WanderCurtis Wine

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Bodegas Vizcarra with the Swig, Bordeaux Index and Enotria wines

We took the fine quintuplet of Juan Carlos’ wines to these wine importers. Starting off at the Swig boys in Chiswick surrounded by countless wine samples! The boys were impressed but some concerns on pricing.

Followed by a lunchtime meeting in Hatton Garden with the very impressive Bordeaux Index. The head buyer turned out to be a ‘brummy’ friend of the Curtis family. Again, great interest in these wines and the possibility of some business after summer.

Lastly an evening tasting with Michael Israel from Enotria wines, which were sampled the following day by the buyers.

A very tough day was suitably rewarded with beef onglet, sauce Bordelaise at Comptoir Gascon in Smithfields!


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Torres Gran Coronas cabernet sauvignon 2004

Rich, fruity, vanilla, leather. A full and silky wine with dense, well structured tannins. It was a lovely  treat at the allotment with sun setting and Aberdeen Angus burgers. It was a gift at our Cuban Party last week. I have found it for £70 per half case at everywine.co.uk and would recommend it highly to accompany meaty dishes this summer.


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Bordeaux 2009 barrel tasting at The Sampler

Last month, The Sampler on Upper Street in Islington had the brilliant idea of bringing over some Bordeaux 2009 barrel samples for customers to try. The only other way of trying Bordeaux en primeur wines that I am aware of is at the Bibendum tasting usually held in early April, which unfortunately clashed with footie this year. If you don’t know the Sampler wine shop then it is definitely worth popping down there early evening to have a go on their fancy sampling machines which allow you to taste, for a small charge, a selection of wines on sale, including some fine and rare bottles.

I tasted the following wines (prices are the Samplers estimates):

Malartic Lagraviere Blanc, Pessac (£300)
Lovely sweet floral nose, quince, hay and vanilla, gorgeous. Palette light with touch of spice good acidity, quite long with a touch of heat at the end. *** (But at this price I would go for the ’08 which was also great, or an earlier vintage.)

Brown Rouge, Pessac (£170)
Leafy berry laden nose with a hint of green peppers, light fruitiness on the palette, balanced, ripe, a little tannin but not aggressive – cool, but not very long. **

Malartic Lagraviere Rouge, Pessac (£300) (now available at £285)
Dark colour, more closed nose, light berry fruit, very sweet with a hint of something flinty underneath. Cool on the palette, balanced and complete, mouth coating tannin but not aggressive. Nose develops still sweet with a touch of classic Pessac bell pepper (the one that you find in a donner kebab!). Interesting, complex and engaging, again round and tasty on the palette, quite long. Delicious. ***+

Domaine de Chevalier Rouge, Pessac (£350)
More bell pepper on the nose, spicier, edgy, rougher and bigger. More body and breadth, soft fruity and spicy with more aggressive tannin, mouth coating and lip smacking. Warmer tasty and long. This is a spicier bruiser of a wine. ***+

Smith Haut Lafitte Rouge, Pessac (£500)
Nose more closed and tough to get going, on palette cool, refined but concentrated and big. The refinement of Malartic and power of Chevalier, best of both worlds. Nose developing sweet fruit, touch of bell pepper, vegetal notes underneath a solid core of mouth filling fruit, spicy and complex with a lingering tasty finish. **** (Sadly this has since received high Parker scores so will be expensive).

Langoa Barton, St Julien (£480)
Slight scents of chutney/relish on the nose, then stoney with notes of plaster dust, developing with deeper and persistent fruit and limestone mix. Cool, compact, quite smooth on the palette, restrained and closed, ends with mouth puckering tannin, quite long.  Langoa’s do take time to open up, so one would have to trust on past performance on this one. All the right things in place except is there enough fruit?  **++  (Pricey for EP better to go back and buy previous vintages ’01 and ’04 are great)

Pedesclaux, Pauillac (£200)
Fruity, compact nose, light cassis in the mouth, balanced, tasty. **

Le Boscq
Sweet and sour notes on the nose, fruit with those salted yellow pickles you get with Sushi, fuller palette, fruit, cool balanced and tasty, not very long but a good drinker. **+

Citran
Sweet nose, slightly floral, balanced palette, cool and sweet, tasty. **+(good value?)

Sociando Mallet, Haut Medoc (£280)
Closed nose, bit imbalanced in the mouth and rather short with chunky tannin. Just hasn’t come together yet. Disappointing, as this is usually an excellent wine. *+?

La Tour Figeac, St. Emilion (£300)
Wider softer merlot nose, tasty but light bodied and rather tannic. The 2008 barrel sample last year was much more exciting, complex and approachable, and I’ve had lovely older vintages of this wine so again disappointing.  **?

