And we're back.

Hi All,

After a hiatus of over a year, the Grape Press is back in action with a new hopefully refreshing focus. Not that the old focus was a problem, it's just that there was none. Now that I am settled in one of the most exciting places in the world I am setting out on a mission to investigate the wine culture of London. It's eccentricities, it's strangeness and whatever else I may find.

I'll be posting regular updates on the restaurant scene, focusing first on my Autumnal journey through London's sherry scene and a look at what the capital has to offer in proper Spanish food, but obviously I won't be limited to just that!

Do check regularly - I'll be posting more often to Instagram and Twitter and am happy to take suggestions on what I should be looking out for!

Much Love,

G

Arrival Notes- New York City

Hey Everyone,

After a long absence I am returning to the wine trade in New York City with a fabulous company named September Wines.  Located in the Lower East Side, they are a great group of people with a real passion for their product.  No one word describes the range of wines on offer at September, but 'exciting' scratches the surface.







Though I am overwhelmingly excited about returning to the US wine trade to work with an exciting and energetic company, I have my concerns about my newfound market.  They are far from unique an in fact mirror the problems facing the UK wine trade.

One of my main reservations about wine consumption amongst both the casual drinker and the more curious wine-lovers around the world is that there is often a positive prejudice towards certain wines that leads to the neglect of a vast world of excellent produce.  In my last establishment in Britain we were able to stock a selection of nearly a hundred Australian wines, fifty South Africans, and over one hundred Italians.  That all pales in comparison with the quantity of French wines from across the major regions.

While there are token wines from Jura and Savoie and other minor appellations, the omission is in these examples.  It's not that there are no wines from Cahors, it's just that there is so little demand for them in favour of Australian Cabernet or Argentine Malbec that the only Cahors on offer is a lonely little £10 bottle that is rarely in stock.  Meanwhile in the US I have worked in three wine companies and saw a grand total of 6 wines from South Africa on offer.  5 of those are at September wines meaning one company completely neglected a country with some of the most historically revered wines in the world.

If the tastes of the UK and the US wine trades could somehow be combined, I feel that there would be no region left out in the cold.  It is the demand for new experiences which lead to the surge in popularity among Prossecco, Sancerre and Riesling. The greatest danger to these gains is feeling like the customer's potential experience is maximised.  The important thing to remember is that there is always more wine.  New vines are cultivated every day, new regions will emerge on a yearly basis, old regions long dormant will resurge and the old favourites will fade into the past.

Its all about education and the most exciting thing about wine is that if a new experience is placed before you why not take it?  There is so much to experience in the wine world (this goes for the rest of the world as well) and once you find a nice place to pick up a bottle of something new, I say go for it!  It will be well worth your while.

Much Love,

G

End of the River- The Douro Valley

Hey Everybody,

Tonight I've been packing for a trip to London and as I go I am enjoying a nice bottle of Portuguese red.  Specifically from the Douro Valley in the North of the country, along the same river known as the Duero in Spain.  Douro wine is mostly known on the international stage as the source of some of the world's most highly regarded wine: Port.  That fortified, sweet and long lived wine is the stuff of legend but in a valley so blessed with an abundance of old vines, a plethora of cultivars and prime vineyard space, it is ridiculous to assume that top quality table wine is not made there as well.

Fruit forward and full bodied, it is a wonder that Portuguese reds are not more widely known.  Perhaps they are suffering from some of the same malignancies that continuously frustrate German wine makers, with confusing terms, unfamiliar grape varieties and association with a stereotypical style.  Whereas Germany contends with the misconception that all wines are going to be sweet and sickly, it may be that Portugal has the ghost of sweet fortified Port wine looming over it.

Fortunately it does not take too long to get through the layers of retrograde pfaffery, and the winemakers are doing what they can to help.  I'm not saying that the wineries are doing what many of the Bordelaise producers have done and Parkerised (made their wines suitable for Robert Parker's palette), rather they have made an effort to be more engaging with modern style but unchanging class.  For example, Dirk Niepoort of the legendary Niepoort Port house has made a conscious effort to put more emphasis on table wines, rather than his easily respectable vintage ports.  He is putting forward excellent examples of dry table wines, such as his 'Redoma' range alongside the truly world class 'Batuta.'  Kitted out with classy but interesting labels and amazing quality it is a great first step to showing the world what Portugal is capable of.

Other Port houses are following suit with their own table wines, and really putting some good effort into what they are producing.  Quina do Portal, another well respected house is putting out an excellent dry red made from a blend of Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca that represents excellent value with a definite nod towards high quality.  Call it a sort of gateway wine into the world of excellent Douro.  Hopefully what this will lead to is the development of interest in other quality wines from the Douro.

