Lidl Wine Cellar magazine: how many?!
Six million copies. Six meeeeeeeellion copies. That’s the print run of the Lidl Wine Cellar magazine. In the UK at least, this must be one of biggest print runs (the biggest print run?) of any magazine. Lidl asked me to help them write it – our first collaboration is available in store today; it’s inserted into The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Daily Record this Saturday. Hope I didn't leave in any typos…
My aim as a wine writer hasn't changed since I first started writing for friends seven years ago: I want to help people get the same enjoyment from wine that I do. Ever since I was a grubby-faced, spoon-licking toddler I've been drawn to the hedonistic, but I can honestly say there is nothing that has brought me more enduring pleasure than this magical drink. Sure it takes a while to get into. But once you’re in, there’s no looking back. I’ve never met an ex-winelover.
The team at Lidl have given me remarkable freedom. I've written introductions to various regions around the world so drinkers can explore with more confidence. And within the 40-page magazine, they've also granted me the space to write a couple of general wine features which I hope will inspire people to get involved if they aren't already.
When it comes to sourcing the wines, Ben Hulme is the senior buying manager for beer, wines and spirits so he does most of the legwork in putting the collection together. To help him hone his selection he then convenes a tasting panel of three Masters of Wine: Ed Adams, Caroline Gilby and Richard Bampfield, who give every wine a score out of 100. For wines that get the green light, Richard supplies a concise tasting note for the magazine. The wines in each quarterly Wine Cellar collection are bought in finite quantities and distributed to all their stores, so when they’re gone, they’re gone. The top wines sell out very quickly – don’t say I didn't warn you!
I love writing in-depth articles for websites and magazines that are aimed at committed wine nuts. But writing for Lidl’s Wine Cellar magazine gives me incredible reach, much greater than any individual wine column, to talk to normal people who haven't really discovered wine yet. If I can give them a hand up and help them discover their path to enjoying brilliant bottles, then I'm happy.
What I learned whilst judging The London Steak Awards
Over the past four weeks I've been helping to judge the 2015 London Steak Awards. The competition, sponsored by Graffigna, involved the meat-loving public voting for their favourite London steak restaurant on Facebook and Twitter and a panel of judges visiting the top four to confirm just who it is that serves the best steak in London. The panel consisted of Luiz Hara, aka The London Foodie; Jon Hawkins, editor of Foodism magazine; Matthew Zorpas, aka The Gentleman Blogger, myself and an alternating guest judge.
Obviously the first thing I learned was what a jammy bastard I am to be judging the London Steak Awards. Over the past five years steak restaurants have been popping up all over London and the standard has never been higher. Here’s my take on the top four.
In fourth place: Roxie
Roxie is a small chain of four restaurants dotted around West London. It was set up 16 years ago by some South African friends who couldn't find a decent steak house in London so decided to create their own. We visited the Putney branch, which was busy even on a Monday night, and had a comfortable, lived-in feel to it. My sirloin was fine but it lacked the depth of flavour of the other steaks we sampled. But at £14.95 it was less than half the price of most of them; Roxie offers great value for money. The wine list however was only passable, and they don’t offer corkage. 6/10.
In third place: Marco Pierre White Steak & Ale House
The grizzled Knorr-peddler may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I visited with an open mind, despite some recent unflattering interviews. This competition is about the meat, not the name above the door. And the meat is very good indeed; my 14oz ribeye (£35) was juicy and flavoursome with an intense char and real depth of flavour. Service was friendly and entertaining, and the high-ceilinged, sunken dining room is spacious and bustling (though very warm on our visit). The wine list is serviceable and not overpriced considering its City location. But most importantly, they offer some of the best steaks London has to offer. 8/10.
In second place: Mash
Mash is a capacious, polished, subterranean steak house near Piccadilly where somehow it is always night. You walk past two impressive glass-walled meat lockers and a well-stocked island bar into the main part of the restaurant, which consists of a series of comfortable red leather booths. You can select steaks by country of origin and cut; the floor staff are highly knowledgeable and helpful (as are the bartenders and sommeliers for that matter). The 90-day aged 500g Danish long-bone (£48) had an intense, though not intensely gamey, flavour; but the Australian tomahawk steak was better value at £60 per kilo (so £30 per person) and had an appetising meatiness. Sides are very good, but the wine list here really needs to be seen to be believed. It’s comprehensive without being over-long, has one of the best selections of modern US wines in London, and, surprisingly for the West End, offers very good value for money. Mash is worth visiting for the wine list alone; but coupled with the quality of the meat, Mash is one of the very best steak restaurants in London. 9/10.
The winner: Hawksmoor
But the meaty crown goes to Hawksmoor. Now with five restaurants around London and an outpost in Manchester, Hawksmoor served up one of the finest steaks I have ever eaten in the capital. I shared a 900g porterhouse (sirloin and fillet on the bone, £40.50 per person). It had a substantial char on the outside but remained perfectly medium rare inside. It was intense in flavour, with both cut giving you all you could ask for; the fillet meltingly tender, the sirloin deliciously flavoursome. And the sides were also the best of the four restaurants; the bone marrow smoky and wobbling, the triple-cooked chips actually perfect. Though they have more impressively decorated rooms (we ate at Hawksmoor Knightsbridge), it was comfortable, convivial and had good acoustics. The service was enthusiastic and precise, and our waiter could answer even my most annoying questions. On top of this, the wine list is fantastic, boasting impressive variety within a medium-sized list, plenty of mature bottles and largely very fairly priced. You can spend a grand on something to impress if you want to, but there’s plenty of good wines between the £30-40 mark. They even do £5 corkage all day on Mondays. If you haven’t been to Hawksmoor, go to Hawksmoor. 10/10.
Introducing the Mr Vine Tasting Panel
Yesterday saw the launch of a new wine app: it’s called Mr Vine.
