Washington v. The Rest of the World

I've blogged about the excellent wines being made in Washington a few times now, so it was refreshing to attend a tasting that approached the region in a different way. The tasting was located at Sunset Magazine's new headquarters in Oakland, led by a panel of leading Washington winemakers, Bob Betz of Betz Family Wines, David Rosenthal of Chateau Sainte Michelle, and Greg Harrington of Gramercy Cellars. They spoke passionately and enthusiastically about Washington's wines, and the geographical, topographical, and climatic characteristics of the state which make it different from other regions.

What made this tasting particularly enlightening was the way it was structured, with three flights of wines each featuring one of Washington's major grape varieties. In each flight, the first of the four wines was a named wine from Washington acting as a template for the other wines. The other three were tasted blind, examples of the same grape variety to act as a comparison without prejudice. This was a great way of focusing on the characteristics of Washington wine, learning about other regions, while really making us think about why each wine tastes like it does.

Riesling

The best wines from Riesling are made with little interference in the winery, and it's all about the variety and the vineyard or region the grapes come from. I'm still not as excited about Washington's Riesling as some local winemakers are, so it was interesting to taste a couple of wines in comparison to Australia and Germany. The template was Eroica ($22; ✪✪✪✪), a collaboration made since 1999 between Chateau Sainte Michelle, by far the state's largest producer, and Ernst Loosen, one of the iconic winemakers of Germany. It's a pleasant, good-value, medium-dry wine with citrus and stone fruit aromas, but one that seems aimed more at local rather than international tastes.

The three wines tasted blind alongside it were around the same price. The wine from Australia, Yalumba's Pewsey Vale ($20; ✪✪✪✪), is a classic representation of Eden Valley, one often used in educational tastings to demonstrate the intense lime and dry mineral characteristics of Australia's world-class Riesling. The German Riesling was from Mosel, a Kabinett whose sweetness and weight made it feel more like a Spätlese: there's a combination of elegance and richness to the best German wines that no other Riesling-producing region can match. Drink Christoffel's Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett ($27; ✪✪✪✪✪) with spicy food, and have a tongue-twisting competition saying the name.

The other Riesling was an outlier: again from Washington, made by the dramatically named EFESTĒ ($20; ✪✪✪✪✪) and again from Evergreen Vineyard in Ancient Lakes AVA where the Eroica mainly comes from. It was off-dry with an intense texture, which made most people in the room mistake it for Alsace. The wine made me reassess Washington Riesling - that it can compete with, and be mistaken for, Rieslings from around the world, and at a very good price.

Syrah

Greg Harrington, an MS turned winemaker, described Syrah as a wine for Pinot Noir lovers with sophisticated palates. This brought out a chuckle, but he was making a serious point. He continued that there are Syrah producers who make the wines to be like Cabernet Sauvignon, and there are others who make it like Pinot Noir. He firmly places himself in the latter category - not least because the northern Rhône, geographically and in terms of climate, is so close to Burgundy.

One of the wines we tasted underlined his point, albeit in a roundabout way. Wind Gap are an eclectic producer from California; their Nellessen Vineyard Syrah ($42; ✪✪✪✪), which we tasted blind, was from a cooler area of Sonoma. Fermented in whole clusters it smelt very carbonic, that's to say bubblegum and strawberries. If I hadn't known it was Syrah, I would have guessed the wine to have been from Beaujolais, a region which has the same granite soils as the northern Rhône and a similar climate - and I've read old nineteenth-century textbooks that group Beaujolais and the northern Rhône together. It may be that we should be thinking about the connections between Syrah and Gamay, or the northern Rhône and Beaujolais, much more - even if it takes US producers to point out those connections.

