spain)
Wines from the Toro region in Castilla y Léon, a province in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, are strangely little known in France. And yet you can find excellent wines here whose reputation goes beyond mere borders. This bodega makes some of the region’s best wines. Numanthia is made from the Tinta de Toro variety typical of the area, the local name for Tempranillo. Very old vines - some of them 140 years old - are very low yielding and hence give a concentrated wine. As it’s aged in new oak barrels for 8 months, the wood tannins merge into the grape tannins, made from de-stemmed bunches. On the nose, spicy ripe red fruit notes mingle with vanilla tones and carry on onto the palate with toasty cacao and black fruits on the finish. With this vintage, the tannins are pretty brisk so preferably you should wait a few years before getting stuck into it.
Best with: rib of beef or stew.
price: 55.00€
www.lavinia.fr
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