Tasted 4 May 2011

Old World Reds

Sainsbury’s House Pinot Noir £4.29
100% Pinot Noir, sourced from the Cremale Recas Estate in Romania. The grapes are grown at an altitude of 200m and planted on south west facing slopes in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. The soil here is a limestone based bedrock with iron oxide rich soils. 20% of the wine has gone through carbonic maceration with whole grape bunches and stalks. The remaining 80% is destemmed and fermented normally for 3 weeks before blending. The final wine is aged on oak staves for 3 months before bottling. Residual sugar: 5g/l. Winemaker - Hartley Smithers
New and exclusive, 572 stores, available from 1 June, screw cap 13.0%
Quite a reasonable smell for this price. Actually, it’s altogether a very good price. A bit like mulled wine. Definitely not for Burgundy lovers. +

Sainsbury’s House Tempranillo £3.99
100% Tempranillo from grapes sourced in northern Spain. The fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks. This young and fruity wine is not aged in oak. Residual sugar: 1.4g/l.
Winemaker - Borja Ripa
New and exclusive, 493 stores, available from 1 June, screw cap 13.0%
Over-baked nose. Not inviting. Not good at all.

Domaine du Colombier Chinon 2009 £6.29
100% Cabernet Franc from the Loire region from vines on gravelly soil. Traditional vinification followed by a few months ageing in chalk cellars. The wine is then aged again in bottle.
Residual sugar: 0.5g/l. Winemakers - Christine and Olivier Jouvault
New vintage, available now, 262 stores, natural cork 13.0%
A little Cab Franc on the nose. Perhaps. Quite spicy taste. A bit thin but good for lunchtime, maybe.

Sainsbury’s Cuvee Prestige Cotes du Rhône 2010 £4.54
70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 5% Mourvèdre and 5% Carignan. The climate is typically Mediterranean and the soil is composed of clay and limestone. The grapes are machine harvested prior to temperature controlled fermentation in stainless steel tanks.
Residual sugar: <2g/l. Winemaker - Thierry Walet
New vintage, available 1 June, 572 stores, exclusive, screw cap 13.5%
Not much on the nose. Dry, with quite a bit of tannin and not much fruit. Might be good with food.

Longue-Dog Red 2010 £5.49
75% Grenache and 25% Syrah. A blend of 2 areas using mostly declassified grapes from AOP Costieres de Nimes and AOP Coteaux du Languedoc. Grapes are hand and machine harvested, followed by a traditional fermentation. No fining or Kieselguhr filtration takes place. Membrane filtration is used. Residual Sugar: 3.5g/l. Winemaker – Eric Monnin
New vintage, available from 1 July, 572 stores, exclusive, screw cap 13.5%
Some ripe dark fruit. A lot of tannin. Quite liquorice in flavour. Needs food.

Taste the Difference Côtes du Rhône-Villages 2010 £6.29
60% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 10% Mouvèdre and 5% Cinsault, this Côtes du Rhône Villages comes from vineyards situated on the right bank of the Rhône river. Vines are planted on a soil composed of shingle, chalk and clay. The grapes are hand harvested. The wine is vinified in cement vats and vatting lasts between 2-3 weeks after the alcoholic fermentation has ceased. Ageing is also performed in vats. No fining is used and filtration takes place using Kieselguhr.
Residual sugar: 1.6g/l. Winemaker - Michel Chapoutier
New vintage, available from 1 July, 572 stores, exclusive, natural cork 14.0%
Not much aroma. Quite rough tannin but nice fruit with it. Not really.
Louis Max Côtes de Nuits Villages 2009 £14.99
100% Pinot Noir grapes hand picked from Fixin in the north of the Côte de Nuits and Premeaux south of Nuits St.Georges. The grapes are hand sorted and then undergo cold maceration in stainless steel tanks for around 15 days with natural yeast. The must then undergoes alcoholic fermentation with punching down of the cap and pumping over being performed regularly. The wine is then run off into a combination of new oak (12% of the blend) and second and third fill barrels for malolactic fermentation. The wine then spends 14 months in barrel before bottling.
Residual sugar: 0.8g/l. Winemaker - Douby Perrin
New and exclusive, available 1 June, 175 stores, natural cork 13.0%
Farmyardy nose. Nice balance. Quite butch for Pinot Noir. Please don’t drink this yet. Wait. It’ll turn beautiful.


Chanson Nuits St George 2008 £24.99
100% Pinot Noir from the commune of Nuits Saint Georges, in the heart of the Côte de Nuits. The grapes are sourced from selected plots of vineyard south of the village, at the border of the ‘Premier Cru’ area. All the grapes are hand picked at optimum maturity, and enter the fermentation vats in whole bunches. Cold pre-fermentation maceration is followed by a long alcoholic fermentation for greater depth and expression of the wine’s structural elements. The wine is aged in oak barrels for 15 months. Residual sugar: 2g/l.
Winemaker - Jean-Pierre Confuron
New and exclusive, available 1 June, 55 stores, natural cork 13.0%
Mmmm. Lovely nose. Very fragrant. Savoury, woody, just beautiful. I love this. *