Mr Vine is an app that helps you discover the kinds of wine you like from a marketplace consisting of over 1,000 wines across a dozen different independent UK wine merchants. You can search using all the classic criteria such as colour and country of origin, or you can take a taste test that will suggest wines based on your stylistic preferences. Orders are placed in-app and delivered to your door. Mr Vine is free to download and is currently only available on IOS but will soon be launched on Android too; you can download it here.
So what’s it got to do with me? Well the brains behind the app (fine wine trader Charlie Martin and Greg Jones, former retail director at Majestic) asked me to chair the Mr Vine Tasting Panel. Each month, we’ll taste a selection of wines available via the app. The tasting should flag up the best examples of a particular style of wine that’s available across a number of our finest independent wine shops. The result should point out the best of the best!
The panel consists of five dedicated wine lovers, all of whom have a different area of expertise: Richard Hemming, Helena Nicklin, Nathan Nolan, Zeren Wilson and me. We score the wines out of 100, provide a tasting note and – perhaps most importantly – pick our top five of the night. These won’t necessarily be the highest scoring; an expensive, classic wine might get a high score, but we might want to flag up others that offer great value for money or that are doing something a little different and worthy of your attention.
We had a warm-up tasting the other week with a selection of wines from a number of Mr Vine suppliers. The results are as follows:
First place: Côte Mas Piquepoul Frisant 2013 (Vin de France, 12.0%, £9.95, Soho Wine Supply)
This refreshing fizz made from the increasingly popular Piquepoul grape has bags of grapefruit, lemon and green apple flavour and was something of a revelation. The saline finish is very moreish and just begs you to take another sip. For under a tenner, this must be one of the best sparklers on the market. 89 points.
Second place: Stag's Leap Petite Sirah 2009 (Napa Valley, USA, 14.1%, £25.00, Soho Wine Supply)
Luxurious and velvety, brooding and smoky. This is an intense, concentrated wine with flavours of blackberry, coffee bean and black cherries. The overall impression is punchy and polished, but it retains a sense of elegance and balance. Beauty and the beast all wrapped up in one. 91 points.
Third place: Boroli 'Quatro Fratelli' Barbera d'Alba 2011 (Italy, 13.5%, £13.99, Soho Wine Supply)
A lovely, classic Barbera: bright and perky, with pure, crunchy red cherry and cranberry flavours. Versatile and highly drinkable, this just cries out for some good Italian food. Thirst quenching and juicy. 89 points.
Haute Cabrière Chardonnay Pinot Noir 2014 (Franschhoek, South Africa, 12.5%, £10.99, Hard to Find Wines)
This rose-gold coloured white is made from the same grapes commonly blended in Champagne. It's fairly weighty, with deep apple and melon aromas and a silky texture. Clear, clean and just a little bit different. 87 points.
Clos des Menuts Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2009 (France, 13.5%, £19.20, Nickolls & Perks)
Serious stuff: this is classic claret, with strong black fruit and a gamey, savoury, smoky character. It's pretty dry, but with some soft, sumptuous fruits and a slightly furry texture. Deserves to be drunk alongside a plate of something meaty. 87 points.
I’ll post the outcome here after each tasting so you can see which wines are worth a try.
For more info on the app and how it works, check out mrvine.co.uk.
UK vermouth and amaro: you bitter believe it
In the UK we can be a bit prejudiced against flavoured wines and spirits. It’s not hard to see why if you look at the current proliferation of 'aromatised wine-based drinks' that are appearing on supermarket shelves. Most trumpet their ‘natural fruit flavours’, but rather than tasting of genuine strawberries, raspberries or peaches, all the ones I’ve tried have tasted like melted jelly sweets, diluted with water then poked with vodka. Most flavoured spirits aren’t much better. There are two kindred styles of flavoured wines and spirits however that have been criminally overlooked in the past that are starting to make a comeback. We’re even making some brilliant modern examples here in the UK.
Good vermouth and amaro show that when a balance of natural flavours can be captured and blended, the results can equal more than the sum of their parts. And they offer a whole new world of complex flavours that you simply never find in more conventional wines and spirits.
The boom in British gin we’ve witnessed in the UK over the past few years shows that there is a huge demand for drinks that have been aromatised with herbs and spices. Amaro and vermouth are similar in some respects but both are broader in style. In basic terms, a vermouth is a fortified wine (typically 15-18%), laced with a range of aromatics and can be sweet or dry. An amaro starts life as a spirit, also flavoured with aromatics, but with sugar added to balance out its characteristic bitterness, creating a liqueur (typically 15-40%). Amaro (plural: amari) means ‘bitter’ in Italian; to produce this flavour, a bittering agent is used such as gentian root or wormwood.
Some aromatics are more common than others, some overlap between vermouth and amaro, and each brand has its own recipe. They can include herbs, spices, flowers, fruit peels, seeds, roots and tree bark. Methods of serving them vary widely; they can both be drunk neat, at room temperature or chilled, over ice, mixed with tonic or soda, or used in cocktails. Amaro is very much an Italian drink, whereas vermouth is made in several European countries. Neither have any real history of production in the UK however. For the new breed of UK vermouth and amaro producer this means that although the locals are largely unfamiliar with these styles, they have the freedom to create their own unique expressions.
Surrounded by 40 acres of silver birch trees near the South Downs National Park in West Sussex, Blackdown Artisan Spirits have been making a range of alcoholic drinks since 2013. They put the trees to good use; the sap contains around 1% fructose, and can be concentrated to make a base wine for their off-dry white vermouth. The sap contributes freshness, citrus notes and tannin to the finished product. “Sales are going exceptionally well” says owner Sarah Thompson, and she puts this down to a number of factors. There is a growing demand for quality, artisanal English drinks and “gin is pulling vermouth along” she says. “People are looking for a lower alcohol alternative to gin” and vermouth is a good option. It is particularly popular with people aged between 30 and 50, who tend to enjoy bitter flavours, whereas those younger or older often prefer sweeter ones.
