Crisp wines are so yesterday!

All my working life the wine world has described certain wine styles as crisp, so widespread is it that I have even heard these wines incorrectly referred to as ‘crispy’ by those who are unaware of the linguistic differences.

Most of us know what crisp means; fresh, firm and steely with a hard-edged green apple or lemon acidity. Basically it means a wine where the fruit is less dominant than the fresh dryness and the sharp (crisp) acidity, so these wines leave the palate clean, refreshed and a little sour rather than leaving the faintly sweet deposit of fruity wines. At least that is how I explain it to myself.

Excellent white from the Loire

Whilst browsing in Majestic for some wines for a tasting, I spotted this wine from the Loire Valley A.C. of Cheverny and could not resist trying it as unusually for the region most of the white wines from here are blends:

Domaine du Salvard Cheverny Le Vieux Clos 2007

A.C. Cheverny, Loire Valley, France

The aromas are fresh, grassy, appley and appealing with hints of flintiness and smoke together with green apples and the merest suggestion of creamy yoghurt.

This is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc (85%), giving freshness, and Chardonnay (15%) which seems to add a roundness and soft texture to the wine rather than an obvious flavour. This makes for an attractively crisp wine that has good acidity that is softened and balanced by the mouth-feel.

The flavours are of sugarsnap peas, grass, citrus, herbs and blackcurrant with little touches of honey and cream. The finish is clean, crisp and very long, I wish I had some goats cheese to try it with.

All in all this is a very well balanced wine that is most enjoyable and leaves you knowing that you have enjoyed something classy and elegant – 88 points.

£7.99 (£7.49 if you buy 2 bottles) a bottle from Majestic Wine Warehouse

I have tried precious few Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay blends over the years, but on thinking about it I always seem to find that it works,  be it an everyday version – I have happy memories of the one made by Errazuriz in Chile and one from South Africa whose name I can no longer remember – or something more classic like this excellent example.

Great tasting of wines from Castilla y León

Earlier this week I tutored an exciting tasting of wines from Castilla y León.

Wine Regions of Castlla y León - click on the map for a closer look

It came about when I was asked back, for a second consecutive year, to The Association of Wine Cellarmen. Last year I presented a selection of Villa Maria wines from New Zealand. This time around, just as they invited me I was about to head off on a Circle of Wine Writers trip to Castilla y León, led by John Radford no less, so I thought it would be exciting to present some of the wines that I experienced along the way. The ever genial Nick Seymour, who runs the Association, luckily also thought this sounded like a great idea.

Rueda: great Spanish white wines

I love white wines from Rueda in Spain and want you all to be more aware of them.

Rueda is a terrific wine region making exactly the sorts of wines that people would enjoy and yet almost all the students that arrive on my courses have never heard of it. Which is a great shame and I would urge you to get acquainted with some of these lovely, fresh, modern dry white wines as soon as you can.