Batailley, Pauillac (£350)
This wine was officially out, but I was kindly allowed to sample the dregs of the half bottle which were clear but slightly dusty. Lots of fruit, compact, pure and solid Pauillac. This should be great.

For what it’s worth
My personal view is that 2009 is a chance to pick up some fantastic wines for the cellar in the £200 – £400 price range (look for wines that other critics liked, Jancis, Decanter etc. but which weren’t singled out by Parker such as the Malartic Lagraviere & Batailley above or Haut Batailley). Then I think there will be a jump in prices up to £600 – £800 without much in between. For instance Duhart Milon was released at £270 last year and has sold out already at £600 this year! Also, while the left bank is universally agreed to be unique in terms of quality, the right bank is apparently more patchy and much better value will be had by going back to ’08 and older vintages. For example, a normally great value Pomerol Rouget was released at £220 last year and is £340 this year, but almost certainly not 50% better.


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Protos Seleccion 2006

First tried with Maria, the winemaker at the fantastic Rogers 12 million euro winery. Enjoyed more at the Tempranillo event on the 22nd. Very full with purple rim. Lovely smokey nose with great length and hints of herbs. Baileys wine import Protos crianza 2006.


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Aalto 2005 Ribera del Duero

This was one of the highlights of our trip to Ribera del Duero. A truly powerful and deliciously addictive Ribera wine which will be on show at our forthcoming tasting – decide for yourself.


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Wine tasting trip to the Ribera Del Duero, 20-23 May

A stupendous long weekend in Ribera Del Duero arranged by R-C tours.

Day one
Commenced with a private tour of Dominio de Pingus, which was very hard to find just off a back street in the village.

Winemaker Patricia Benitez took us first around the super modern science labs including PCR machine! The scientists among us were already drooling even prior to the barrel samples of Pingus and flor de pingus 2009. A fascinating insight into one of the worlds most expensive ‘garage wines’.

We were whisked off to the ultra modern Bodegas Alion (Vega-Sicilia). Purification answered every last question, valiantly, from the density of the grain of French versus American oak to the concentration of TCAs on corked samples. Then to the exotic Japanese Gardens of Pablo Alvarez’s Vega Sicilia, and finally the private tasting from immaculately pristine top range Riedel-Alion 2005, Valbuena, Unico 2000 and the most mindblowing luscious marmalady Tokay 2002. This was going to take some beating!

Off to Bodegas Protos – a very much larger more modern, and somewhat colder operation.
Impressed by winemaker Maria but the wines were disappointing. In fairness they did have a very hard act to follow.

Day two
Viejo Coso by Jesus Ramos who descended from his castle in Curiel de Duero to show us his maturing barrels in a converted church with 2m thick stone walls. Then off up to the spectacular castle-hotel, hundreds of feet high on a limestone escarpment. Amazing setting, interesting toilets and good quality wines. He kindly invited us back for lechazo (baby lamb stewed for four hours) and Champions League final.

30km by bike later and to the highlight of the trip -Juan Carlos Vizcarra, Bodegas Vizcarra.

Tasting Notes

Coso Viejo
Vinification takes place in Peniefel, followed by aging in barrel and bottle in a restored church with 1.5m thick walls. Our tasting took place in the hotel Coso Viejo also run by Jesus, a restored castle on the hill with fantastic views over the valley and back towards Peniefel. Hotel Coso Viejo, Encarnacion 9, 29200 Antequera, Spain

Jesus ages his wines for longer than the minimum stipulations for Roble, Crianza, Reserva and sells 70% of his wine in Madrid and the rest to central Europe.

Roble 2005, released 2008.
Slightly brick coloured rim. Fruity nose, simple and tasty on the palette. Develops in the glass, soft ripe tannin, black cherries and becoming even more enjoyable. Shows the extra effort and aging ** Sells for 7 EU.14%

Crianza 2003 released 2008.
Again a bricky rim, blackberry fruit, compost and vegetal notes on the nose, smooth with plenty of tannin on the palette, needs food as many of these wines do. Opens up on returning to the glass later with caramel and more complexity. Very tasty. For 9 EU a bottle fantastic value. **

Reserva 2001 released in 2006.
A sweet nose, vegetal with hints of spice and caramel, nice and interesting. Soft and smooth on the palette, quite long, a lot of tannin has dropped away. Some still present, but the fruit is disappearing. A little rioja like. We returned that evening for chuletas, baby slow cooked lamb at the castle, which was accompanied perfectly with another couple of bottles of the Reserva which really came into its own. Again at 12 EU a bottle certainly the best value wine we had delivering loads of please.**

Bodegas Vizcarra
As we cycled back from Roa del Duero through Mambrilla wondering how we were going to find our last appointment of the day, we noticed some guy in a tractor in a field shouting and waving at us. It turned out to be Juan Carlos, owner, oenologist, winemaker, PR department, labourer and everything else at Bodegas Vizcarra. An inspiring and passionate man who has since our meeting pipped Cantona as Adam’s all-time hero.

