I have written before about my penchant for the famous and very exclusive Chateau d’yquem and in recent months I have been lucky enough to sample two more vintages, both 1990 and 2003.The 1990 was very generously shared with our family courtesy of my brother Peter, who is a fellow imbiber and had saved this special bottle to be savoured with all the special people in his life. The 2003 was served to me by the world’s No 1 sommelier himself, Gerrard Basset, at his fabulous boutique Hotel Terravina in the New Forrest.
Both bottles lived up to our expectations and I am sure there will be many more vintage indulgences in the future because Chateau d’yquem has always been there and always will be. You may recall a bottle of the 1811 vintage sold for £75,000 last year, its bicentenary, and I would fully expect there to be a 2011 vintage being consumed in 2211. Not many wines have this staying power, and neither do they want to have in the 21st century commercial environment.
I recently discovered some fledgling winemakers in Australia who are a brilliant example of the 21st century approach to wine making calling themselves ‘Some Young Punks’. Three individuals,
Jen Gardiner, Colin McBride and Nick Bourke have created an eye catching range that cannot fail to capture your interest, if only for the evocative labelling. It consists of ‘Passion Has Red Lips’, ‘Quickie’ and ‘Naked on roller Skates’ from the original pulp fiction novels. ‘The Squids Fist’, ’Monster Attack’ and ’Double Love Trouble’ make up another trilogy in their portfolio. I give them full marks for originality and instant appeal and the wines inside the jazzy bottles are extremely well made blends. What a refreshing approach from New World wine makers who are constantly battling for market share with varietal wines that are made by, well, just about everybody. These guys are going to have to keep themselves busy reinventing gimmicks, because gimmicks are here today, gone tomorrow.
One of the joys of my job is the constant drip feed of new wines coming to our shores and I’m looking forward to sampling examples from Hungary, Russia and China in the near future.
I have also chosen the pistes of Switzerland to play on this month and very much look forward to indulging in some fine native Pinot Noirs (après ski) that never reach our shores. In fact 98 per cent of Swiss wine production is consumed domestically so it is very rarely seen on British soil. It will be a much needed refresher for my palate which has been locked for far too long into an amazing Gigondas Domaine la Haute Marone 2009(£13) from the Southern Rhone .This is Grenache Noir at its very best!
Pink wine has to feature in February and if you want to be drinking the best on the day for lovers, go no further than Cotes de Provence. Rimauresq cru classe 2010 (£10).This is a Mediterranean scented rose with a beautiful pink complexion. It’s clean, fresh and fine yet flavoursome.
If you are looking to share a bottle of white then try Valencay Sebastien Vaillant 2010 (£8.50) from the western Loire Valley. A crisp steely Sauvignon Blanc with 20 per cent Chardonnay makes this a well rounded wine of great appeal.
David Moore has been a restaurateur for 30 years and is owner of abarbistro, Old Portsmouth. Visit www.abarbistro.co.uk or Camber Wines at www.camberwines.co.uk
Article published in the February 2012 edition of etc magazine.
