Wine: Dehesa Del Carrizal Syrah 2012

Winemaker: David Tofterup Wine: Dehesa del Carrizal Syrah 2012

Perched at the top of a metaphorical pyramid of wine classification in Spain sit the Grande Pagos of Spain. Developed in 2003, the aspiration for the equivalent of France’s Grand Cru vineyards came from a group of like-minded wineries who wanted to distinguish themselves from the rest of Spain. A pago needs to be owned by the winery that produces the wine (not always the case) and has unique characteristics, such as soil, climate or grape varieties. According to winemaker Pierre-Yves Desaevre there are currently only 20 pagos throughout Spain. Dehesa de Carrizal is situated in the mountain ranges of Toledo, around one hour south of Madrid, in proximity to Cabañeros National Park, which brings its own influence of flora and fauna to the region.

Pierre-Yves, born to winemaking parents in Anjou, France, came to the region via winemaking studies in Bordeaux followed by projects in the USA and Argentina. The owner of the winery sought advice from the late Paul Pontallier of Château Margaux, Bordeaux, as to who and how to make world class wines. Pierre-Yves was recruited on account of his bordelaise background, winemaking acumen and ability to speak Spanish. From there they commissioned the world-class winemaking consultant Stephane Derenoncourt and his team to direct the vineyard management and winemaking. Organic viticulture is practiced in the majority of the vineyard with various cover crops growing between the vines to introduce life into the poor soil of schist and quartz; ideal for growing syrah as seen in the Northern Rhône. Vines are sparsely planted with only 1,800 – 2,200 vines per hectares, encouraging the roots to work hard navigating the soil to seek out what little water there is available between the vines.

When it comes to harvesting the attention to detail is on another level. Grapes are hand-picked into small 12kg baskets (so as not to put any undue pressure on the bunches, causing them to split) and transported to the winery where the crates go into a cold room of 6 degrees Celsius overnight to preserve the delicate aromatics of the grapes. They then go through a rigorous double selection process whereby the bunches pass along a vibrating sorting table which only allows the healthiest of bunches to pass through. Then, a second manual selection of each individual berry, a level of manual investment which would not be out of place in a three Michelin starred restaurant. The berries are transferred to tank by gravity so as not to damage them in the process and they are fermented as whole berries.

After fermentation the wine is transferred to French oak barrels; a combination of new barrels to between two and four years old, giving a nice balance of oak intensity, though not too much, to the wine. Careful integration is key. Pierre-Yves believes the 2012 is perfect for drinking now (as do I). He describes the wine as having characteristics of lightly grilled bread, some chocolate, tapenade, cherries and prunes. The freshness of the palate will allow it to age a further 4-5 years. This is a big but beautiful wine, fantastically hand-crafted with immaculate attention to detail along the way.

Winemaker: Charles & Ruth Simpson Wine: Simpsons Derringstone Blanc de Noir Pinot Meunier 2018

Ruth Simpson explains the concept and winemaking behind their Pinot Meunier.

So as many of you know, we like a challenge and the thought of making still wine in England was one that was just too good to miss! We’d be the ﬁrst to admit that we initially vowed never to make still wine in England, (being too used to the 320 days of sunshine at Domaine de Sainte Rose), however given the following factors and the nigh-on perfect 2018 growing season, we couldn’t resist trying!

It is already acknowledged that the terroir of the Chalk Downs is not just similar, but identical to both Champagne and Burgundy, being part of the same Parisian basin geology. You know all the arguments that support the UK's ability to create sparkling wines that challenge Champagne, but for the same reason, the same applies to still wines made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and even Pinot Meunier. We believe that UK still wines have the potential to challenge wines from several areas of Burgundy because they are grown on identical terroir and therefore have the potential to display the same minerality, elegance and ageing potential.

A lot of people talk about climate change as being the only reason that any wine can be successfully produced in the UK. We would have to qualify this and say that successful wine production is only possible in very speciﬁc sites within the UK and that regardless, we are still on the very fringes of viable viticulture. The most important criteria for all successful wine production, but particularly still wine production in the UK is site selection. The site must be south facing, preferably with decent slope, below 100m and preferably with protection from the wind. With all these factors working in your favour, to maximise the sunshine hours and heat accumulation during the day over the key harvest period, the hope is that your carefully selected clones pick up enough natural sugars and ﬂavours to reach a potential alcohol and concentration worthy of making still wine.