JuanCarlos-Vizzcarra

Having visited four fascinating wineries and learnt all about winemaking in Ribera, and after a rather large lunch in Roa we thought we knew what to expect. But from the moment Juan Carlos stepped off his tractor to when we left three hours later it was clear that Bodegas Vizzcarra was something very special.

We visited the vineyards themselves and heard about the low yielding old bush vines and the younger row planted vines, also the different soils and positions in the valley. In the new winery, JC explained his use of larger new oak barrels to encourage a more gentle expression in the wines. We tasted 2009 from the barrel and were privileged to visit JC’s family cellar in the town and taste a mature bottle of one of his premier wines.

Senda del Oro 2009 from barrel
Fruity nose then packed with fruit, chewy yet fresh, tasty and balanced, nicely under oaked. **+

Vizcarra 2009
From 20-30 year old vines, a crianza. Roasted coffee beans on the nose also fruit. Lovely sweet blackberry and coffee beans, soft tannin, long viscous and tasty.  **++

Torralvo 2009
From 55 year old vines. This is the wine where JC is aiming for the perfect Ribera Reserve, made in bigger barrels to temper the effect of the oak. Full fruity, concentrated with a mineral undercurrent, powerful, viscous with a long lingering fruit aftertaste.  ***+

Celia 2009
Some Garnacha in the blend here again in big barrels with attractive pink metal bands (Celia’s favourite colour?) This wine is more feminine and refined in every respect, even delicate following the Torralvo. Compact and a little closed but beautifully balanced dense complex core and soft lingering tannin at the end. This has amazing potential. ****+

Innes 2009
This blend has a10% merlot in it and again a long maturation in large barrels. Wonderfully cool and fine textured, sweet and compact, with plenty of tanning, a great mouth feel.  ***++

Celia 2003
Delicate nose, sweet with hints of the savoury/sweet plum sauce one gets with crispy duck, complex and powerful in the mouth, soft tanning, very long and persistent on the palette.  Evolves in the glass, passing through waves of sweet fruit flavours and savoury soy notes.  One of the best of the trip, absolutely delicious!  ****

Torralvo 2006
Bit closed to begin with but opens up with fruit, limestone and persistent nose, then in the mouth, wow! Big, intense, powerful seemingly endless, good balance, and so very, very tasty.  ****

By the time we got to these last two we all gave up spitting – the wines were just too good. When we finally got back on our bikes, and JC got back into his tractor, there was not a drop left.


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Corney and Barrow tasting at the Groucho Club, Soho on 11 May

Fine wines, fine venue, excellent merchants. Tried PSI from Pingus and many more fine wines. Had the wine buyer amused by mention of the ‘twin peaks of Leflaive’.


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Pascual Toso Malbec Mendoza Argentina

The best way to combat a rainy, slug pellet laden day in May was to crack open a bottle of this fine Argentinian Malbec. A very impromptu WanderCurtis tasting chez le allotment with fine Aberdeen Angus burgers and bbq chicken wings. Rich, dark, packed with fruit – a fine example of Malbec. Available at Swig Wines for about £12.


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Arzuaga Ribera del Duero 2006

A stupendous example of what the Ribera can produce. Wonderfully luscious/coffee/vanilla/mocha with harmonious balance and plenty of ripe black fruits. This is a real treat and overshadowed Pesquera reserva and tinto 2005.

Was the most popular of five Ribera reds. Wonderful food matching provided by masterchef Rob Revel-Chion, the producer of the finest paella north of the Pyrenees, laden with clams, king prawns, chicken and smokey paprika.

A fine wine indeed and many more to come on our wine tasting and buying trip to the Ribera del Duero later in May.


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Cote Rotie La Landonne Rene Rostaing 2000

A real treat at the home of avid collector and wine brain Stuart Grostern. A fantastic initial nose of cassis/black fruits, shortly followed by sweet chamois leather, and followed on with liquorice. Delicious and harmonious with rounded tannins. Perfectly balanced and drinking beautifully with lots of life left in it.

A trip underground to the sand-filled Grostern cellars revealed a salivating array of treasures. Boy, would I like to be left down here!

I sense a few more trips here.

Very pleasing to offer this Burgundian expert Brackovitch, Estate Kumeu River, NZ. Wwore blind it was a Burgundy/Mersault/Chassagne Montrachet. Well done the Kiwis.