Out west in Somerset, Jack Adair Bevan from The Ethicurean restaurant makes a sweeter, darker vermouth called The Collector. The base wine is 100% Malvasia from Veneto, the spirit from Chase Distillery in Hereford and most of the aromatics are grown in the restaurant garden or foraged in the nearby Mendip Hills. He has sold 1,000 bottles since launching it in November. “I can’t stress enough how much vermouth is coming on” he says, listing a number of top London restaurants such as Quo Vadis that are developing dedicated vermouth lists. He suspects that interest in vermouth has grown partly on the back of the current popularity of classic cocktails such as the Manhattan and the Negroni, both of which contain vermouth.
The only British company that produces both styles is Sacred Spirits in Highgate, North London. Ian Hart started out making gin, but now also makes three vermouths (an extra dry, an amber and a sweet rosso style) alongside their Rosehip Cup which is essentially an amaro: “it’s designed to be an English alternative to Campari,” he says. His base wine is sourced from Three Choirs Vineyards in the Cotswolds, he fortifies with an English wheat spirit and sources as many of his aromatics as possible from within the UK. He sees the developing interest in these styles as part of the ongoing transformation in UK food and drink culture we’ve seen over the last decade. “Vermouths have been a bit downmarket for too long, but the UK is very much at the forefront of the resurgence.”
The other two British amari are also from London; Stellacello ‘London Amaro’ from Hackney and Asterley Bros ‘Dispense’ from Sydenham. Both Joe Stella from Stellacello and Rob Berry from Asterley Bros have Italian heritage and a love for amari but wanted to create their own British versions. Pointing towards recent fashion for Aperol and Campari based drinks, Stella says “it’s fantastic that people are being a little more adventurous with their own palates – it’s the sign of a healthy food and drink scene.” Rob Berry feels that “there’s a palpable sense in London of people wanting to make artisan products” and the industry has been encouraged by government grants and support. He plans to follow the craft beer model of producing small batches and seasonal styles to keep the business dynamic and fun. “There’s a whole world of different ways to approach this stuff,” he says.
For the wine lover, one of the attractions of their favourite drink is that it speaks of where it is made, that it reflects terroir. The aromatics used in the production of vermouth and amaro inevitably take centre stage, but if the ingredients are locally sourced, the result can still be reminiscent of a place. If drinking a wine is like surveying a landscape, then drinking a vermouth or an amaro is more like looking at an impressionist painting of a landscape; the hand of the artist is very much in evidence, but the skill in its production is still a wonderful thing to behold.
Wine is extraordinary in its ability to convey so many flavours from so few raw materials. But as Ian Hart at Sacred Spirits points out “there are 500,000 known plants and spices you can use” when producing a vermouth. Vermouths and amari bring into focus a new palette of aromas that you don’t find in other wines; they also offer a different form of structure to explore in the form of bitterness. Vermouth and amari may be flavoured drinks, but they couldn’t be further away from the cynical fruit-flavoured concoctions currently sneaking their way onto supermarket shelves. And they are styles that the UK can be increasingly proud of.
Blackdown Silver Birch Vermouth (Sussex, 14.7%)
£24.99 for 70cl from www.blackdowncellar.co.uk
Base wine made of silver birch sap; 20 botanicals include wormwood, camomile, juniper, liquorice, orris root, citrus zest; fortified with Blackdown Gin.
Colourless liquid with a soft cloud of aromas. Subtle, with some high-toned spice. Lightly floral, with slight vegetal celery notes. Light-bodied, slightly sweet but balanced with gentle lemony acidity. Slight peppery bitter radish kick on the finish. Like a fine white balsamic vinegar in aroma, but without the volatile acidity. Long finish. Enjoyable neat when chilled, supremely refreshing with soda.
Sacred Extra Dry Vermouth (London, 23.8%)
£33.85 for 75cl, soon to be available at Gerry’s of Soho
Base wine from Three Choirs in the Cotswolds; botanicals include English wormwood, thyme and other barks, peels and spices; fortified with English wheat spirit.
Pale gold colour. Spicy and earthy nose that recalls freshly roasted Indian spices (cardamom, turmeric, black pepper). Woody top notes. Some lemony, citrus aromas. Complex but harmonious nose, very intense and incredibly vivid. Very fresh and lively. Saline impression in the mouth, with a dry, quite austere bitter finish. Aromatics feel deeper on the palate. Light in body but vinous in the mouth alongside some noticeable spirit. It’s very intense to sip neat: try it with soda or tonic.
The Collector Vermouth (Somerset, 16.0%)
£24.43 for 70cl from www.nectar.net
Base wine is 100% Malvasia from Veneto; 20 botanicals including bay, rosemary, sage, wormwood, yarrow, rowan berries, scots pine, gentian and orris root; fortified with English apple spirit and blended with caramel from English beet sugar.
Pale amber colour. Highly unusual grassy nose alongside liquorice and clove. Rosemary and parsley root underneath. Medium sweet, balanced with tangy soft acidity. Medium-bodied, pure and harmonious. Medium long finish ends with a fairly dry impression. A fresh, very herbal style that is delicious neat, lightly chilled.
Sacred Spiced English Vermouth (London, 18.0%)
£32.95 for 75cl from sacredspiritscompany.com
Base wine from Three Choirs in the Cotswolds; botanicals include English wormwood, thyme and other barks, peels and spices; fortified with English wheat spirit.
Tawny brown colour. Bitter roots on the nose, with liquorice, clove and burnt orange. Deep, bass tones compared to the treble of the Sacred Extra Dry. Full-bodied, rich, sweet but balanced. Long, bitter finish, liquorice and molasses. Some pleasingly bitter burnt rhubarb and caramel notes. Delicious, versatile, harmonious, expertly blended. Very long. Lovely to drink neat, digestif style or with tonic.