We believe we have two very warm sites and have planted Burgundian (still wine) clones in the warmest spots. During the harvest we keep a very close eye on maturity as well as the weather and try to leave these grapes on the vine as long as possible to achieve maximal maturity. Climate still does play a part and we all know that in the UK it can be hugely unpredictable, but this can be the case in many cooler climate wine areas. Even with terrible frost damage in 2017 we were able to produce a very small quantity of still Chardonnay that has been mistaken, when tasted blind, both in the UK and in Denmark, as Premier Cru Chablis!

So the story behind this wine is that we were given a German, single varietal, blanc de noirs Pinot Meunier and very much enjoyed it. We thought it was completely unique, with complex fruit ﬂavours and wonderful texture, an extremely food friendly style of wine. Most of you will know that Pinot Meunier is a grape variety usually reserved for blending in sparkling wine, but having recently planted this variety to make sparkling wine in the UK and having had an extremely positive growing season in 2018, we decided we wanted to try our own still, single varietal. We have built a reputation for doing things a little differently and our Derringstone Pinot Meunier 2018 breaks the mould once again as the only still, blanc de noirs created from this variety currently produced in the UK.

In mid-October 2018, Pinot Meunier clones 798 and 799 from our Roman Road vineyard (planted in 2014), were hand picked and carefully whole bunch pressed as per a white grape variety. The juice settled for 48 hours before racking and underwent a long, slow primary fermentation using aromatic yeasts. The wine then progressed through full malolactic fermentation and rested on ﬁne lees to build palate weight before bottling in spring 2019.

The resulting wine is truly one of a kind, displaying chalk purity with sweet and savoury aromas of poached winter fruit. There is the signature English acidity, but this is balanced with complex balsamic nuances and red fruit ﬂavours, ﬁnishing with a rich, deliciously creamy mouth-feel. We recommend drinking this between 7-9 degrees C to appreciate the exotic aromas and rich, luxurious texture.

And a final word on the packaging of this wine as it is rather unusual and extremely elegant, beautifully reflecting the quality of the wine inside! We chose to use the Vinolok closure because it has the same anaerobic qualities as a screwcap, if bottled under nitrogen, thus protecting delicate 3 fruit aromas and flavours. These closures mean that the bottle can be safely re-sealed and can be placed back on its side in the fridge, perfect if you just want one glass! It also means that the entirety of this packaging is recyclable, all good for our green credentials, although because the bottle is rather elegant, we have reused some as water or olive oil containers!

Winemaker: Oscar Aragon Wine: Cillar de Silos Blanco 2018

Notes shared from brother and sister duo, Oscar & Amelia Aragón

Blanco de Silos is made at Cillar de Silos in Ribera del Duero, one of the Fine Wine hotspots in the world with a winemaking tradition that dates back to the XII century making wines at the nearby Silos abbey.

Cillar de Silos is a family owned and run winery with 57 ha of their own vineyards, where tradition and technology are combined to produce outstanding wines.

Located in the Northern Spain, in the heart of the ancient region of Castilla, where in those days the white grapes (Albillo Mayor) were planted in between the reds (Tempranillo locally know as Tinto Fino) to co-ferment and make a rosé, known in Ribera del Duero as “clarete”, which was drunk by the local nobility.

Cillar de Silos still has Albillo Mayor in our oldest vineyards (some of them pre-pylloxera, the pest that wiped out most of Europe’s vineyards in the 1860’s) where it is planted alongside Tempranillo. Oscar, head-winemaker and owner of Cillar de Silos, had the idea of making Blanco de Silos, out of our old vineyards, scattered through the rolling hills and pine forests in the small ancient village of Quintana del Pidio.

2018 was a fresh vintage with grassy notes and ripe citrus fruits due to a warm September that helped with the steady ripening of the Albillo Real. The grapes were collected by hand earlier than the Tempranillo to retain their freshness.

The viniﬁcation of Blanco de Silos starts by separating 50% of the grapes, this portion ferments in steel. The other 50% ferment 500L oak barrels (second and third year of use) with a low level of toasting, almost raw, exposed wood so that the wine keeps delicate woody notes without overpowering the character of the Albillo variety.

