As you probably know, the current O'Briens Wine promotion is up and running and will go on until the end of December. Not too sure if the two beauties below will last that long. One is biodynamic, the other is organic, and both are Very Highly Recommended. You'll find four other sale wines covered below as well, along with brief descriptions of what organic and biodynamic, and a few other wines terms, mean, terms that keep popping up on labels these days.
Musella Valpolicella Ripasso (DOC) Superiore 2016, 14%, €20.95 (22.95)
This biodynamic wine from near Verona comes in a mid to dark ruby robe. Superb intense aromas of ripe cherries. And cherry flavours are richly concentrated on the palate, a matching acidity, the mouthfeel soft, the tannins sweet. And there’s a fruity and well balanced finish. Really excellent wine, another Very Highly Recommended for you.
The concentration here is the result of the Ripasso method. Ripasso (re-passed) wines are made by fermenting young wine with the unpressed but drained skins and lees left over from making Amarone and this process can give the Ripasso a “super-charge”. Read more details about the method here.
In this case, the winery tells us this is “ripassato” on unpressed skins of Amarone “to earn colour and structure”. The blend here is the usual threesome of Corvina (the main grape), Rondinella, and Barbera and it has spent 12 months barrel ageing (French oak). Suggested pairings are cold meats/pâtés, Duck, Nutroast, Pheasant/Pigeon, Pizza/Pasta, Rib-Eye Steak, Sirloin/Striploin/Rump steak
Musella, as well as turning out rich satisfying ripassos, are also one of the 'Twelve Amarone Families', a group of the very best producers in the region in North East Verona.
By the way, I was just reading there in Vino Italiano that Valpolicella means “valley of many cellars” (vallis polis cellae). The Modern History of Italian Wine debunks that theory though, saying the POL refers to large mounds of sand and gravel left behind after flooding in the local river but goes on to confirm that “this great land of wines has always practiced the characteristic technique of over-ripening and drying the grapes”.
Symington Altano Vinho Tinto Douro (DOC) 2018, 14%, €12.45 (17.45)
Colour of this beautifully balanced organic red wine from the Douro valley in Portugal is a deep garnet. Scents of ripe red fruits are noted. On the palate it is fresh, smoothly intense, a sweet hint of smooth tannins and, with good acidity, is harmonious all the way through to a long finish. Very Highly Recommended and fantastic value at the moment.
This wine is made with 100% organically grown grapes from the family’s vineyards, the family being the Symingtons, a leading winemaking family who have been making Port in the Douro for five generations.
As you know, much the same grapes are used for port as for still red wine. The grape varieties for the Altano are Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Nacional and Tinto Cão. The advice is to serve at 14 to 17 degrees centigrade. It is evidently ready for immediate consumption but “has the potential to continue developing favourably up to 6 years.”
Two excellent wines from South America feature in O'Brien's current promotion.
Dozens and dozens of wines are reduced in the current O'Brien's promotion that runs up to the end of the year. I've picked a few and have a couple of South American beauties below for you. Some of the others are pretty good too and I'll come to those in the next week or so. In the meantime, check out this magnificent Malbec from over 1,300 meters in the Andes foothills - that's higher than Carrauntoohill. The other, a Cinsault, a very pleasant light red, comes from the highly regard Di Martino winery in Chile.
Once upon a time, we bought red and white and maybe rosé. But now you'll see organic, biological, natural, even orange on labels. Can be confusing, I know. O'Brien's have put a handy leaflet together to explain the terms and I'll reproduce parts here from time to time. The first two are below - hope they help!
Casa de Uco El Salvaje Malbec Los Chacayes (IG) 2016, 13.5%, €16.95 (19.95)
Purple is the colour of this organic wine from a high altitude vineyard in the Mendoza region of Argentina. The rich aromas of ripe dark fruit rise to meet you. And on the palate the big flavours (plum, dark cherry and blackberry) are matched by an excellent acidity, a harmony relayed to the decent finish (not overly long). An immediately engaging wine and Very Highly Recommended. Just 2,500 bottles are produced and the wine has been fermented in large concrete eggs.
Los Chacayes is one of four wine areas in Tunuyan in the Uco valley. The vineyard Casa de Uco is located in the valley, tucked against the foothills of the Andes Mountains, and close to Mendoza. El Salvaje (wild) also figures prominently on the label and is the overall name given to a series of organic wines that also includes, among others, a Pinot Noir and a white blend.
This wine is 100% Malbec from certified organic vineyards located at 1300 metres above sea level. This elevation maintains the fresh acidity in the grapes. Unoaked, this is a pure expression of the Uco Valley terroir.