Asterley Bros ‘Dispense’ Amaro (London, 30.0%)
£34.95 for 50cl soon to be available from www.asterleybros.com – sign up for a free sample in the meantime
24 aromatics including orange, lime, cloves, cardamom, gentian, rhubarb root and angelica with Kentish hops as the main bittering agent; macerated in either an organic neutral grain spirit, a molasses based spirit or a vermouth made from English Pinot Noir.
Pale orange amber colour. High-toned, spicy style with defined aromatics. Subtle Indian spices on the nose. Some rooty, herbal bass notes in the background. Full-bodied, noticeable spirity alcohol. Long, citrus peel finish with savoury notes and an assertive dry bitterness married balanced with a sweet, gentle viscosity. Lots of flavour, intense and long. Particularly enjoyable with a block of ice.
Stellacello Amaro London (London, 23.0%)
£25.00 for 50cl at Borough Wines
Over 20 aromatics including grapefruit peel, rosemary, black pepper and coriander seed macerated in 96% ABV pure ethanol for up to 2 months.
Pale amber colour. Bright, distinctly citric (orange, grapefruit) and spiced (clove, coriander) with some deep herbal notes in the background. Lovely fresh nose - balanced between high, low and middle notes. Sweet attack, with assertive, orange and grapefruit peel bitterness right from the outset and into the long finish. Medium-bodied, with a grassy, herbal finish. Enjoyable neat at room temperature or with a block of ice.
For more serving ideas visit producer websites.
First published on timatkin.com.
Wine matching: Chocolate fondant
The recipe
100g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
100g dark chocolate
2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence
125g caster sugar
100g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
4 tsp dulce de leche or salted caramel
cocoa powder or icing sugar, to dust
double cream, to serve
serves 4
Preheat the oven to 180c/fan-forced 160c/Gas mark 4. Heat the butter and chocolate together in a bowl set over a pan of just simmering water (don’t let the base of the bowl touch the water). Stir until melted and then remove from the heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, brush the insides of 4 x 175ml metal dariole moulds with melted butter. Arrange the moulds on a baking tray.
Beat the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla essence and sugar in a bowl using an electric whisk for 4-5 minutes until thick and fluffy. Sift over the flour and carefully fold into mixture with the chocolate, until smooth.
Spoon half the mix into the moulds, add 1 teaspoon of the dulce de leche to the middle of each one and cover with the remaining chocolate mixture. Bake for 12 minutes until the tops are set. Remove from the oven, cool for 3 minutes and then invert onto serving plates. Dust with cocoa powder and serve with cream.
Three matching wines
Domaine Cazes Rivesaltes Ambré 2000 (£14.56 for 37.5cl, Master of Malt)
Dark chocolate is an intense, complex flavour, and it coats the mouth when melted, making it notoriously difficult to match with wine. As a rule, sweet desserts are best paired with sweet wines. Golden styles like Sauternes won’t work however – their fresh, stone fruit flavours tend to clash with chocolate. Fortunately, there are several appellations in the Roussillon near the Spanish border that specialise in fortified sweet wines that brim with berries, nuts, herbs, spices and caramel – much more natural flavour matches with chocolate.
Rivesaltes is the largest, being made across most of the Roussillon, and comes in a variety of colours. The biodynamically-produced Domaine Cazes Rivesaltes Ambré 2000 may come from white Grenache Blanc grapes, but after 7 years on old oak casks, the wine has taken on a beautiful amber colour. It’s sweet, but not intensely so, and has defined flavours of candied citrus peel, dates, nuts and caramel. Let the dessert cool and add orange zest to the cream for an even closer match.
Domaine de la Rectorie ‘Cuvée Léon Parcé’ Banyuls 2011 (£19.00 for 50cl, winetrust100.co.uk)
Banyuls is one of the finest sweet wines of France, and undoubtedly its most famous sweet red. Grenache Noir grapes are grown on sun-baked terraces that overlook the sea. Like all of these three vins doux naturels, it’s made by adding grape spirit to part-fermented grape juice, which stops the fermentation and leaves natural grape sugars and gives slightly elevated alcohol levels (around 16%) in the resulting wine.
Domaine de la Rectorie has been in the Parcé family for four generations. The ‘Cuvée Léon Parcé’, named after the owner’s grandfather, is a particularly fine and elegant Banyuls. Its perfumed and persistent blackberry and strawberry fruit flavours are inlaid with cinnamon and cedar, and the result is incredibly moreish.
Waitrose Seriously Plummy Maury (£10.99 for 37.5cl, Waitrose)
The least well-known of the three appellations is Maury, a tiny region in the northwest of the Roussillon. Mostly producing sweet reds, it is similar to Banyuls, and can be just as good, if sometimes more burly.
I was a bit doubtful about the Waitrose Seriously Plummy Maury due to its name – until I tasted it. Full-bodied, rich and sweet this has melted liquorice alongside raspberry, strawberry – and yes, plum – fruits. Turns out this delicious non-vintage blend is made by the excellent Domaine Pouderoux – winegrowers for six generations. No wonder it’s so good.
Based on a recipe by Louise Pickford. First published in Living France magazine.
Anosmia: The smell of silence
When visiting an art gallery, I prefer to wander alone rather than in company. To be left to think, for as long as it takes, in front of any image that draws me in. Talking about the visit is best left to the cafe at the end over coffee and cake. Wine, however, I prefer to drink in company. You can discuss it to a degree, but part of the experience is impossible to express in words, which makes the sharing of it more intensely personal. There is communion even in secular sipping. This is why losing your sense of smell is such an alienating experience, especially for wine lovers.
I caught a cold a few weeks ago. It started on Friday 13th to be precise; sometimes fate has all the subtlety of a trombone. Like most people, I’ve lost my sense of smell before when ill, for a few hours or even a day. But after the fifth day of no smell, I started to feel a bit concerned, which led me to break the first commandment of being ill: thou shalt not look up thine symptoms on the internet. It turns out many cases of anosmia (the loss of the sense of smell) start with something as simple as a cold. Sometimes the effects are permanent. And anosmia, it turns out, is just one of a whole dysfunctional family of smell disorders.