The half that is fermented in oak will stay on its lees for 6-8 months. Later, both the stainless steel and the oak fermented wine will be assembled together resulting in our textured, fresh and mineral Blanco de Silos.

Oscar works with low levels of sulphur and a huge amount of love to produce this eclectic and stunning white brought back to the present from its nearly forgotten past by a dedicated winemaker and team.

Winemaker: Gianfranco & Serena Cordero Wine: Cordero Barolo DOCG 2015

You could say that this Fine Wine Club was created for Barolo; or certainly wines of its kind. It is the antithesis of mainstream, widely-appealing, easy drinking reds. Rather, it is a wine with pale colour intensity, big, structured and sometimes challenging tannins, and vibrant, racy acidity, synonymous with its grape variety, Nebbiolo. It requires somewhat of an open-mind to truly reap the rewards it has to offer. It is one of the more noble wines from around the world, in that it is not showy, or blousy. It’s the real deal and there is majesty in its subtlety, which is reﬂected in how it is referred to around the world: ‘Wine of kings, king of wines.’ This reference stems back to the 19th century when an interest was taken by King Carlo Alberto de Savoia, amongst others royals, to develop vineyards around various estates in the region.

Located in Piedmont, north-west Italy, the appellation of Barolo is divided into 11 sub zones. They can generally be regarded as those on the styles produced based on the soil type in which they sit. La Morra, from where the grapes of this wine hail, and the Barolo (township) have a greater proportion of marl and are located on more fertile soils. This gives wines which are more open, juicier and more approachable younger than their counterparts in the west such as Serralunga d’Alba which grow on poorer, less fertile soils, resulting in tighter wines that require a great deal more ageing before consuming.

The vineyard which Serena and her father Gianfranco manage is farmed organically, using no pesticides and herbicides. The 2015 vintage was a particularly good vintage with a warm Spring with little rain, making it particularly suitable for organic viticulture, reducing the need for any sprays in the canopy to protect the grapes. Between Spring and Summer temperatures were never exceedingly hot, allowing for a slow ripening and maturation of the grapes, allowing all ﬂavours to

fully develop, which is now evident in the wine. Harvest took place at the end of September and in this year avoided the hail which so often plagues this region. (The 2019 harvest saw the vineyards on the highest parts of La Morra being completely wiped out by hail in one shower. Brutal).

The grapes are hand harvested into small crates and transported to the winery where they are crushed and de-stemmed. A key wine-making step of Barolo is macerating the grape’s juice on its skins before the fermentation to extract colour as much colour as possible. This will act as an anti-oxidant, protecting the colour, as the wine matures in later years.

Once the wine has fully fermented they make a considered decision around which oak to use. They choose to put 50% of the wine in 225 Litres French oak barriques and 50% in 2,000 Litres Botti, large oak casks used in parts of Italy. The smaller barrels adopt oak lead characteristics from the high ratio of wine to wood. The larger Botti sees less wine in contact with oak but helps to stabilise the anthocyanins (pigments) of the wine with time. After 2 years in barrel they are blended together and bottled the third year after harvest; so the 2019 harvest will be released in 2023.

Serena believes the 2015 will be drinking best six years after harvest. She also recommends to accompany it with a local dish – bagna cauda, anchovies with garlic sauce. Not a mainstream dish I would imagine. Just like Barolo.

Winemaker: Rodolfo Bastida

Wine: Hacienda Don Hernan Rioja Gran Reserva 2011

One of Spain’s best winemakers, Rodolfo Bastida, shares his expertise and passion for the region and wines he loves.

History

The Grandes Reservas of Rioja, are perhaps the wines that have made the region famous. They are wines that are made from old vineyards and with very long aging in American oak barrels since the 19th century, when in many cases they were exported by train in the barrels themselves to Bordeaux. They was very light of barely 11-12º of alcohol and were made over the years 1850-1860, beginning to be part of the range of the oldest and most prestigious wineries from 1920-1925 of the 20th century

The tradition of the American barrel, says the legend has to do with the bringing of the tables themselves from the American colonies and that this is the reason why this oak is used in Spain.

They are wines, ﬁne spicy, complex, of many nuances and with a marked acidity, with tension, but at the same time silky.

