WanderCurtis Wine

Wine tastings, corporate events, reviews and recommendations

Author Archives: Kiran


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The Quarry Gimblett Gravels 2002, Craggy Range

Lovely savoury Chinese plum sauce, wood and damson on the nose. A rich mix of dark fruit, mocha and cocoa powder on the palette, again savoury, yet sweet and delicious. Develops a little in the glass, not hugely long but lots of pleasure. Age has rounded and softened the wine compared to the 2007 Sophia from the same winemakers. ***

Was available from the Wine Society but they seem to have run out. I’ve seen the 2005 from £40, which is a bit steep. Look out for Craggy Range Sophia, which is similar but more of a Bordeaux right bank blend for about £20, or the Te Kahu, a merlot and cab sav blend for everyday drinking.


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Charmail 2003

Having bought a case of this a couple of years back, I’ve been impressed by the way the wine has improved over the last year having been a bit dumb and unexciting when it first arrived. A bottle drunk with friends in their garden in Aldeburgh late last Saturday night sitting around a wood fire really hit the spot. Lovely, juicy fruit with a nice cedary tinge – very tasty and moreish. Delicious! A wine that delivers lots of pleasure and enough complexity to keep you interested to the bottom of the bottle and probably the second. This Chateau is still a reasonably priced Bordeaux (in comparision to others) en primeur and back vintages are probably still affordable.


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Chateau Pavie-Maquin 2004 St Emilion grand cru classe tasted blind with Penfolds Bin 407 2006

The first business meeting of the New Year was aptly commenced by a ‘new world versus old’ blind tasting. After a bit of tooing and froing it was clear that wine A had more complexity, more on the nose and was our clear favorite, with a mixture of fruits and cedary wood. Wine B was good enough to enhance the lamb lasagne verdi but somewhat lacking in depth. Wine A indeed was the Pavie, although we were slightly worried, having watched the film ‘Bottle Shock’ the night before.

Lots was discussed, including the proposed structure of the vertical tasting, introductory talk, costings and feedback sheets.

We structured the SMSA event into eight rounds (further details here). Rather pleasingly, we had both already written proposals for the structure and both came up with near identical plans. Other proposed events will be a Channing school tasting in Sept/Oct and a spring WanderCurtis tasting, possibly at Jacksons Lane/Red Hedgehog/Highgate Society/Bull or other venue. It will be an exciting year!

We may attend the Justerini and Brooks Burgundy 2008 tasting next week and Decanter Bordeaux tasting in February.


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Austrian whites at New Year

After a few days skiing, which lacked vinus highlight but featured sufficient schnitzls with beer to compensate, we returned to Regina and Franz’s to see in the New Year. Franz again raided his wonderful cellar (worthy of a feature of its own at some point) and the evening started with a couple of superb Austrian whites.

First, a Gruener Veltliner Shloss Goebelsberg Lamm Reserve 2008. This GV from Kamptal rather than the Wachau was voted best in the vintage by Vinaria magazine. Full of exotic fruits, pineapple, star fruit etc. on the nose, but with a tight mineral core and long on the palette, lovely.

Next was a Riesling Smaragd 1999 Liobener Steirntal, from the now internationally famous FX Pichler. This was amazingly  fresh for its ten years and still in full stride, smokey with hints of match head on the nose, but with a strong fruity scents underneath. On the palette beautifully balanced, with pineapple and seasoning leaving, ending clean and invigorating.


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Christmas at Regina and Franz’s

Among many wine highlights this Xmas we’ve had courtesy of Franz’s cellar, a bottle of Mouton Rothschild 1989 (the year they got married). On the nose (quoting Franz), ‘misthaufen mit choco banana’, meaning rubbish heap and chocolate-coated banana.

It’s like walking through an Arab bazaar or souk with exotic spicy notes of cinnamon and cardamom, paprika and cocoa powder. Each scent brings something different, a rich and complex wine, beginning to go rusty around the rim but with plenty of life left. All this and absolutely delicious as well!

Following, a Smith Haut Lafitte 1999, which is a lovely mature wine with a nose of cold fireplace, menthol and tasty fruit. It is a contrast, much more feminine and although not as long, of a different class. Happy Christmas!


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Duval-Leroy Blanc de Blancs 2004

Waitrose have a 50% discount on this 2004 vintage champagne at the moment.  Apparently it was selling for 30 quid (too expensive) before being reduced to £14.99 a bottle, or a very tempting £14.24 if you buy a case of six.

