When you have been in the wine trade long enough, in my case 30 years, there are certain wines that you follow as benchmarks; a sort of palate calibration that you undergo every year (vintage) as an imperative to get a bearing and setting a course into an ocean of wines to be tasted.
2009 Villa Russiz Sauvignon – Collio, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
2010 Sugarloaf Ridge Sauvignon Blanc – Hobart, Tasmania
As we wing our way from Melbourne to Singapore the wine list on SQ228 has me corned into a sauvignon blanc… a Tinpot 2008 from Marlborough purported to be “atypical as the grapes are predominantly from Blind River in the Awatere Valley which is drier and less fertile than the main valley floor. The result is a lively wine with strong lemony character, bracing acidity, pronounced minerality and overall freshness”.
The Wandering Palate is heading to our Melbourne residence for the festive season and preparations for the Christmas day feast are already well in hand.
Priority of course is procuring the appropriate turkey, and I can tell you after enduring a commercial frozen turkey from the USA for the last three years here in Singapore, we are looking forward to a free-range, chemical-free, wholesome, flavoursome bird (one of the issues Singapore has yet to come to terms with) moreover, at a third of the price!
With onset of the southern hemisphere summer the mood in this half of the world is swinging towards fresh, crisp whites and rose.
The surge in popularity of rose is underpinned by the increasing number of genuine wines made in a drier style moreover, from dedicated vineyards and undergoing brief skin contact to achieve their colour, as opposed to just adding a bit of red. There are also more single grape styles being made, expressive of their varietal characteristics and region.
A hankering for the flavors of Chianti has Curtis Marsh planning a trip. In the meantime, he makes do in Wellington Street.
The best laid plans. Everything was set for the archetypal autumn holiday in Italy, two weeks in the heart of Tuscany luxuriating in the 18th-century Villa Pecille, in an idyllic vineyard panorama on the Chianti Azienda (estate) Fontodi, just south of the medieval village Panzano, halfway between Florence and Sienna.
Pieropan has shown just how great this white wine can be and what good value it is. Autumn is upon us and hopefully the last of the rains will give way to clear sunny days and pleasant evenings.
This is a time when evening meals and Sunday lunches of fish or prawns grilled on the barbecue and served with crisp salads are often enjoyed outdoors.
For most of us, the connection between warm weather and a chilled glass of white wine is purely a fundamental component of enjoying a particular wine that suits the mood.
A progressive balance of contemporary and traditional techniques have transformed the otherwise unyielding Nebbiolo grape.
For the uninitiated, the formidable Barolo is a full-bodied Italian red wine produced in the Piedmonte region of northwest Italy from the idiosyncratic and indigenous Nebbiolo grape.
Curtis Marsh shares why it’s impossible to make up his mind when it comes to a favourite wine.
Whenever I’m asked, “What is your favourite wine?” I reply, “The wine I haven’t tried yet”, emphasising that I gain the most pleasure in discovering new taste sensations.
The fact is: I have a wandering palate for food and wine, greatly influenced by my mood and by different cuisines, although inevitably, there are certain flavours, varieties and regions I enjoy more than others.
Curtis marsh reports on modern-day Barolo and Barbaresco where a progressive balance of contemporary and traditional techniques have transformed an otherwise unyielding style of red.
Like many of the Old World wine regions, there was an inherited resistance to change in Piedmont, with the old guard Barolo and Barbaresco winemakers obstinately adhering to time-honoured traditions and techniques. Indeed, Barolo was seemingly cemented in time with little variance from the winemaking methods introduced in the early 1800s by French oenologist Louis Oudert.
These tastings notes and further comment are an appendix to my Brunello di Montalcino article in the Hong Kong Standard Weekend Magazine, and based on recent visits to Montalcino, specifically the outstanding producer Conti Costanti.
There is also a separate account in ‘restaurants’ of my favourite family-run eatery in Montalcino, Osteria Al Giardino, indeed one our most enjoyable meals in Tuscany, in every respect; value, quality, ambience and service.