In them the traditional varieties express the terroir of the area and above all they are long-lived. Recently I opened some 2004 bottles, but I have also tasted wines from the 1996, 1985, 1973 and

even earlier harvests and they are very pleasant. All of my private collection and can not be sold .... sorry. They are common to make these wines only excellent vintages in the area.

My passion for the Grandes Reservas

For me they reﬂect what all people born in La Rioja understand by "time", they are authentic time capsules that transfer you to the vintages that they were born in. They hide the sun, the rains and the circumstances of the harvest.

They do not always occur and that makes many call them “the unicorns of La RIoja”, because they are not easy to ﬁnd. In Spain many people keep them for very long periods and it is not strange to take a Grand Reserve after 20 or 30 years.

For me it is the perfect wine to ﬁnish the meal of the main course whenever there is a little lamb or game dishes, connected with the cheese and the sofa.

A conversation between friends or family with a bottle of Gran Reserva and a pleasant conversation can be a feeling close to paradise. Its silkiness, complexity and change of sensations with the passage of minutes in the glass, can be given by very few wines in the world.

Area

The sub zone of La Rioja, where I produce these wines is Haro and its surroundings. Small towns like: Briones, Cihuri, Ollauri, Cuzcurrita, ... they enclose the secret of the ground. The essence of the Gran Reserva lies there in those poor calcareous soils, that when you work them the stone of the mother rock of the Sierra de Cantabria mountain appears. They are very poor soils, far from the ﬂood of the river, with hardly any organic matter and with one of the highest limestone rates.

This soil, with the help of the climate of this cold area, is the "top of the range" of La Rioja Alta. The weather is cold, with frequent frosts in the last week of April or ﬁrst of May, which sometimes as in 2017 or even this 2019, has taken a part of the harvest ahead. In addition to the cold winter, the area is conditioned by the Foenh effect during the summer; a climatic event resulting in the clouds cooling the grapes. The winds of the Atlantic, which is barely 100 kilometers away, one of the faces of the mountain arrive cold and wet and after the climb up the slope of the mountain, and the corresponding rain, pass to the other side, where we have our vineyards , dry and fresh. This effect does not develop fungal problems, but are instead clean winds that help maturation and especially the sudden change in temperature, which contributes to the synthesis of anthocyanins, responsible for color. 7 The summers are warm with little rain but in the month of September and October, these fresh but dry winds that help maturation are very common

The Grandes-Reserva vineyards

They are usually the oldest in the area, always exceeding 40 years, but often 60-70 years. They are small plots that farmers have divided among their children, without assigning it completely to one of them, because they know that the grapes from the Great Reserves come from there. So small portions of just 1,500-2,000 square meters, are the ones that have to be collected in order to prepare these Grandes Reservas. They are also highly sought after by the oldest and most prestigious wineries in the region.

They are at heights between 600-700m that for Rioja, are maximum heights and growing limits.

Grape Varieties

The mixture of variety is the classic with tempranillo 90%, which provides the body and the main texture and the rest, 10%, is distributed between 6% Graciano that puts the “grace or smile” and means that it makes the wine more spicy in the mouth and nose and a proportion of Mazuelo 4%, which guarantees us the extra acidity necessary for this type of wine.

Harvest 2011

The 2011 viticultural cycle was very favorable and with a low incidence of pests or diseases, in addition an excellent vegetative development with a good sanitary state of the grapes until the end of the cycle, although with some drought in certain areas. The exceptional sanitary condition of the clusters was a key aspect for the grape harvest, since it facilitated some fermentations without problems and auguring well structured wines with high levels of color. Very low yields in the vineyard have also contributed to the fact that analytically the wines of this vintage are among the best three of the last 30 years according to the Rioja Regulatory Council. It is also a vintage ofﬁcially classiﬁed by it as: EXCELLENT

It is the last one with this excellent rating until nowadays.

How the wine is made

After the selection of the best grapes from old vineyards (40-70 years old) and with the search for speciﬁc acidity and pH characteristics that ensure their longevity, the grapes macerate cold for 2 days to ferment at controlled temperature during 8 days in stainless steel. Finally the wine macerated 9 days in contact with the skins before aging for 30 months in American oak barrels and 36 months in the bottle in total stillness and darkness in the underground bottle rack.

How to decide about wood:

The usual wood for this wine is light roasted American oak, with three years of natural cure in the cooperage before the construction of the barrel for 3 or 4 years. This oak is chosen, because it is the one that best combines its sweet notes of spices such as cocoa and vanilla, with the texture of the wine.