It’s lovely and fresh, with a tasty chardonnay character. Quite long too. It develops in the the glass over an hour or two which indicates that if you were to put a case away in the cellar or under the stairs for a year it will mellow and broaden out further.

Offer ends on the 22nd (though I suspect it may be extended if they haven’t sold out).


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Party fizzzzzzzzz

This is the season for hosting, and hopefully attending, a few parties and I’ve been doing both over the last couple of weeks.

Champagne is obviously great for oiling the social circuit. But even with the champagne houses feeling the squeeze, and beginning to produce some tempting offers, sparkling wine can deliver the same sort of quality as cheap champagne for a fraction of the price.

For my own do’s, I tend to go for the Wine Society’s Celebration Crémant de Loire. Made in the Loire out of chenin blanc, chardonnay and cabernet franc, it is bright and fresh, with a tasty chardonnay tang and refined littlish bubbles. Good enough to drink on its own. £9.95 a bottle when you buy a case of six.

I’ve also tried the Wine Society’s Saumur. Also from the Loire, but this time mostly chenin blanc. Its fine, but I find it a little gassy and lacking flavour, although great for mixing with peach juice or elderflower cordial. However at £7.95 a bottle for a case of six I’d go for the extra flavour the chardonnay brings to the celebration.

However I was knocked out by an Australian sparkling wine served at a recent party I went to hosted by a big London legal firm. Willowglen Brut is a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Serving fizz cold – but not freezing –  in nice, weightily tall champagne glasses really does help. But this sparkler really delivered a lot of flavour and depth in its own right. For me crispness is not everything, although this still had enough freshness and lift.
For a party, definitely a bargain.


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Rhone 2007 a sure bet?

A lot of the critics, in particular the ’emperor’of wine, Mr. Parker himself, have been raving about Rhone 2007s, especially southern.

Adam and I recently went to a J&B tasting of Rhone and Loire 2008. While some of the Loire wines were of superb quality the 2008 Rhône were generally disappointing. A lot of the domaines were showing a 2004 wine too, as if to say this is what the wines will develop into. Although a very welcome way of getting an insight into how the wines would develop, sadly it didn’t do much to reassure.

The 2007 do seem to be a different story.  I haven’t got any of the en primeur wines I ordered yet so I don’t know about the CNDP and higher quality end. (I did get a sneak preview at a Bordeaux Index Rhone 2006 tasting earlier this year of the Pegau Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvée Réservée, 2007 which was just so juicy, sweet and approachably delicious.)  However I’ve recently tried a couple of every day drinking wines that were great.

Firstly (at a party hosted in Fortnum & Mason by a big surveying firm) Fortnum’s own Côtes du Rhône by Andre Brunel at £7.50. This was fruity and jammy with a nice peppery finish and very drinkable.

Secondly Rasteau Côtes-du-Rhône Villages, Domaine des Escaravailles, 2007 from the Wine Soc at £7.95 a bottle, even better, juicy and succulent, bursting with fruit but with a spicy edge.

I’ve often turned to southern Rhône; Cairanne, Rasteau and Vacqueyras for great everyday drinking at well under a tenner, especially when aged for a few years, and it looks like 2007 is a vintage worth stocking up on.


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Fruhburgunder Hessische Bergstrasse 2005

This was a  gift from our friends Heidi and Heinz from Bavaria, South Germany. It is basically pinot noir, but slightly earlier ripening. Shared it with my brother, who was down from Edinburgh, and an impromptu visit from Kiran and Birgit (who was packing his wine cellar across the road).

A lovely fruity nose of wild strawberries and red fruits/summer pudding, and hints of rose petal. Birgit  ‘very quaffable’, Kiran ‘a hint of arsenic/cyanide!!’, very worrying from the Curtis’. Must be the stress of moving. I was pleasantly surprised and would happily search it out again.


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Burgundy trip September 2009

Recovered from fantastic tour of Burgundy. Highlights were:

  • last day of the harvest
  • great parties in the vineyards
  • Domaines Varoilles older wines in Gevrey Chambertin
  • lovely sensuous wines of Oliver Leflaive in Puligny Montrachet
  • food (not service) at Ma Cuisine
A nice glass of red
A drink in the fields
The science of wine
Among the barrels
Bringing in the harvest
Stopping for some baguette