Fontanafredda Barolo 2006 £19.99
100% from Nebbiolo grapes sourced from 11 individual villages located south of Alba where the soils are packed with limestone and marl. Fermentation is carried out for 8-10 days in stainless steel vats at temperatures of between 30-31°C with a floating cap and frequent pumping over of the must. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation and is then aged for 2 years in large oak casks. It is further aged for 12 months in bottle. No residual sugar. Winemaker - Danilo Drocco
New vintage, available now, 175 stores, natural cork 13.5%
Lovely woody smell, but also with dark baked fruit. So, so inviting. Tannin as you’d expect, but a lovely baked flavour. Delicious and with vanilla on the finish. *

La Capannuccia Chianti Rufina Riserva 2000 £14.99
90% Sangiovese, 7% Canaiolo and 3% Colorino. The grapes come from the estates of Galiga and Vetrice, owned by the Grati family who have cultivated their 100 hectares of vineyards in the hilly region of Rufina for 5 generations. The coolest of the Chianti zones with clay and stony soils - it is noted for making wines which can be among the longest lived in the Chianti region. The wine is aged in 28 hectolitre Slavonian oak casks for 36 months, and is fined with egg whites, with no filtration prior to bottling. Residual sugar: <1g/l. Winemaker - Gualberto Grati
New and exclusive, available 1 June, 175 stores, natural cork 12.5%
Visually really showing its age. Beautifully fragrant. Quite woody in flavour, with some nice farmyard on the end but it’s not for laying down. It’s ready now but won’t last much longer.

Condado de Haza Ribera del Douro 2007 £15.99
100% Tempranillo. Grapes are all hand harvested from vineyards on the gentle slopes of the Duero’s riverbanks which are made up of sand, clay and gravel soils. The wine is aged in American oak barrels for 16-18 months and then spends a further 6 months in bottle. Residual sugar, 2g/l. Winemaker - Alejandro Fernández Pérez, producer of the icon Spanish wine Pesquera
New and exclusive, available 1 June, 55 stores, natural cork 14.0%
Lovely spicy, ripe nose. Really woody. Very American oaky taste. Refreshing acidity, ripe fruit and the alcohol seems balanced. Mmm

Château ‘La Croix du Casse’ Pomerol 2006 £19.99
70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, which are hand harvested from vines with an average age of 45 years on the southern part of the Pomerol plateau. A meticulous selection is made before the grapes are gently pressed and fermented in steel tanks for 2 weeks, followed by a maceration period of 3 weeks. Aged in French oak barrels for 24 months. No filtration or fining takes place before bottling.
New and exclusive, available 1 June, 55 stores, natural cork 12.5%
Quite a stalky nose. Not very forward. Dry and not terribly lovely taste.

Luis Cañas Coleccion Privada Rioja Reserva 2004 £16.99
85% Tempranillo, 15% other local varietals. The grapes are hand picked from vines with a minimum age of 45 years before being hand sorted - Luis Cañas himself, now 82, stands at the head of the selection table, keenly ensuring only the best grapes are used. Fermentation occurs in oak vats for 7 days and the wine is then aged for 12 months in French and American oak giving a beautiful depth and structure. Residual sugar: 1.3g/l. Winemaker - Fidel Fernández Gómez
New vintage, available now, 175 stores, natural cork 14.5%
The perfect Rioja nose. Oak, but it’s tempered by French and so isn’t too stupidly American. Very fragrant taste. Lovely. Really delicious. *

Château Lynch Moussas Pauillac 2006 £29.99
70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot grapes, all hand harvested. The wine is fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel vats for up to 23 days with frequent but short pumping over. Malolactic fermentation takes place in vat. The wine is then transferred to barrel, of which 58% is new and 42% is one year old. Residual Sugar: <2g/l. Winemaker - Phillippe Casteja
New, available 1 June, 55 stores, natural cork 13.0%
Appealingly fragrant nose. Some fruit, but coffee-flavoured oak is more prominent. Needs griddled steak.

Delas Saint-Joseph Les Challeys 2008 £14.99
100% Syrah grapes from the Saint-Joseph vineyards along the right bank of the northern Rhône valley near Touron, where the vineyard soils are mainly schist and gneiss over granite bedrock. Hand picked and destemmed, the fermentation takes place at 28-32°C in open tanks, where full malolactic takes place. 30% of the wine undergoes ageing in barrels to add a touch of oak to the final blend and the rest is matured in tank. Residual sugar: 1.5g/l. Winemaker - Jacques Grange
New and exclusive, available 1 June, 55 stores, natural cork 13.0%
Not a very inviting nose. So much tannin. Am frowning with the chewiness of it.

Chapoutier ‘Les Arenas’ Cornas 2009 £25.99
100% Syrah coming from a vineyard planted on slopes on the right bank of the Rhône, around the village of Cornas. Part of the vineyard is planted on granite and the other part on clay and calcareous alluvial deposits. The grapes are picked by hand and destemmed and then traditional fermentation takes place, lasting around 10 days. This is then followed by a 3 week maceration. The wine is aged in oak casks over approximately 14 months. No fining. Filtration with Kieselguhr.
Residual sugar: 1.6g/l. Winemaker - Michel Chapoutier
New and exclusive, available 1 June, 55 stores, natural cork 14.0%
Little on the nose. Quite a ripe, almost syrupy taste. Nice balance. Needs time, though.

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