The Rocks District

The template wine was called Lagniappe and made by Gramercy ($55; ✪✪✪✪) from Red Willow, one of Washington's first and still leading vineyards. Another of the blind wines, The Psycheledic by Sleight of Hand ($60; ✪✪✪✪), was also from Washington, from the recently-established AVA, The Rocks District of Milton-Freeman, one of the many Washington regions which excels in Syrah. The two wines highlighted the differences that come from a winemaker's philosophy as well as Washington's terroir: Gramercy's wine was noticeably restrained in comparison to the smoky, meaty qualities of the other wine.

The final wine was the 2014 Côte-Rôtie by Saint-Cosme ($65; ✪✪✪✪✪), a tannic, dry, subdued wine which reminded me of just how French French wine is, showing how expressively Syrah reflects where it comes from.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Willow Vineyard

I often find it hard to write anything interesting about Cabernet Sauvignon, but this was a refreshing line-up. The template was the 2013 Père de Famille from Betz Family Estate ($75; ✪✪✪✪✪), which showed just how well Cabernet works in Washington. The wine has the tannic structure expected of Cabernet, with the ripe black fruits that come in a fairly warm New World climate - a combination which summarises Washington red wine. Another of the blind wines was again from Washington (that was the one predictable aspect of the tasting). The 2014 Cabernet from Abeja, an established producer, tasted like it was from Coonawarra in Australia, minty and herbal ($52; ✪✪✪✪). Napa was featured as a comparison too, the 2012 from Forman was dusty and massively tannic ($115; ✪✪✪✪) - Washington wines are much more approachable when young. Finally, there was a wine from Margaux. It's not often I get to taste expensive Bordeaux, and I certainly wasn't expecting to do so at a Washington tasting. The best Bordeaux needs to be tasted with some age, and the 2009 from Château Rauzan-Ségla ($155; ✪✪✪✪✪✪) was evolving wonderfully, with mature leather aromas, but with fresh acidity and black fruits.

Can the best of Washington age as well as the best of Bordeaux and other established regions? Maybe that could be the subject for another tasting. 

Central Otago

Central Otago, due to its climate and inland location on the South Island, is different from the rest of New Zealand's wine areas. It's the most southerly wine region in the world, vineyards located beneath dramatic mountains on difficult, rocky soils. The wine is uniformly excellent, the climate and soils producing intense, concentrated wines that are only going to get better as the region matures.

One thing Central Otago does share with the rest of New Zealand's wine regions is that it's still very young, producers striving to learn what works and what doesn't. It's only thirty years old, and it's going to be fascinating to see how Central Otago develops. Its future will clearly be dominated by Pinot Noir, but other varieties, particularly white grapes, will help further understanding of this beautiful region.

climate 

New Zealand is surrounded by sea, 2,000km from Australia's east coast. The climate is maritime, rain hitting the islands from the ocean throughout the year. The one exception to this maritime climate is Central Otago, which, sheltered from the ocean by mountain ranges, is cool continental. In the summer, the days are hot, reaching as high as 40˚C, and the nights are cool, dropping below 10˚C, so there is intense ripening during the day slowed by the cool nights. Heat summation is similar to northern Chablis, yet Central Otago successfully ripens Pinot Noir. This is due to the intense UV rays coming from the sun, which intensifies ripening - the sun really does have a burning heat to it.

Central Otago regions

There are different climates within Central Otago, which has led to the informal classification of several sub-regions. Altitude is key, where both days and nights are cooler than lower down on the valley floor. The centre of Central Otago is a large valley surrounded by towering mountains, even topped with snow in the summer; this is the Cromwell Basin, which gradually rises at the southern end to the highest quality sub-region, Bannockburn. Here, the sun hits the north-facing slopes while wind rushes down from the mountains and through the valley to provide ventilation. Current plans to formally classify Central Otago have Bannockburn as the one stand-alone sub-region with its own geographical indication. Further north, Bendigo is warmer and the wines are ripe and rich, while to the east Gibbston Valley is higher up and produces thinner, more acidic wines. Many producers blend from the different sub-regions to make balanced wines that express the region as a whole, but the one area that stands out on its own is Bannockburn.

