In Signo Sagittarii - Austrian Blaufrankisch at its best

I had a bottle of this wine last week. It was absolutely gorgeous. Deep, dark purply red with huge brambly fruit and spice on the nose. Rich and spicy and hugely satisfying. This went well with all sorts of meat dishes - steak, lamb, venison, most BBQ. It really demonstrated how wonderfully food-friendly Austrian wines can be.

If you're not familiar with Austrian red wines, you should try to find some. My favourites are the Blaufrankisch and the St. Laurent (almost a pinot noir but more consistent than pinot noir).

You also should check out the website for In Signo Leonis (Heribert Bayer), the producer of this beauty. Although the site is only in German (the English version button doesn't give you an English page sadly), it is worth ploughing through to learn about his wines.

Fabulous German Riesling Tastings coming up!

Time for a little commerical promo - On 27 Sept 06 in London and on 30 Sept 06 in Marlow, I will be leading German Riesling Terrior, Horizontal & Vertical Tastings. We’ll have 3 groups of 4 wines. The first group will range over a number of regions in Germany to show how Riesling changes with the terrior where it is grown. Then we will have a horizontal series of wines from Hermann Doennhoff (Dönnhoff) in the Nahe that are all from one vintage but of different ripeness levels. This will illustrate how different Riesling can be when at different levels of ripeness. Finally, we will finish with a vertical series of wines from Johann Josef Christoffel that are all at the same ripeness level but from different vintages to demonstrate vintage variation and how the wine matures. The wines are truly gorgeous.

If you're interested in attending one of these tastings or if you'd like to receive our full Autumn tasting announcement and periodic newsletters, please contact me - paula@ultimatewines.co.uk.

Hope to see you at a tasting soon.

Fincas Don Martino - Find them, Drink the wines!!

It's been a long time since I've posted on this blog. Guess I haven't really commited to blogging before. BUT the wines I tasted yesterday prompted me to get going again.

Fincas Don Martino from the Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza region of Argentina are worth finding. This is a TINY (40,000 bottles/year) winery that was started in 2000 by three friends. The good news is substantial - First, their winemaker has great experience, first with the Veronelli family in Italy, then with Alto Las Hormigas in Mendoza. Second, they managed to buy a TINY plot (7 ha) of 80 year old Malbec vines that form the foundation of their wines. These vines and this winemaker produce some amazing stuff.

About 3/4 of their production is "basic" Malbec if you can call delicious, complex Malbec from old vines "basic". They use French oak "inserts" in the stainless steel tanks to provide a little bit of oak character but there is no overt "oakiness" and, in fact, the oak seem to merely tie all the elements together. There is huge, dark berry fruit and subtle exotic spices, cinnamon, clove, mace, on the nose with touches of licorice and chocolate plus all the fruit and spice on the palate. The tannins are soft and silky and the finish is deliciously long.

The balance of their production is Reserva from a selection of the best grapes of the harvest. This is aged in French barrique for 14 months but again the oak is an integrating element and doesn't invade or overpower the wine. The result is a deeper, richer, longer version of the "basic" Malbec with the addition of lovely savoury notes on the nose and the palate.

These wines are something special and worth looking for. At the moment they are only available in the US through the Southern Wine Group (and in Argentina and Brazil if you're going to be that way). They are seeking agents in the UK and I hope to help them to find one. Gotta get this wine!