Other producers like Quinta do Macedos are going so far as to adopt the practice of the second wine with their 'Lagar de Macedos' and in so doing they have developed a pair of excellent bottlings, both of which are remarkably capable of standing the test of time, developing into something exciting and providing us wine geeks with another means of enjoying old wine.  One of the greatest pleasures of wine is to track the development of a wine over the course of it's life.  I love Rhône wines, young or old, but truly they are different wines entirely.  The same bottle that was once deep, chunky and spicy, becomes leathery, briny and earthy.  These Douro wines are perfect for that as well.  They live for years and years and over time, the deep black fruit and intense body of youth becomes something different, refined and elegant.

So I borrowed this from Wikipedia.

Essentially, the Douro is one of those regions that stands at the top of wine.  Bordeaux, Rhône, Burgundy, Napa and Mosel are all known the world over for their ability to produce mind-blowingly delicious wine.  The Douro is right up there with the rest of them.  Hopefully soon enough the rest of the world will catch on.  Or hopefully they won't.  Just leaves more for us!

Much Love,
G

My Love Hate Relationship...

Hey Everyone,

Today I am writing about my most conflicted of feelings in the entire world of wine. It is the strange phenomenon of the head versus the heart and the knowledge of the former pitted against the uncompromising nature of the latter. The subject matter: Italy, the dilemma; I know it's good and that I like the styles of wine produced there, yet never will I choose a bottle of Chianti over a Rioja or Barolo over Bordeaux. I wrote a post last year about how much I like the rustic wines from appellations such as Chianti Rufina and Abruzzo, and I really enjoy a good bottle of Barbera with a bowl of pasta or a steak, but I fear that my consumption of Italian wine is somewhat forced.

A friend of mine, the proprietor of St. Andrews Wine Company is planning a dinner with a local restaurant which promises to be a truly inspiring experience with a well considered selection of wines to match each course. At first the theme for wines of the evening was said to be the Rhône Valley and I was ecstatic. I pictured a gorgeous dinner starting with duck liver pate and Condrieu or smoked fish and Chateauneuf-du-Pape blanc followed by a braised beef with a spicy Cornas or Cote-Rotie, all to be washed down with a sweet Muscat Beaumes de Venise. Thats when someone suggested Italian wines and my dreams of a Rhône dinner were dashed.

Thats because interesting Italian wines are exciting for just about everyone except me. For some reason I like Italian wines to be simple and easy, not big and complex. I don't know exactly why, because I want this from every other wine I drink; perhaps it is a realm of refuge from the overly cerebral bottles I usually encounter. When it comes to beer, though I love interesting well crafted ales, I can get tired of 7% hoppy IPAs. It may be that Italian wine fulfills the same role for me that English bitter fulfills in respect to beer. It is an escape. That said I know that top flight Italian wine is amazing stuff and whenever I taste it I am happy to have done so, but I cannot say that I would ever choose it for myself.

For instance, last night in the wine shop, Peter opened a bottle of 2008 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. It was massive, big bright black fruits reminiscent of Napa Cabernet with the alcohol to match. It was excellent stuff, better than most of the wines I've been drinking lately, and perhaps ironically, way better than the Crozes-Hermitage (from the Rhône I love so well) I had two nights ago.

I recognised long ago that loving wine is a growing process, with twists and turns. Where one thing is your passion at the moment and the other your passing fancy, these things may change any moment. There was a time when I wouldn't have even considered buying a bottle of Bordeaux over an American Cabernet, but my tastes have changed and tasting this beautiful Vino Nobile may well have changed my thoughts on what people call 'more interesting' Italian wines.

If there is something you are prejudiced against out there in the wine world, as I admit to myself, make a concerted effort to change your opinion or at least find out exactly why you feel that way. It could be an exciting revelation!

Much Love,

G.

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Wines of Portugal

Hey Everyone,

I know it's been a good long while since I've posted and now that I'm comfortably relocated to Brooklyn I'm happy to be writing again. One of the things that I've noticed since moving and checking out the shops here in New York, even the specialists is the complete lack of representation of one of my favourite wine-producing countries; Portugal.

Now aside from producing what is arguably one of the greatest wine styles in the world, Portugal is remarkably varied for such a small country and produces a bewildering range of wines. Beyond the noble Port houses and their legendary fortified sweet red wines, wine makers in Portugal offer nearly everything a discerning wine-lover (I don't like the word oenophile) could desire. From a range of light refreshing whites with effervescence perfect for seafood to rich, powerful reds worthy of laying down for decades, Portuguese wine is in every sense a world-class product.