history 

The first commercial wine released in Central Otago was by Gibbston Valley Winery in 1987. There were vines planted in the 1860s, when the region was subject to a huge gold rush, remnants of which are scattered throughout Central Otago, not least in Bannockburn where barren hillsides stand next to recently planted vineyards. Once the gold rush faded, Central Otago became a quiet region populated by shepherds and orchard farmers. Cherries are still a big industry, but the region has been transformed in the last thirty years by wine. There are now well over a hundred producers and, despite the youth of the industry, quality is consistently high. As vines get older, that quality is only going to increase.

Pinot Noir vines at Peregrine winery

However, like the rest of New Zealand, the rush to make wine from the 1980s onwards led to compromises. New Zealand has a strict quarantine policy, which means that any plant matter must spend three years under quarantine before being allowed into the country. The downside to the strict import conditions is that the rapid expansion of the industry in the last twenty years meant that there weren't enough rootstocks available to graft vines on to and new plantings couldn't keep up. Instead, growers simply planted ungrafted vines. Phylloxera as a result is slowly spreading, which means necessary replanting of those young vines. Although it's under control, this is something that may slow the development of New Zealand wine as a whole, Central Otago included.

pinot noir 

Cornish Point vineyard, owned by Felton Road

75% of plantings in Central Otago are of Pinot Noir, the only black grape variety that will reliably ripen there. The hot days get the grapes ripe, while the cool nights preserve acidity and allow the aromatics to slowly develop. The wines vary from sub-region to sub-region, but there is a deep, rich intensity to them, and a deep colour which comes from the skins building up resistance to the UV rays. In a short time, these have come to be known as some of the finest Pinot Noirs in the world. They're certainly very good, but I feel at the moment that we're tasting potential rather than the definite finished result. As the vines age and producers understand site selection better, the wines will continue to improve: producers will worry less about ripe fruit aromas and concentrate more on making Pinot Noir which are compelling expressions of place. That's Central Otago: the youth of its vines as well as its producers leads to rich, fruity wines that will become more complex and intense as the region ages.

recommended producers: Felton Road, Burn Cottage, Bannock Brae

pinot gris 

The search across New Zealand has been to find a back-up to Sauvignon Blanc, in case worldwide interest in those wines finally comes to a halt. Many producers have focused on Pinot Gris, an aromatic grape that's closely related to Pinot Noir and not planted that widely across the world. Styles have varied in New Zealand, from dry and insipid to rich and bloated, which hasn't helped spread the wines' popularity. Producers have finally settled on a consistent, recognisable style: off-dry (the slight sweetness offsets the tannins of the grape), aromatic, but not too rich. In Central Otago, the grape accounts for 15% of plantings, and is held up as the region's white equivalent to Pinot Noir. The wines are good, food-friendly, with a refreshing acidity not always found with Pinot Gris. But I do feel that Central Otago producers made a mistake when they chose Pinot Gris rather than Chardonnay as the white equivalent to Pinot Noir. Now, many are having to consider whether to replant to Chardonnay or to stick to Pinot Gris.

recommended producers: Misha's Vineyard

riesling 

Rippon Vineyard, Lake Wanaka

Central Otago has, with a collective purpose among producers, focused on aromatic white grapes to promote the region. Pinot Gris is the accessible wine, while Riesling is grown for quality and small production. Just 3% of plantings are of Riesling, a variety that's always fashionable among wine geeks like me but difficult to sell. Two producers, Felton Road and Misha's Vineyard, convincingly persuaded me that Central Otago has, in its schist soils and cool continental climate, much in common with Mosel in Germany. Like Mosel, the best wines have some sweetness to them to counterbalance the naturally high acidity that comes with the cool climate. Despite being so food friendly, such wines are not universally fashionable so many producers make dry Rieslings whose acidity I found just too tart - Central Otago's climate really is that cool.