There are multiple causes and anyone can be affected. Upper respiratory tract infections, nasal or sinus diseases, head injury… it can also be a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and brain tumours. It might even suggest an increased likelihood of death within five years. The death thing was a bit of a worry, but the thought of never being able to smell a glass of wine again was terrifying. Not just because I would miss the sheer pleasure it brings, but most of my social contact, I realised, takes place around wine. Without it, the world would be a lonely place. Job, income, hobby; all gone in a sneeze. By the sixth day without smell, the world felt strangely flat and obvious, at the same time both strip-lit and numbed. No wonder nearly half of those with long-term smell and taste disorders suffer from depression.
Anosmia is a dreadful affliction but there are related conditions that are even crueller. Fragrance writer and beauty blogger Louise Woollan knows this better than most. She contracted anosmia after catching a cold a year ago, just three months after being nominated for an award for her fragrance writing. “The irony isn’t lost on me,” she acknowledges.
The three months of anosmia she suffered were followed firstly by phantosmia (perceiving unpleasant smells that don’t exist), then parosmia (some sense of smell, but real smells are distorted into unpleasant ones) and the worst of all – occasional cacosmia. That’s right, she says; “everything smelled like shit”. Wine usually tastes “flinty, muddy, like feet… But I can still drink gin, for which I’m very grateful. Mulling wine is good too. Mulled Champagne is interesting.” Coffee, chocolate and cigarette smoke are particularly unbearable however. Some smells have made her physically sick.
There has been little professional research into parosmia, and the condition is hard to treat. The best option is a saline sinus rinse to alleviate the symptoms, but there is no cure. Doctors have been broadly unhelpful; one even told her there wasn’t much she could do except look forward to the day she’ll be able to laugh about it. “The major problem is that people don’t think it’s serious, but they don’t realise how crippling it is.” Alongside her beauty blog, she also writes a blog about her parosmia experiences. It can be dangerous; she can’t tell if food has gone off, or smell when things are burning.
The olfactory nerve is unique in that it’s the only part of the nervous system that’s open to air – and in that it’s constantly regenerating. That she can smell at least some aromas, no matter how unpleasant, is a good sign as it means that her olfactory nerve might be repairing itself. Crucially she has recently identified a few aromas that she can detect undistorted, particularly iris and violet. She is developing these into a perfume to raise funds for Fifth Sense, the charity for people affected by smell and taste disorders. But she admits it’s unlikely her sense of smell will ever return in its entirety. “It’s surreal. Nothing is familiar any more. My husband doesn’t smell the way he used to. I don’t smell the way I used to.”
To any individual, disorders of smell and taste can be distressing and debilitating, but to those devoted to food, wine or fragrance it can be devastating. After seven days, my sense of smell returned; I woke up and literally smelt the coffee, to an almost deranged outburst of relief. Woollan has 500 bottles of perfume at home, all sitting unused for now. But hopefully they will gradually regain their fascination.
Most wine lovers also have a collection of bottles that are waiting for the right moment to be opened. Each one represents potential delight waiting to be realised, an evening’s entertainment, a message in a bottle. Often what we really mean by ‘the right moment’ is ‘the right person to drink them with’. And it is this connection and shared joy that we would really lose if we lost our sense of smell. It’s a gift that feels all the more precious when you realise how easily this can happen, and all the more precarious that’s there’s little you can do to keep it safe.
Image credit: creative commons photo by Graham Hellewell.
First published on timatkin.com.
Wine matching: Daube de Boeuf à la Provençale
This is a really handy recipe to have up your sleeve. It's not expensive, it's easy to make and freezes really well. It's also extremely wine-friendly.
The recipe
1kg beef silverside
4 tbsp olive oil
150g smoked bacon, diced
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 finger-sized strips orange zest
600ml red wine
4 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
250g button mushrooms
20 black olives
salt and pepper
for the persillade:
4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
grated zest 1 lemon
taglietelle, to serve
Serves 4
Pre-heat the oven to 150c/fan-forced 130c/gas mark 1. Dry the beef, cut into large cubes and season with salt and pepper. Heat half the olive oil a heavy, flame-proof casserole and fry the bacon for 5 minutes until golden, remove with a slotted spoon. Add the beef to the pan, in 2 batches and fry over a high heat for 5-6 minutes until well browned. Remove with a slotted spoon.
Add remaining oil to the pan and fry the onions, carrots, garlic and herbs with a little salt and pepper for 10 minutes until softened. Return the meat to the pan with the orange zest, wine and tomatoes. Bring to the boil, cover and transfer to the oven, bake for two hours. Check occasionally that the stew is not drying out and if so add a little water.
Stir in the mushrooms and olives, return to the oven and cook for a further hour until the stew is thick and the meat is tender. At this stage the stew is best left to cool and then refrigerated over night to intensify the flavour. Alternatively transfer straight to the table and scatter over the parsley, and lemon zest garnish before serving.
Matching wines
Tesco Finest Côtes Catalanes Carignan 2013 (£6.99, Tesco)
There are some dishes that are a dream to match with full-bodied reds, and this is one of them. Long, slow cooking in a rich, aromatic sauce is bound to create a dish that’s intense in flavour, so will need an equally concentrated wine to pair with it. A Provençale red such as Bandol would be a no-brainer, but there are plenty of other Southern French wines that would also work well.
Carignan is planted throughout the South of France, and this one comes from the Côtes Catalanes on the Spanish border. This is a typically rich, full, figgy example with a whiff of garrigue that mirrors the herbs in the daube. Carignan has long had a dodgy reputation, but old vines treated with care can produce enjoyable, succulent wines; this is great value at just £6.99.
Domaine La Condamine L'Evêque Syrah Mourvèdre 2013 (£7.75, Oddbins)
Syrah and Mourvèdre are two other varieties that are widely planted across the South; Syrah provides peppery spice, Mourvèdre gives lush texture and fulsome berry fruits. This estate between Béziers and Montpellier in the Côtes-de-Thongue was formally the residence of the Bishops of Agde, but is now owned and run by the Bascou family. It is due to receive organic certification later this year.
