JONATHAN RAY travels round Roussillon with Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins du Roussillon export director Eric Aracil, passing through some of the 35,000 hectares of Grenache, Carignan, Syrah, Cinsault and Mourvdre. 'Although it's sunny, it can be cold and windy here, with damp blown in from the sea. But the weather, the grapes and the low yields all result in intense and fascinating wines,' Domaine Ferrer Ribire winemaker Bruno Ribire tells Ray over dinner in the tiny village of Terrats.
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Now that Canada is producing world-class wines, it is surely high time the industry educated Canadians properly about their own products, says JANCIS ROBINSON. She knows of no nation more defensive about its wines than Canada. In tasting 70 wines, of which 17 she pronounces as world class', Robinson meets a woman whose job it is to brief Canadian diplomats on the glories of their own country's wines'.
She singles out Daniel Lenko's 2002 Syrah from the Niagara Peninsula as truly outstanding' and also mentions two joint ventures, Clos Jordanne and Osoyoos Larose. The majority of the wines she tasted were from Niagara and, if they had a fault, it was lack of concentration. Canada is also plagued by ladybirds, which taint the wines by imparting a raw horseradish or peanut shell aroma.
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Now that Canada is producing world-class wines, it is surely high time the industry educated Canadians properly about their own products, says JANCIS ROBINSON. She knows of no nation more defensive about its wines than Canada. In tasting 70 wines, of which 17 she pronounces as 'world class', Robinson meets a woman whose job it is to brief Canadian diplomats on the 'glories of their own country's wines'. She singles out Daniel Lenko's 2002 Syrah from the Niagara Peninsula as 'truly outstanding' and also mentions two joint ventures, Clos Jordanne and Osoyoos Larose. The majority of the wines she tasted were from Niagara and, if they had a fault, it was lack of concentration. Canada is also plagued by ladybirds, which taint the wines by imparting a raw horseradish or peanut shell aroma.
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In Monday's edition of the paper ALEXANDRA FREAN AND ALEXANDRA BLAIR report that 10 million annually is now generated by further education colleges in selling their own products. Plumpton College, in East Sussex produces 23,000 bottles of wine and Reaseheath College in Nantwich, Cheshire, having recently invested 1 million in building a winery, has its wines now listed at London's Michelin-star Hakkasan restaurant.
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Apparently, if you send a turnip round the world, it still comes back a turnip, according to a friend of TIM ATKIN's dad. Atkin moves onto talk about Tempranillo as a world-class grape that is 'vastly superior to Merlot, more reliable that Pinot Noir and ages as well as Cabernet'. From a recent Spanish tasting, Atkin says it is Ribera del Duero that stands out, with Rioja not far behind and La Mancha showing enormous potential. His recommendations are: 2004 Castillo La Paz, La Mancha (4.99, Sainsbury's); 2004 Jme Rioja (5.97, Asda); 2003 Valmoro, Toro (8.99, Great Northern Wine); and 2003 Finca Villacreces, Ribera del Duero (21.95, Liberty Wines and Bennetts Fine Wines). Not a turnip among them, he says.
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Brunello di Montalcino is the subject of ANTHONY ROSE's column this week. Of the region that was the first to receive Italy's DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) in 1980, he says: 'Even within Italy, no zone offers such a vivid expression of the Sangiovese grape.' His recommendations include: 2001 Banfi Poggio Alle Mura (22, Majestic); 2004 Sesti (14.50, Jeroboams); and 2001 Barbi Brunello (27.50, Cambridge Wine Merchants).
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ANDREW DOWNIE heads south to visit a 20,000ha vineyard in the middle of Brazil's northeastern desert, eight degrees south of the equator. Owned by Portuguese winemaker Do Sul, ViniBrasil has an irrigation system that pumps river water across a 120,000ha holding. With 12 hours of sunlight for 300 days a year, Brazil can have as many harvests as it wants, says ViniBrasil's Carlos Moura. The company produces the Rio Sol brand, from which a Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz blend will available in Waitrose later this month (4.99).
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JANE MacQUITTY chooses her Top 100 Winter Wines' under 12. Her Star White' is 2004 Chteau Rives-Blanques, Ddicace, Limoux Chenin Blanc (8.95; Great Western Wine) and her Star Red' is 2005 Domaine Boudau, Le Clos, Ctes du Roussillon, Vronique et Pierre Boudau (8.75; Lay & Wheeler.
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This week JAMIE GOODE has to match wines with Welsh food. Among the wines he goes for are: 2005 Element Terre Blanc, Vin de Pays du Comt Tolosan (4.99, Asda); 2005 Otra Vida Chardonnay (4.99, Sainsbury's); and 2005 La Chsse du Pape Winemakers Selection, Ctes du Rhne (7.99, Morrisons).
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VICTORIA MOORE visits the Gotham Bar and Grill in honour of writer Jay McInerey, whose wine essays were published last year. She chooses a Vire-Clesse from Rijckaert to go with a seafood risotto.