recommended producers: Felton Road, Misha's Vineyard

chardonnay 

The elephant in the room is Chardonnay. I am loathe to suggest that yet another region concentrate on producing Chardonnay, but this, besides Pinot Noir, is what Central Otago is best at. The wines have a refreshing, crisp acidity, which allows malolactic fermentation, and a steely, stony texture. They taste exactly how the best Chardonnays should. Yet, only 3% of plantings are to Chardonnay. This is because when many of the current plantings were made twenty years ago, Chardonnay was an unfashionable grape and Pinot Gris was planted instead as an alternative. Now, producers have to decide whether to replant to Chardonnay or to stick to the aromatic varieties they already have. Central Otago is a young region: mistakes are likely to be made before figuring out what works best.

recommended producers: Felton Road, Peregrine

Oregon: Confused but not Dazed

When I recently visited Jim Clendenen of Santa Barbara's Au Bon Climat, he described Oregon as the most confused place on the planet. As a fellow Pinot Noir (and Chardonnay) producer, he found it hard to understand why so many producers were searching out difficult sites that result in low yields and, consequently, high-priced wine. The emphasis on difficult sites may produce individual wines with distinct character, but it makes it almost impossible for producers to run a commercially successful business, at least on a scale that allows their wines to be known out of the state.

Two years previously, I had visited Willamette Valley - Oregon's most important wine-producing area - and I understood what Clendenen meant. Many wineries were making expensive, single-vineyard Pinot Noirs, all of which were very good but at prices which were difficult to justify. I thought that Oregon producers needed to diversify the range of their wines to make them both more affordable and engaging. This week I attended a tasting of Oregon's wines in San Francisco called Pinot in the City, and I was interested to see just how Oregon had progressed in explaining itself to the outside world.

a little history

Oregon's winemaking history is young, beginning in the 1960s. The major protagonist in its development was David Lett, who died in 2008. He studied at UC Davis and decided, against his professors' advice, that Oregon was the best place to plant his favoured Alsace and Burgundy varieties. He planted Pinot Noir in the Dundee Hills - now the prime AVA for the grape - in 1965, establishing Eyrie Vineyards, still Oregon's best and most distinctive producer.

Sometime later, in 1979, his 1975 Pinot drew attention at a Paris tasting: Robert Drouhin of Burgundy was so impressed that he entered the same wine into a more formal tasting in Beaune the next year, where it came second only to Drouhin's own Burgundy red. Oregon, an obscure, Pacific state, was all of a sudden on the international map for Pinot Noir. Robert Drouhin took his admiration further, encouraging his daughter, Véronique, to work in Oregon after completing her oenology degree in Dijon in 1984. Three years later, Domaine Drouhin of Oregon was established with Véronique as the winemaker. That French backing further cemented Oregon’s reputation.

The last few years have seen an astonishing growth in the number of producers, including those from elsewhere in the US and France. Despite the growing industry, the state’s wineries remain very family-orientated: both a virtue and a vice.

Domaine Drouhin

Pinot Noir

As a cool-climate grape, Pinot Noir is not an obvious fit for the USA. California’s Pinots were until recently fruity, oaky, made like a light-coloured Cabernet, which is one of the reasons why David Lett and others decided Oregon was a better fit for the grape. The cool, and often wet climate certainly suits Pinot Noir, and it now dominates plantings. Of all the New World Pinot Noir regions, Oregon is the one that produces wines most similar to Burgundy: high acidity, lightly ripe red fruits, with earthy game flavours even in the younger wines. However, I am not sure that Oregon producers have the confidence to allow the grape to speak for itself: many of the wines I tasted at Pinot in the City were aged in 40% new French oak. In some cases, this use of oak was well integrated, but in many the oak was too obvious, resulting in over-aggressive, spicy flavours. Oregon’s coolness and its variety of soils don’t necessarily need that much intervention.