It’s a full-bodied wine, but with vivid freshness and plenty of bright blackberry flavour. This vibrancy acts as a counterpoint to the richness of the dish, and would also underline the citrus top notes of orange peel and lemon zest.
Domaine du Grapillon D'Or ‘1806’ Gigondas 2012 (£19.99, Waitrose)
Though easy to match with flavoursome reds, choose something with ripeness and generosity of flavour to match this dish rather than anything too austere. Grenache is the missing grape from our southern French line up, and its spiritual home is the Southern Rhône. Gigondas is an ideal appellation to look for this style of wine. Not far from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, it’s similar in style but tends to be more affordable.
Domaine du Grapillon d’Or is a top producer, and makes wines of balance and finesse out of Grenache, a variety that can be prone to excessive body and alcohol. This particular wine also contains a dollop of Syrah, and displays plenty of strawberry, cherry, raspberry, and fresh herbs on the nose, with a full, flowing texture, all backed up with fine-grained tannins and minerality on the finish. It’s a perfect pairing with the daube.
Based on a recipe by Louise Pickford. First published in Living France magazine.
Marlborough: The Fear of France?
If you like Sauvignon Blanc, you'll love Marlborough in New Zealand. Of its 22,903 hectares of vineyards, 19,639 of them are planted with it. Undoubtedly this feels like an awful lot of eggs in one basket for local winemakers, so no wonder some are experimenting to see what else Marlborough can do. Could its future lie in sparkling wines? No, not fizzy Sauvignon – a style with all the depth and likeability of a gameshow host on cocaine – but proper bottle-fermented Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
A group of ten Marlborough estates that make this style of wine came together in 2013 to create the Méthode Marlborough collective. One of the members wryly touted 'The Fear of France' as a potential strapline for the group – a claim so wonderfully ballsy I decided to blind taste the lot with a couple of big-name Champagnes thrown in to see how they stacked up.
The Méthode Marlborough group is open to any wine producer who promises to adhere to the following four criteria for their sparkling wines:
1. Wines are 100% grown and made in Marlborough.
2. Wines are made by traditional method production.
3. Wines are 100% made up of the three traditional varieties (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier) either individually or as a blend.
4. Wines are aged for a minimum of 18 months on the lees.
Very similar to Champagne, in other words. That Marlborough winemakers are experimenting with sparkling wines is no big surprise – sparkling wine production and Sauvignon both prefer cooler climates. Marlborough is cool but sunny with warm days and cold nights that help the grapes retain their all-important natural acidity.
The soils also play a part. Clive Jones, winemaker at Nautilus Estate, explains “Most of the plantings are on the stony-silt loams of the Wairau Valley floor (the old flood plain of the Wairau River)… I think the more ‘mineral’ character you get from these free draining soils is particularly good for sparkling.” So what can you expect from Marlborough fizz? And are they any good?
The tasting
I tasted the wines blind in a random order along with two mystery Champagnes to act as a frame of reference. The overall quality was good, and reasonably consistent. Stylistically there was a lot of variation from straight, lean versions that could pass for Champagne to richer, fruitier examples. Though there were no pure Pinots, there were varied blends of the three permitted grapes and a few pure Chardonnays.
If there is one thing the wines had in common, it was their strength of varietal character. The pure Chardonnays were unmistakably Blanc de Blancs, and the Marlborough Pinot Noir really makes its presence felt; the three wines in which it made up more than 50% of the blend had marked red berry flavours and a real sense of vinosity. Inus van der Westhuizen, winemaker at Hunter’s Wines says that the “pure fruit intensity and strong fruit varietal expression” is what makes Marlborough sparkling wines unique, and this was borne out by the tasting.
In the best wines, this character was coupled with a balancing beam of acidity, fine bubbles and a sense of freshness and finesse. It could however contribute to an overly generous fruit character that made some of the less impressive wines feel a little simple or obvious. Some wines lacked much in the way of autolysis; those with lees ageing above the 18 month minimum did tend to benefit in terms of complexity and overall pleasure.
OK so one of the Champagnes came top. Not entirely surprising; though an arch underperformer in recent years, Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label is much better these days thanks to a number of improvements succinctly pointed out by Tom Stevenson in this article. But the three that followed it were all very good quality wines and are available for less than half the price. Only one scored lower than Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial NV, which showed particularly poorly in this tasting.
So what is the potential for Marlborough sparkling wine? Jones at Nautilus says “Arguably it is unlimited – we just need the commitment to go for it. Probably the financial commitment is the biggest hurdle – if we start to hold back prestige cuvees with extended time on lees etc. it can be quite a financial burden – and will we get the required return?” On the back of this tasting, I’m hoping he takes the plunge.
This is early days for sparkling wines from Marlborough, and although I don’t think the Champenois will be pulling up their vines just yet there are already some impressive wines being produced. So overall perhaps the members of Méthode Marlborough were wise to drop ‘The Fear of France’ as their strapline, at least for now. But along with the quality of some of its still Pinot Noirs, they are proving that Marlborough has more to offer than just Sauvignon Blanc.
The wines
Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut NV (Champagne, France; 12.0%)
55% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier. Time on lees unknown.
£36.99, Tesco
Noticeable autolysis on the nose, savoury, hint of Marmite. Deep and vinous on the palate, very rich and autolytic. Good acidity, all harmonious and balanced. Real class, elegance and complexity. Pretty serious stuff, balanced and long. 92 points.
Cloudy Bay Pelorus NV (Marlborough, New Zealand, 12.5%)
60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir. 24 months on lees.
£18.19, thedrinkshop.com
Clean, fresh, blossomy nose. Touch of white bread autolysis. Fine bubbles and bright acidity. This is very well put together, it has real balance, finesse and elegance. Attractive autolytic dimension on the palate too. Dry and straight with length of flavour. 91 points.