Let's start with what we know. So Portugal is easily most famous for it's fortified wines from Porto and the Madeira Islands in the Atlantic. With Madeira the range is as varied as Spanish Sherry, so you are not looking at a single style of sweet dessert wines. There are dry Madeiras, sweeties and everything in between, with some very interesting aged wines. I wrote on this subject a few months ago so by all means have a look at this old posting on wines by Barbeito. Port on the other hand is a mixed bag of basic ruby ports and LBVs for under £15 right on up to some of the most reliably long-lived wines of impeccable quality.

But beyond all that familiar stuff, there is a huge array of interest for those looking for wine for the table. Lets say you're into your Sauvignon, or Grüner Veltliner or even the ever more popular Albariño from Spain and really want something refreshing and easy drinking. The north of Portugal, near the country's border with Spain is the aptly named region of Vinho Verde (literally 'Green Wine'). Here, Alvarihno grows in conditions very similar to those of Galicia to the north and results in a very refreshing youthful wine with plenty of light citrus fruits and a very enticing palate with high acidity, minerals and a slight spritz.

Other whites such as regional blends from the Tejo can be a bit fleshier and more forward with their fruit characters and can be slightly reminiscent of Australian VIognier or Rhône whites. Here the winemakers are pretty willing to try experimentation with some new world techniques and styles, so you will be likely to encounter some big fruit bombs just as you can find more traditional bottlings.

As can be expected, the finest wines of Portugal are likely to have garnered the most of this limited load of attention, not least of all because they so happen to share the vineyard lands which yield the grapes for Port. The Douro valley (same as Spain's Duero running through that country's finest regions) is very much parallel to Bordeaux. Here wines are produced with Touriga Nacional, Trincadeira and Touriga Franca among others making for a wine with a similar tannin and acid structure to wines of Bordeaux, complimented by intricate aromas of herbs, black currants and complex rusticity. The more inexpensive wines here are approachable, fruit forward and easily paired to a wide array of foods. The best examples, however, are age worthy and interesting wines that stand shoulder to shoulder with the most serious wines in the world.

For some of these serious wines, one looks to the producers with the longest traditions. Port houses going the extra mileage to put out a range of table wines have resulted in the Batuta, Charme and Robustus wines from Niepoort, excellent examples of long lived table reds. Other producers, however are dedicated to table wines, such as Quinta de Macedos and Quinta da Romaneira. All of these and many more produce wines of impeccable quality and should satisfy the most demanding palates.

I am a huge fan of Portugal's wines and believe that they deserve far greater consideration for the qualities they exhibit. If you find yourself in a shop with an interesting selection from this gem on the Atlantic fringe, be sure to give it a try. If you're unsure, ask someone at the shop what is most likely to be to your taste, because I am sure you will be happy you gave it a shot.

Much Love,

G

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Drone Strikes vs. Carpet Bombing- A Merchant's Dilemma

Hey Everyone,

The other day I made my way down to London for a tasting hosted by wine merchants, Bibendum, showcasing the most interesting wines from their list. The last time I was at a Bibendum Tasting (the Just Add Bibendum Tasting) the multiple rooms of a massive venue were packed with row after row of tables occupied by producers showing up to ten bottles each. There were thousands of wines and thousands of people all cramming to get to the table to try their £10 shiraz or somesuch.

The same sort of thing goes for massive events such as the SITT Tastings, which I attended in Manchester and the Liberty Tasting in Edinburgh, where a tight venue in the form of an old library was used to showcase around 1,500 wines. At these tastings, I tend to find that about 30% of the wines shown are pretty poor with a larger level of decent/ passable wines and a small percentage of awesome wines. This tasting, however was different; gloriously different.

40 producers, a strictly limited invite list and two smallish rooms in the Gallery Soho provided the story line for the evening. Top sommeliers from Michelin starred restaurants don't want to bother sifting through the endless lakes of crappy wine to find themselves with a handful of good bottles. They don't need a cheap wine with a value reflected in it's quality. They need proper wine that they can put down on a table that can carry the reputation of the establishment. In essence, they rely on the wine to no let the side down. This tasting was for 'Artisan wine' meaning that everything there was carefully chosen and, indeed, carefully made. It was an exercise in a wine merchant doing what is most important in the trade. That is avoiding the temptation to carpet bomb their customers with overwhelming choice and lazily say 'Look how much choice we offer, we're obviously the best.'

A good wine merchant is more precise, and while variety is important, I have seen time and time again as a customer wanders into a wine shop and becomes paralysed by selection. What is even the most experienced drinker supposed to do when you have the option of 7 Alsatian Rieslings all between £10 and £15? It should be the responsibility of the merchant to find the wine in that price range, made with the most care and quality and put that to their customers. This tasting showed me just how accurate a merchant's selection can be. Rather than carpet bombing, this was a drone strike. 1/20th of the wine as the usual tasting, but still a wine to fit each price range, from a £15 bottle of delicious Sicilian Rose, to a £100 bottle of Daguenau Pouilly-Fumé, and what's more; every bottle chosen was good.

