Posted by Andrew Barrow on November 7th 2007 1:01pm. Leave a comment
A new listing - de Morgenzon Chenin Blanc 2005. An utterly fabulous South African Chenin Blanc that we have been plotting to bring on board for over a year, and finally been able to!
The John Platter Guide describes winemaker Teddy Hall as 'South Africa's sultan of Chenin'. The guide gives this particular vintage a top ranking 5 stars.
Our tasting notes read - Spice, honey and apricot make for a highly delicious and complex nose. An excellent concentrated and mineral led palate with layered complexity of a mixture of fruits. Some residual sugar is offset by a crisp acidity to create perfect balance and a long finish.
"The dedication to a quality first approach resulted in Teddy Hall winning the Wine Magazine Chenin Blanc Challenge four times in the last five years (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005) and he won the 2001 Diners Club Winemaker of the year award. The Cape Winemakers Guild invited him to join their ranks in 2002 and at the 2003 Rendez-vous du Chenin he was the most successful Chenin producer with four wines out of the top 49 international wines selected."
Tempted? It is available to order now and if you are quick you can take advantage of our Wine of the Week special offer of a £1 a bottle discount.
Posted by Andrew Barrow on October 9th 2007 4:56pm. Leave a comment
Four camera phone snaps of a very enjoyable tasting of Tamar Bridge Wines. The range of wines presented by the European Sales Manager (whose name I embarrassingly forget).
Tamar Ridge is an interesting estate down Tasmania way - Sauvingon Blanc and Pinot Noir the specialities although the Gewürztraminer was of good quality too. The best wine on show was their Devil's Corner Sauvignon Blanc which, sadly, is no longer available in the UK (has proved that successful!).
The Pinot's on show were good and demonstrated the vintage conditions perfectly producing wines with quite high acidity and a certain savoury leanness. Now I loved these in a food-friendly way (thinking some nice lamb) but Mr C thought a little lacking in ripe fruit. We might just wait for the next vintage to be released (which will be the 2005's) before a final decision is made on stocking them.
Posted by Andrew Barrow on September 24th 2007 10:30am. Leave a comment
We have had a case of wine sitting in the corner of the Tasting Hut for several days. A case of Italian reds that raised some interest when it first arrived but soon became ‘part of the furniture’ and the daily office tasks took our attention.
With the arrival of the European Sales Manager though, the delightfully Italian (think dark, expressive, stylish) Elena – for it was her who had sent the samples – these wines had their moment of being centre stage.
While not actively looking to expand our Italian range, Mr C (who takes pride in having a nicely honed list) is equally open to new estates – especially those with little representation in the UK.
The estate, Tuenta Rocca, occupies an impressive hilltop position in the heart of Piemonte. A small, family run estate that offers a range of wines in small quantities, each deliciously described by Elena who patiently highlighted each bottles individual characteristics while answering our barrage of questions.
As with any range of wines some we were instantly impressed by, others myself and Mr C disagreed on, (too dry a finish or deliciously food friendly?), while one, we both concluded, was not for us (at once a difficult sell, expensive, and offering flavours we didn’t take too).
Are we going to list any of the wines? I hope so as they fit right in with my view of Surf4Wine – a small estate with little exposure in the UK and excellent quality. Not too expensive either. But ultimately the decision rests with the one who writes the cheques. Mr C did seem impressed, the eyes a-twinkle when suitably impressed with lingering flavours in the mouth and the tap-taping on the calculator returned results that were equally as favourable. Perhaps in the new year?
Posted by Andrew Barrow on August 22nd 2007 4:57pm. 1 comment
A splendid reception for the Penny's Hill, McLaren Vale Grenache.
Wishy Washy and thin? Not a chance - it's ripe and full through and through. From the slightly tarry, pepper-drenched blackfruit aroma through to the rich, smooth palate.
"Very Chateauneuf like - Grenache being one of the 13 grapes allowed in the French classic - but of course with a riper palate. Rich, elegant, wapping great alcohol though at 15% but very well balanced. Many reds from Australia come across as just too alcoholic, too rich and extracted, unbalanced in short. But this is as elegant as you could wish for."
Looks like Mr C has already marked this beaut down for our 'soon to launch' in'a cellar.
As we are always looking for quality and value, in addition to style and pure drinkability, a comparison between our Willunga Shiraz-Viognier and another version of this grape-pairing by Penny Hill was in order.
How do they compare?
The Willunga Shiraz-Viognier is a year older (2005 vintage) but about £1 cheaper. The aroma has a meaty-savoury edge - can't really detect any obvious Viognier influence here but the palate is ripe and full, with a lick of tannins on the finish.
The Red Dot from Penny's Hill is rounded, richer and riper. But with a more obvious higher alcohol. The aroma is more fruity and floral - the 5% Viognier in this blend has made a noticeable difference.
But I think the Willunga is more food friendly; the palate is not as rich but has a decent red-berry sharpness to the acidity which will be more welcoming to food.
Posted by Andrew Barrow on August 20th 2007 4:40pm. 4 comments
It's been sweet wine all the way in the tasting room so far this week - which shouldn't indicate any sort of plan to our weekly 'new lines' tasting, things just happen depending on samples received or the current topic of conversation.
There were several interesting wines, of which a few will certainly be added to our list. One that we won't be listing is the Quady Deviation.
This was a most peculiar wine. It is described as 'aromatised' using the Essensia Orange Muscat as a base and infusing it with Damiana and Scented Geranium.
Quady describes the additions as "a plant that has a very pleasant herbal character which is reputed to have aphrodisiac properties. Scented Geranium is said to be used in witchcraft where practitioners supposedly employ its hauntingly seductive aroma in "love potions". This combination takes dessert wines to an entirely new dimension."
We really didn't like it. Especially at over £15 for a 37.5cl bottle.
"On one hand they are trying to have lots of added things, a wine 'plus' 'plus' - but it didn't taste like a wine, it tasted like something that was trying hard to be something too funky. It failed because it didn't have a sense of terroir, balance and proportion. Too complicated, too contrived and really expensive for what it was. The question raised was "What did you do that for?"
Did they run out of ideas - ports, vermouths, stickies - the vermouth thing works; but the Deviation just doesn't. Essenica and Elysium, two other Quady wines we list, are stunningly superb and some of my favourite wines."
10:52am 12/05 Twitter coming of age: http://tinyurl.com/3nklu7. Story via BBC/Robert Scoble. I'm a news junkie and tech-lover, so nice overlap for me :)
9:07am 12/05 Andrew wants to break out the Bar-B-Q for supper tonight, Alison says Risotto with chicken from yesterday. 'Yes wife' is the correct reply!
9:06am 12/05 I could almost believe we are going to have a good Summer if this weather continues!
Andrew Chapman Fine Wines Ltd - Registered office: 264 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 7DY Registered in England. Company no. 5496317. VAT no. GB873 7934 72. You must be aged 18 or over to order.
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A new listing - de Morgenzon Chenin Blanc 2005. An utterly fabulous South African Chenin Blanc that we have been plotting to bring on board for over a year, and finally been able to!
We have had a case of wine sitting in the corner of the Tasting Hut for several days. A case of 
A splendid reception for the Penny's Hill, McLaren Vale Grenache.
It's been sweet wine all the way in the tasting room so far this week - which shouldn't indicate any sort of plan to our weekly 'new lines' tasting, things just happen depending on samples received or the current topic of conversation.
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