One benefit of this prolonged lock down has been the opportunity for those with wine cellars to reorganize inventory and find surprising bottles. Over the past months your scribe has enjoyed some glorious old reds from around the world. This also is an appropriate time to reassess vintages and determine those approaching best drinkability and those on the decline. Lots of help with this project from articles such as the one on the weekend by Jancis Robinson in the Financial Post on “Which red wine vintages to drink now”. Jancis states she “will write about white wines next week.” Generally though there is some pressure from sellers to promote newly released vintages plus the more forwardly riper style of most wines resulting from climate change is all resulting in consumption of younger wines. Hard to believe her comment on red Burgundy that  “soft early-maturing 2017 is often the vintage of choice.” There are still some older classics available in  wine stores and especially at auction but these are dominated by reds. What about whites? Most consumers are looking for fresh and vibrant from their whites with hopefully some signature of place. Concerns still continue about pre-mox and bad storage of older whites.  

Pre-Covid it used to be fun to serve our dinner guests the same white wine (often Burgundy) from the same producer both blind one younger and the other several decades old. This usually resulted in a polarization of views with some extolling the merits of the young fresh wine but finding the other one with more colour & honey notes rather too old. Others found the newer one rather undeveloped & acidic but appreciated the smooth rich complex character of the mature wine. This always developed into some spirited conversations around the table based on the personal preferences of the taster. Your scribe tends to enjoy both for those different reasons and depending on the food course. Older is of course much more risky with bottle variability. You don’t want oxidation or too much maderization. Chenin Blanc is a more reliable long aging variety than Chardonnay because of the high acidity.

Last week we decided to study our last bottles from mainly the 1986 vintage (and one 1952) over 4 dinners. The wines were:

1. 1986 Savennieres Chateau de Chamboureau 12.5
2. 1986 Bienvenues Batard Montrachet Louis Latour 13.3
3. 1986 Corton-Charlemagne Domaine Thomas-Moillard 14
4. 1952 Corton-Charlemagne Caves De La Reine Pedauque 12.5 

The food was mainly fresh Dungeness crab but some steelhead salmon and chicken were paired as well. It brought back fond memories of the London Wine Trade Fair as Chair of the Wines Committee IWFS (with John Avery, Clive Coates and others) discussing the differences of 1985 vs 1986 white Burgundy. Sometimes issues of botrytis arose especially with 1986 – like Meursault Poruzots Francois Jobard. No botrytis showing in these bottles. We lucked in as all 4 were splendidly interesting and paired so well with food. The rich old chards paired to crab was a match made in heaven with the matching rich smooth sweetness of both (though 2010 Chablis Les Clos Christian Moreau works well in a different way too). The aged chenin blanc provided better structured lift for the fish. Lovely surprise not having to open an insurance standby younger vintage bottle at any of these 4 dinners. Better showing than even we had anticipated. Seek out a very old dry white wine for a new educational experience. Can be worth the search.

Question: Reference work on Rhone wines?

Answer: Yes – a most topical question. Your scribe likes the vins-rhone.com website with detailed information on the history, grape varieties, and appellations of the Rhone Valley with useful maps. The old standard reference books from John Livingstone-Learmonth & Robert Parker among others need updating. A brand new book on Wines of the Rhone by Matt Walls $39.95 US @mrmattwalls is just out published January 25, 2021 covering all the appellations and available through The Classic Wine Library – which also has other excellent wine publications. Check it out. 

Most of us now are quite familiar with some good wine values coming from South America. Certainly Argentina (unique Malbec) and Chile (unique Carmenere) have established themselves as interesting wine regions growing many grape varieties with diverse styles. Even Brazil (high altitude Syrah) and Uruguay (Tannat) are working on making a statement about unequalled wines of quality. This past decade showed Bolivia trying to get into the game as well. Many articles published in the Economist to the Guardian have spotlighted the potential of this wine region. Another important factor contributing to this emergence is due to climate change resulting in the seeking out everywhere of higher elevation vineyards. We all know about these from the high altitude regions like Mendoza (in Tupungato) Argentina which help to extend the growing season and preserve the natural acidity in the grapes. Bolivia has this desired overall high altitude in spades with a wine history that dates back to the 16th century but is being revived again just recently. The Wines of Bolivia website shows wines such as 100% Cabernet Franc “pleasant and round” & 100% Tannat “elegant tannins that balance the body of this powerful, noble and sincere wine” both from Aranjuez the first Bolivian winery to win an international gold medal for their Tannat 2013. Also suggest you check out the Chufly website who are bringing Bolivian wines to America. They have set out some interesting background information on this region. There is a current article of January 20 on Conde Nast Traveler linked here by Megan Spurrell on “Why Bolivia Should Be Your Next Wine Destination – And how you can start drinking Bolivian wine right now.” Your scribe has tried a couple of them but am intrigued to explore them further. Would appreciate anyone who knows better about Bolivian wines to chime in with their experiences. Yet another wine region to monitor.

Question: Which winegrowers established the first organic and biodynamic vineyards in New Zealand?

Answer: Believed to be Annie & James Millton with their eponymous Millton Vineyard established in 1984 with their first plantings from 1969. They are situate on the banks of the Te Arai river on the East coast of the North Island with a Gisborne appellation in New Zealand.

Over the decades your scribe has developed a real admiration for Wynns Cabernet from their Coonawarra Estate on Terra Rossa “red earth” soils in Australia. Their Black Label (first appeared as such on the 1965 vintage) wine is an amazing story of consistency from the first one produced in 1954 to the current release of 2018 being the 63rd one. Started to follow them in the seventies and first visited some 40 years ago in 1980 during our trip to the IWFS Australian Festival. Collected many vintages since then and so impressed with the complexity and longevity of cellared bottles like their 1976 Jimmy Watson Trophy winner at 12 alcohol & outstanding 1986 at 12.9. All this came rushing back to me last week while enjoying a bottle of their 58th vintage of 2013 in screw-cap (introduced first from the 2006 vintage) over a dinner of wild widgeon with rice & peas. Hope followers of this Blog took my recommendation here on January 4, 2016 to buy this wine as it is just starting to show development on a wonderful long plateau of graceful aging. Marvel at how winemaker Sue Hodder and her talented team are able to present such intense fruit showing that distinctive Coonawarra minty terroir always at such an easy drinkable elegant balanced 13.5 alcohol so complementary to food. Amazing concentration at lower alcohol levels. How do they do it?

Sue Hodder presented a brilliant Wynn’s wine seminar on February 26, 2015 during the Vancouver International Wine Festival. She spoke about the history of the winery with first plantings back in 1891 and completing their first building in 1896 with this unique strip of land there only 21 kilometres long & 2 km wide. Her focus was mainly on the 2010 vintage using only 20-25% top fruit for Black Label from vineyards over 35 years old showing that typical  “blackberry dark cherry black olive licorice violets tobacco oak and cigar box”. Sue also showed us differences between Coonawarra single vineyards with best aromatics coming from a southern section “Messenger” (4C cooler than Western Australia & Tasmania) compared to the bigger more tannic muscular but only 7 km away “Alex 88” (Alexanders Block planted in 1988) – often used in their iconic “John Riddoch” label. Treat yourself to a bottle of Wynns Black Label to get this memorable value wine experience.