Enjoy with beef, lamb or char-grilled vegetables. In Argentina, I’m told they pair it with juicy Sirloin of pork, Braised lamb shoulder with roasted parsnips, or Fillet steak with chimichurri. Wine Folly says the perfect Malbec Food Pairing is Black pepper buffalo burgers with blue cheese mushrooms and rosemary infused garlic kale chips. Sounds great to me.
Alberto Antonini, Winemaker Casa de Uco, is enthusiastic: "After 16 years of experience in the Uco Valley, I can affirm that this is the exact area where the best wines of Mendoza are produced. The proximity to the Andes Mountains, the ideal day to night temperature ranges, and the fertile soil with excellent drainage, make this land exceptional to produce high end wines and develop the viticulture and enology in the most natural way possible"
De Martino “Gallardia” Cinsault Itata (DO) 2017, 13%, 14.95 (19.95)
This delightful 100% Cinsault is a light ruby, quite like Pinot Noir. Aromas are rather intense: red fruit (including raspberry) mainly, plus floral elements. Mouthfeel is soft. Smooth and fresh on the palate, the raspberry prominent again, good acidity too, and a pleasing finish as well. Highly Recommended. Maybe Very Highly Recommended if you love these light dry reds as many people do nowadays.
De Martino say this, from their Guarilihue vineyard (22km from the sea), “is a tribute to the coastal vineyards located by the southern region of Chile; it is the cradle of the country’s viticulture, with vines dating back to 1551…. A sustainable agriculture, including dry farming and ploughing with horses are practiced in our vineyards.”
Wines of South America has a very high regard for De Martino and have included some of their wines in Top Ten varietal lists. De Martino winemaker Marcelo Retamal is one of the country’s most accomplished and is known as el doctor. “He uses no new oak, preferring larger older casks, nd promotes the use of the old ceramic tinjaras, clay amphorae, for fermentation. There are no cultivated yeasts, no filtration, and no intervention.”
Head South For This Smashing Pair,
One White, One Red.
Or Just Head to O'Brien's!
(Below, you'll find notes on two wine terms that are now current and, also a chance to read over the other four wines picked from O'Brien's November December promotion, a versatile "six-pack" for the holidays.
Domaine Begude “Etoile” Chardonnay Limoux (AOC) 2018, 13.5%, €18.95 (21.95)
Beautiful mid-gold colour. The aromatics are quite complex, regular fruit (such as apple and pear) along with the exotic (mango) in the mix. It is certainly more of the exotic on the rich palate, quite a rounded almost creamy mouthfeel, more complex than most French Chardonnays (not that there is such a thing as a typical Chardonnay as the chameleon grape makes itself at home wherever it finds itself), good acidity too though, so the long finish is harmonious.
This Highly Recommended wine should be fine with salmon and trout, with roast chicken (even roast turkey!). The winery also says it is “heavenly with Comté & other hard cheese”. Worth a try so with Hegarty’s Templegall though I know cheesemaker Jean-Baptise may prefer a Saint-Emilion.
This certified organic wine, full-bodied and smooth, is crafted from Chardonnay grapes high in the cool climate region (hot summer days and cool nights) of Limoux. Fertilised using only natural manures and cultivated with the utmost respect for the environment, this wine is vinified and matured in the very best French oak to bring you “our finest cuvée, Etoile”.
Colour is a dark red. Intense nose of dark fruits, notes of spice, perhaps a hint of the garrigue, the scrub that thrives around here. I once stayed in a gite in Languedoc owned by a Madam Garrigue. Like the senior citizen Madame, this wine is amazingly smooth (the madame used tidy up the pool in her bikini every evening). Must say that gite was great value for money and I can indeed say the same about this Prestige, fresh, and full of fruit, enhanced by nine months in oak. No pesticides, no herbicides, just excellent value (more so with the current reduction).
Garrigue, by the way, is a feminine noun. And since I’m on gender, the French language version of the label indicates that Syrah is feminine while Carignan and Mourvedre, the other two in this blend, are masculine!
O’Brien’s tell us that Caraguilhes is completely organic, “this estate was using organic techniques when it was virtually unheard of anywhere else”. The Prestige is their oak-aged Reserve wine and is a seriously stylish wine.
As regards keeping the wine, the winery advices that while it has potential of 6 or 7 years, it can be drunk today. Decant one hour in advance and serve at around 15 degrees. Food pairings: Provencal lamb (if you don’t have Herbes de Provence, try thyme, sage and rosemary), roast grilled beef with olives, quail in truffle sauce. Enjoy.