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JOANNA SIMON says Chilean producers are so keen on their new wines and varieties that is easy to forget the good value Cabernets, Merlots and Carmeneres, and specifically mentions Concha y Toro's Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon (3.99).
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VICTORIA MOORE takes a bottle of 2003 Vino de Calidad de Arribes (7.49) back to her local Oddbins because it 'just wasn't right'. She gets Colin the manager to taste it, and he reckons it's oxidised. She asks him whether it is worth the price, and if not what would he recommend. He suggests a 2001 Dehesa la Granja, the third winery of Alejandro Fernndez in the Zamora province up the Duero in northern Spain. At 9.99, a bin end, Moore is happy with this oaky Tempranillo. She also recommends 2005 Old Vine La Sabrosita Garnacha from Calatayud (4.99, Marks & Spencer); 1998 Montecillo Gran Reserva Rioja (16.95, Partridges; 15.15, Longford Wines); 2002 Taste the Difference Elegia Rioja Reserva (8.99, Sainsbury's) and 2005 Martin Codax Albario, Ras Baxas (7.49, Majestic).
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JONATHAN RAY celebrates the opening of the new James Bond film Casino Royale by going to New York in search of the perfect martini - all right for some.
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ANTHONY ROSE gets out his crystal ball for 2007. He advises buying 2001, 2002 and 2004 Bordeaux as good and affordable; but with a cold, wet 2006 harvest, he says the spotlight turns to 2005 Burgundies. He also says 2001 was a great vintage in Spain and for Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino Riservas. He also points to 2005 Beaujolais and 2004 Douro wines. He says he is more likely in 2007 to pick out a Pinot Gris from New Zealand, an Albario from Spain, an Austrian Grner Veltliner, an Italian Fiano d'Avellino, Greek Assyrtiko, Hunter Valley Semillon or Eden Valley Riesling from Australia.
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JOANNA SIMON also looks to the future and suggests that her readers to look at affordable reds from Spain (again), the south of France, Chile and Argentina, with 'good things coming out of Italy, especially in the south'. She says all are better bets than Australia, California and South Africa. For whites, she says that Spain is limited but worth investigating. In Italy, unfamilar grapes and regions are the key; while for France, try the Loire and the south west. In the New World: Chile and the Cape. Her Cellar Notes wines are 2005 La Sabrosita Old Vine Garnacha (4.99, Marks & Spencer); 2004 Conti Leopardi Rosso Piceno Superiore (5.69, The Sunday Times Wine Club) and 2005 Esprit du Rhne (4.99, Tesco).
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The January sales among the major independents are where JANE MACQUITTY recommends her readers look for bargains. She says Lay & Wheeler, Justerini & Brooks, Corney & Barrow and Berry Bros & Rudd all have wines that are worth seeking out.
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South Africa is the least exciting red wine producing country in the New World, states TIM ATKIN MW. Why are their red wines so mediocre when their whites are increasingly impressive, he asks. Except for likes of Vergelegen, Thelema, De Toren, Tokara, De Trafford, Boekenhoutskloof, Rustenberg, Bouchard Finlayson, Graham Beck, Fairview and Tulbagh Mountain, he says there is a huge lake of underwhelming reds. On the other hand, the Cape whites are getting better and better with old vine Chenin Blanc, Semillon, Chardonnay, Viognier, Riesing and especially Sauvignon Blanc proving exciting for Atkin.
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Robert Parker of Maryland is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most influential wine critic there has ever been,' insists JANCIS ROBINSON MW. Her wine tastes have varied from his on occasion, particularly over a bottle of 2003 Chteau Pavie, and these differences in opinion have led to a media obsession with The American Palate versus The British Palate, she remonstrates. This transatlantic divide has experienced a bit of setback, however, and she reveals that Robert Parker's newest team member is British. In Robinson's opinion, Neil Martin of www.wine-journal.com, may have a particularly inexpressive face but, fortunately for us all, he has the most distinctively expressive way with a keyboard'. Furthermore, Martin has assured her that Parker welcomes and positively encourages an alternative view and not an echo of his own voice (what would be the point of that)'.
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JANCIS ROBINSON visits Domaine David Clark in Morey-Saint Denis, Burgundy, and meets a fresh-faced, bright-eyed, Indianapolis-born man of Scottish parents who went to Cambridge. While at IBM in Leamington Spa, he worked his way through the stock of the local Oddbins and ended up doing vintages in Napa and at Tahbilk in Australia. Hebecame a software engineer with the Williams Formula One racing team, and then ended up on an organic farm in the Auvergne. In 2004, he bought a small vineyard up on the bottom rung of Burgundy's vinous ladder. Last year Clark produced 6,000 bottles of wine and his land will be certified organic by the 2009 vintage. His wines are available in the UK through Berry Bros & Rudd.
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JOANTHAN RAY lunches with 'Mr Grner Veltliner', Lenz Moser, whose company, Laurenz V (he is the fifth generation Lenz Moser), concentrates on Austria's indigenous white grape variety.
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