Nautilus Cuvée Marlborough NV (Marlborough, New Zealand, 12.0%)
70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay. 36 months on lees.
£17.95, winedirect.co.uk
Rich, red berry Pinot aromatics. Intensely flavoured and concentrated and shot through with piercing acidity. Red apple, raspberry, wild strawberry on the palate. Lots to enjoy here, energetic and balanced with a long finish. 91 points.
Hunter's MiruMiru NV (Marlborough, New Zealand, 12.5%)
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier. 18 months on lees. £14.95, The Wine Society
Clean, fresh, floral aromas. Balanced and harmonious with good line and balance. Citrussy style with a lovely texture and fizz. A good middle-weight example, could be Champagne but the ripeness of the fruit flavours suggests a slightly warmer climate. 90 points.
No. 1 Family Estate Cuvée No. 1 NV (Marlborough, New Zealand, 12.0%)
100% Chardonnay. 24 months on lees.
£23.99, Hard to Fine Wines
Subtle, slightly floral nose. Full and rounded in the mouth, relatively full-bodied. Long, with rich, concentrated flavours of orchard fruits and soft, caressing bubbles. Just about dry. An enjoyably luxurious style. 90 points.
Spy Valley Echelon 2010 (Marlborough, New Zealand, 12.5%)
52% Pinot Noir, 48% Chardonnay. 30 months on lees.
Not currently available UK
Fairly straightforward fruity nose, then lovely red berry fruits on the palate, really vinous. Not terribly long, but the fruit is appealing – young vines on good terroir perhaps? Tangy red fruit and a dry, savoury finish. 89 points.
Tohu Rewa Blanc de Blancs 2011 (Marlborough, New Zealand, 12.0%)
100% Chardonnay. 20 months on lees.
Not currently available UK
Pure, clean aromatics; some autolysis gives complexity, but it comes across as a very youthful wine. Not hugely complex but well made. Harmonious and balanced. Very dry, with an attractive little ripe fruit kick on the finish. Fizz fades a bit faster than you’d like, but this is a well-crafted wine with fine bubbles. 88 points.
Johanneshof Cellars Emmi Brut 2007 (Marlborough, New Zealand, 12.5%)
99% Pinot Noir, 1% Chardonnay. 84 months on lees.
Not currently available UK
Tiny hint of copper to the colouring. Stewed apples, slightly honeyed; suggests a warmer climate. Plenty of red berry flavour, raspberry and redcurrant, with some hints of candied peel and lemongrass. Strong Pinot character, and mature Pinot at that, some almost vegetal hints on the nose give complexity. Plenty of acidity, essentially balanced, even if not terribly long. The bubbles lack a bit of finesse but this has real character and interest. 87 points.
Daniel le Brun Brut NV (Marlborough, New Zealand, 12.5%)
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir. Time on lees unknown.
Not currently available UK
Brie rind on the nose, a little bit funky. Soft, round, full, ripe, clearly from a warmer climate. A bit rich, and the acidity jars a little. Some interest and concentration here, a little rustic, but enjoyable. Finish could be drier. 86 points
Summerhouse Blanc de Blancs 2010 (Marlborough, New Zealand, 12.5%)
100% Chardonnay. 30 months on lees.
Not currently available UK
Floral, sherbet, slightly tropical undertones. Good acidity, but relatively short and simple. Not the driest. Well made, but the fizz doesn't last terribly long and it wouldn’t hold your interest for much more than a glass. 86 points.
Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial NV (Champagne, France; 12.0%)
Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay. Time on lees unknown.
£32.99, Tesco
Not the most attractive nose, smells a little bit rustic. Rich fruit; the sweetness seems slightly out of balance. Lots of flavour and some enjoyable autolytic touches, but it lacks charm. 86 points.
Allan Scott Family Winemakers Cecilia Brut NV (Marlborough, New Zealand, 12.5%)
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir. 18 months on lees.
£15.99, finewinesdirectuk.com
Fruity nose – apple, pear and quince. A bit too big, fruity and friendly. Well made enough, but it’s a little two dimensional and the flavours lack persistence. 85 points.
Photo of Johanneshof Cellars in Marlbororugh © Edel Everling.
First published on timatkin.com.
Wine matching: Poulet Vallée d’Auge
After sketching out portraits of over 30 different French wine regions for my Living France magazine column, we've decided to change the format to something new. Now I'll be matching three different wines to a specific dish instead, with classic recipes provided by food writer Louise Pickford. First one is Poulet Vallée d'Auge, a creamy chicken and apple dish from Normandy.
Serves 4
125 g diced pancetta
60 g butter
4 chicken thigh pieces
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
4 tbsp calvados
500 ml dry cider
100 ml crème fraiche
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper
Heat a flame-proof casserole dish until hot, add the pancetta and fry gently until all the fat is released. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add 25 g of the butter to the pan and when melted fry chicken pieces for 5 minutes until really golden. Remove with a slotted spoon.
Add a further 25 g of butter to the pan and gently fry the onion, garlic, thyme and some salt and pepper for 10 minutes until the onion is soft and lightly golden. Return the chicken and pancetta to the pan, add the calvados and simmer gently until burnt off. Stir in the cider, bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 40 minutes until the chicken is beautifully tender.
Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a frying pan and fry the apple slices of a medium heat for 5 minutes until golden. Stir into the casserole with the crème fraiche and heat through for 5 minutes. Season to taste and stir in the parsley.
Three wines to match
Domaine des Perruches Vouvray 2013 (£7.99, Co-op)
When looking for a wine to pair with a specific dish, one handy trick is to think of the region where the recipe originates from and consider the local wines. Normandy is much better known for its cider – which would work brilliantly here. But there are plenty of possible wine options too; but whatever you choose it will need plenty of flavour and intensity to match the dish.