Now some of these wines weren't necessarily to my taste, but I could easily see the merits of each of them in their own style. For example, I'm not really a fan of Australian shiraz, as popular of a wine as it is, but the ones on display were true to style and, for a shiraz drinker they were clearly worth every penny. At the average trade tasting I could go through 10 Shirazes before I settle on 1 solid example. Not the case here. A wine merchant doesn't need a shop filled with thousands of wines with thirty of each style and multiples in each price range. What they need is precision. One good £15 bottle of chardonnay that can be replaced regularly with an exciting rotation of stock is infinitely preferable to mountains of stagnant variation.

The merchant's job is to facilitate the relationship between the producer and the consumer and to help the latter by doing half of the deciding. A respectable wine company should be a guarantee that every bottle on the shelf is a good example of what the label says. It comes down to the consumer to buy with confidence and enjoy a good glass of wine, not go through trial and error to finally get there.

Much love,

G

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Taste of the Place

Hey Everyone,

My favourite thing about wine is always its ability to express a region.  My favourite advertising campaign, for sheer irony's sake, is Anakena saying that their wine is an expression of the people.  If so, it does not bode well for the people of Chile.  Fortunately, there are better wines from the narrow stretch of land between the Andes and the sea.  That said, they are right that a wine should be an expression of people, but it should also be an expression of the place.  Though I usually disregard the notion of "Old World/ New World" distinctions, there is one consistency which I find appealing and that is the expression of soil found in Old World wines.

Chateau Palmer 1998 Margaux

This all came on me as I am trying to revisit those classic regions which I tend to neglect in my pursuit of finding new wines from interesting parts of the world.  I recently had a beautiful bottle of Mercurey (Red Burgundy) which tickled my fancy as being a true classic of it's appellation.  Big juicy raspberry fruits, plenty of bracing acidity and a hint of tannin all made for a complete wine which I feel truly expresses the character of this very specific region of Burgundy.

While I was in Champagne last weekend, visiting the premises of Bollinger in Ay, I was allowed to try some truly beautiful wines made to express the soil and the atmosphere around the vines.  The environment which sustains and gives life to the vines should be present in the final bottle of wine and no country more so than France shows this in the glass.  The house's own wines, in particular the more recent vintage, the Grande Année 2002, showed a beautiful character of chalky texture and aroma which is just so definitive of the Champagne region alongside the hints of green pepper and bright green fruit which makes young vintage champagne just so quaffable.

During the competition we were once charged with the identification of three red wines.  We were provided with the context that one wine was French and the others should be identified with their appropriate regions.  Upon smelling these wines, the three presented very different styles, but the first and the third wines gave themselves away.  The third, clearly a jammy Australian Shiraz, told no lies.  It was open with it's fruit and it's deep blueberry body.  The first one, smelling of a bit of cracked black pepper and a lot of a maritime breeze jumped forward as a classic Syrah form the Northern Rhone.  Though we guessed Crozes-Hermitage and it turned out to be the appellation down the road at Saint Joseph, we knew exactly why we selected France as it's country of origin.

St. Andrew's Tasting Team at Bollinger

In the Northern Rhone Valley, the most striking character of the wines, which sets them apart from 'New World' Shiraz/ Syrah is that lovely elegant aroma and texture given by the dusty, rocky soil.  The effect of this so-called 'minerality is the sensation of tasting a smooth river-stone in your mouth.  While that may not sound great in writing, it is genuinely a pleasing characteristic in a quality red wine.  In this particular wine, it was a thing of beauty.

In the tie breaking final round, the red which was presented to us, a Chateau Palmer 1998 from Margaux in Bordeaux, leapt forward as a bottle of minerality.  Though I personally thought it to be a Cabernet Franc/ Merlot blend from Saint-Emilion on the other side of the Gironde, it's stoney texture and smoothly slate-like tannins were definitely a mark made upon the wine by the soil.  While this is a supremely expensive bottle of wine, you can f course get ahold of some lovely wines with the expression of the soil in the glass.  Check out my earlier post on a nice affordable Crozes-Hermitage form Paul Jaboulet-Aîné.  Similarly, Chablis is a good place to start for picking out the chalky wonders possible in a good Chardonnay.

Basically I love the idea of being able to experience a place in the wine.  When you are unable to go to taste a wine in the region of it's production and smell all the aromas of the vineyard, the next best thing is to taste it in the glass.  I hope you all get the chance to try out something unique, which celebrates it's place of origin.

Much Love,

G