And a secret, the barrels are very, very light toasted Martin Cooperage also in the RIoja, which from my point of view is the "master" of American oak in Spain.

The consumption temperature

It is between 17-18 ° C, a little higher than usual, to perceive its ﬁnesse and elegance.

Tasting notes

Garnet red color of medium high intensity. Bright and in excellent condition. Elegant and complex nose. Aromas of ripe fruit, blackberries, plums, cherry touches. Spicy and with aromatic herbs, such as rosemary, from our most extreme vineyards. The presence of a select and well-kept barrel is marked. Notes of sweet spices, pastries and nougat combined with roasted and cocoa appear. In the mouth it is long, persistent and with volume. With presence of acidity, to ensure a good longevity, and a tame tannin. A wine in perfect condition, which will evolve in the next few years.

Winemaker: Daryl Groom Wine: DRG Daryl Groom Barossa Shiraz 2017

Legendary ex-winemaker of Penfolds Grange, Daryl Groom, shares his thoughts on his Barossa Shiraz.

2017 was a really good vintage in Australia. It was a later harvest than the few previous vintages which was caused by a much wetter winter and spring at the start of the growing season and below average temperatures in the summer months of December, January and February. A late “Indian Summer” in March helped move the grapes along. The longer hang time gave up wines of great length and ﬂavor while the coolness gave us class and elegance.

The shiraz grapes that go into our wine are 100% from our own vineyards. We have full control over how the grapes are grown and managed and when we harvest. We planted this vineyard just over 20 years ago. All decisions then were also based on growing for quality even down to the risky decision of planting the vines on their own roots as opposed to selected rootstock that most vignerons choose to do.

Our vineyard is in the Kalimna region of the Barossa Valley in South Australia. It was from this region 10-15 years earlier that the foundation for the Penolds Grange Wines from the 1980s that I was making came from. This area is fantastic for big, rich and lush Shiraz as the soils are very unforgiving. They naturally reduce vine vigour and therefore bunch and berry size. The smaller and looser the bunches and the smaller the berries the richer the resultant wine. Sadly with that comes low yields but it’s worth it for the quality. Where most Shiraz vineyards in Australia crop at 4-6tons/acre we are mostly 1/2- 2 tons.

I ﬁnd the Shiraz wine I make from this vineyard is bursting with alluring fruit so my thoughts with oak is to enhance the fruit but not mask it. I use only 25% new oak and a combination of French and American. American for lift and french for complexity and sweetness.

The wine was made simply and traditionally with minimal handling and winemaking inﬂuence. This vineyard and these grapes are really so good that honestly I don’t have to do much. Fermentation was for 8 days on skins with three pump overs every day to extract the richness we are naturally blessed with.

My 2017 DRG Shiraz is another delicious sexy wine. It’s rich, bold, juicy and vibrant. The color is dark and enticing, typical for this wonderful grape variety. The nose oozes of black fruits, licorice, mocha and vanilla. The new oak maturation inﬂuence is subtle but adds some caramel and smokiness on the aroma. The palate is pure Shiraz, silky, sexy and beckoning to have that second glass. The acidity is a little lower than previous vintages. The alcohol is slightly lower than our average and with that we have slightly higher acidity than normal giving the wine a little more structure, grace and elegance over previous years.

The wines I have made from here have amazing longetitivity. Opening up wines that are 15 years old, made from this vineyard, they are remarkably fresh and still show fruit. They appear younger than they are.

I love the wines best when they are around 5 years old. But taste is personal. I know many people that love very young wines that are deeply colored, purple and bursting with fruit and have a little tannin and acid showing. I also know people that love their wine aged.

This wine will easily live for 20+ years and still bring pleasure and enjoyment to all.

At 3 years the wine still has very strong fruit and shows its incredible youthfulness.

At 5 years I start to see the wine becoming a little more silky and sexy. Fruit is still quite evident with the darker fruit characters starting to show more. Blackberries and black currant with some anise.

At 10 years old I still often say WOW. That doesn’t look that old. I just recently opened 2007. The palate at this stage has softened and complexed. The wine still is quite red with a little purple even. The nose has developed more, tending to combine and balance the fruit with a little bottle age complexity.