One option would be something with a touch of sweetness to match the abundance of apples. Vouvray, from near Tours in the Loire Valley would be a great choice. These Chenin Blancs can be anything from bone dry to intensely sweet. Full-bodied and not far from dry, the Domaine des Perruches Vouvray 2013 has plenty of red apple and honey flavour and a dollop of sweetness that is twinned with a crackle of natural acidity that keeps it refreshing. It’s balanced and authentic, with long-lasting flavour, and just 11.5% alcohol.
Les Tours des Verdots Bergerac Blanc 2012 (£14.75, H2Vin)
Bergerac is situated to the east of Bordeaux, and uses similar grape varieties; here a blend of Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadelle and Sauvignon Gris. David Fourtout is the fourth generation of his family to be making wine at Clos des Verdots, and a leading light of the appellation. He practices lutte raisonée viticultural practices to reduce the use of chemical treatments in the vineyard to a minimum.
This is a particularly fine example of white Bergerac with attractive, vivid aromas of preserved lemons and lime skins. It has intense, bright stone fruit and citrus flavours and a long toasty finish.
Château Montus Pacherenc de Vic-Bilh Sec 2010 (£26.50, Hennings Wine Merchants)
South West France is a haven for characterful and peculiar grape varieties. Though some of the wines from this corner of France are almost wilfully odd, some, like Pacherenc de Vic-Bilh, can be totally brilliant. It’s the white wine from the marginally better known region of Madiran, typically made from the potentially excellent Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng grapes, sometimes joined by Petit Courbu and Arrufiac.
Château Montus is one of the greatest estates in South West France; indeed in the whole of France. This, their majestic top white wine, is powerful, long, dry and crisp with flavours of candied citrus peel and grapefruit. Two years in large oak barrels have given the wine added richness that will help it pair brilliantly with this dish.
First published in Living France magazine.
Braver New World
“Sorry I’m late sir. Ignore the bandage, I had an unexpected visit to the hospital to get my ear seen to. Anyway – I understand you’d like me to paint your sunflowers… So, oil paint or watercolours? And how would you like them arranged – a bunch or just the one? What shall I put them in? And what colour background? Bright pink… hmm. OK – you’re the boss.”
Not everything is improved by asking the consumer what they want. Retailers such as Naked Wines encourage their producers to engage directly with customers and take on board their comments when making wine. This doesn’t appeal to me. What I was drinking 15 years ago is very different to what I enjoy today. If you’d have asked me what I thought about Chablis, I’d have said it’s too acidic. Now I love its piercing intensity. I’d have said Barolo was too drying. Now I understand that tempering its tannin would be akin to castration. What about Port? Not the coolest thing to be drinking when you’re a student. Now I unashamedly love the stuff.
It’s not just that drinkers’ tastes change over time; some wines simply take longer to understand. And it’s these outlying, stubborn, defiant styles that often prove the most rewarding and memorable of all. I don’t want wines to pander to my taste; the wines I respect the most are those that I have had to come to understand gradually. It wasn’t them that needed adjusting – it was me. That they don’t bend to the whims of the market gives them authenticity and a sense of permanence.
Some countries have built their fortunes on foreign markets, and now find themselves slaves to their ever-changing desires. Of the top ten wine producing countries, in terms of percentage of production Chile is the second biggest exporter. It has plenty of prime vine-growing land, and is peerless at servicing customers looking for a clean, fruity, inexpensive drink. But despite the fact there are also some ambitious producers making world-class wines, the country as a whole is still having trouble shaking off its bargain-basement image and charging over £20 a bottle for many of its wines.
When it comes to convincing the dedicated wine lover, it’s not just quality and authenticity that count. The experience of drinking a wine is greatly expanded if there’s a context in which to place it, a broader narrative that the drinker, if only for a short while, can tap into and feel a part of. Wine styles need a number of producers before they become worth following, and they need to have been around for at least a generation before they have a sense of history. Wines that dance to the tune of foreign markets can’t achieve this and in the long term it can hold an industry back.
South Africa exports a smaller percentage of its wines but like Chile it has also historically relied on making wines to please its various foreign markets. It too has had a reputation for cheapness, but a pioneering new generation of winemakers are turning their attention to matching the right grapes to the best terroirs and rehabilitating ancient vineyards. The producers of Swartland are leading the way. Sadie Family Wines’ single vineyard range for example includes a Tinta Barroca, a Cinsault and a Palomino/Chenin blend. Not exactly what the market has been crying out for, but the wines are fascinating and fetch up to £35 a bottle. Looking inward to the land, its potential, and the unique styles it produces gives a wine (or a region) a stylistic foundation and a sense of permanence which in time becomes that sense of history that wine lovers value.
If one country in particular has developed a winning style of wine over the past decade, that has to be New Zealand. Its Sauvignon Blancs have become incredibly popular in Australia, the UK and the US, so much so that over half of plantings consist of this one variety – that’s more than 20,000 hectares. Wineries would be mad to ignore this trend, but I hope there is enough investment in discovering where else their strengths lie. If even one of these three markets fall out of love with Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand could find itself in a difficult situation.
It takes conviction and courage to turn from making market-driven wines to terroir-driven wines, especially for larger wineries with an established brand and customer base. But it can be done. In 2010, fourth generation Chilean winery De Martino radically changed their range from big, bold and rich wines to an early picked, lower alcohol, lighter style. Their Carmenères dropped from 14.5% alcohol to 13.2% overnight. Eduardo De Martino admitted “in the past, we followed.” Now they lead, making some of Chiles most drinkable, characterful wines.
There will always be plenty of wine drinkers who consider Chablis too acidic and Barolo too tannic, but thankfully the producers of these styles ignore these particular voices. As more producers in traditionally market-focussed countries concentrate on what they can do that others can’t, I’m hoping they uncover more unusual, challenging, bizarre and mind-opening wine styles to entertain us with. They may not do it with the consumer in mind, but great wine will always find a home.
Image of Swartland © Matt Walls
First published on timatkin.com.