Nevertheless, I drew two positive conclusions from the tasting. The quality of the Pinot Noirs was consistently high, even if too much oak was being used. Moreover, although Oregon is a young wine region, enough producers go back long enough to demonstrate the longstanding quality and substance of the state's Pinots. I tasted several library wines, dating back to the 1990s (including a giant 1994 Methusalem). The spicy game I encountered in the younger wines had matured into a measured, animal earthiness, with both red and black fruits fresh enough to make the wines still immediate and appealing. It may well be that Oregon's Pinots are, rather like Burgundy's, best laid down than drunk young.

Pinot Noir at Adelsheim (2013)

other grapes

Nearly two-thirds of Oregon's grapes are Pinot Noir. No other major wine region has such a dependency on one variety - only New Zealand with its Sauvignon Blanc comes close. Where there's Pinot, there should be Chardonnay, but Oregon has a chequered history with the grape. Chardonnay clones more suited to California were initially planted so that most producers became convinced that the grape could not succeed there. One exception to this was David Lett, who planted his own cuttings taken from European vines planted in the 1930s: Eyrie's Chardonnays are still some of the best, ageworthy, and unique white wines from anywhere in the USA.

In the early 1990s, the French came up with an answer for Oregon's Chardonnay issue: clones of the grape taken from Burgundy, popularly called Dijon Clones, which were much more suitable to Oregon's climate. Scarred by their experience with Chardonnay, too few producers take advantage of these clones, but those that do make exceptional Chardonnays, with crisp, dry acidity and an almost raw texture. I believe that Chardonnay offers an alternative future for Oregon but only a handful of producers seem to dare to share that vision. I don't like to encourage yet more wines from such a ubiquitous grape, but Oregon has the potential to make Chardonnays that can compete with the world's best. Adelsheim, one of Oregon’s older producers, Domaine Drouhin, and Bergström are wineries that demonstrate the potential in the state.

I tasted more white wines than I was expecting at Pinot in the City. Many of them were Alsace grapes, with Chenin Blanc, Grüner Veltliner, and Viognier thrown in. Although producers are focusing on cool-climate grapes, for such a young region there needs to be a focus on one or two white grapes which sum up the state. With Pinot Noir, that’s how Oregon has come to be known around the world. Chardonnay fits the bill as a recognisable white grape that consumers can identify with, but so does Riesling. This is a grape that the US struggles with, but Oregon's cool, long growing season should be ideal for the grape, making the state's stand out from the rest of the country. At Pinot in the City, only one producer brought a Riesling; another, Chehalem, which makes excellent examples, brought a Grüner Veltliner instead.

There is also another side to Oregon that is rarely tasted outside the state. Cool, wet Columbia Gorge is an AVA shared with Washington, not that far from Portland but further inland - and one that Washington winemakers seem to use and understand better than Oregon’s. As Oregon reaches further from the ocean it becomes desert-like, sharing more AVAs with Washington (particularly Walla Walla and The Rocks District, which is entirely within Oregon but also entirely within Walla Walla, one of Washington’s best-known AVAs) and Idaho. To the south of the Willamette Valley, towards the dry heat of California, are more wine-producing areas, where Syrah and Spanish grapes like Tempranillo and Albariño are of interest. These AVAs are little known outside the state, and remain relatively underdeveloped.

the future

It's both perverse and arrogant of me to predict the future of the wines of a state I haven't visited in two years, or to offer advice. But Oregon is such a distinctive state, producing wines like nowhere else in the USA, that it could offer a more vibrant, varied, and challenging selection of wines than it currently does. My advice, for what it's worth, is:

• use less new oak for Pinot Noir
• make more good-value, friendly, yet still quality Pinot Noir
• concentrate more on Chardonnay
• experiment with Riesling for further variation
• for the time being, forget all other white grapes, especially Pinots Gris and Blanc
• start marketing the wines properly
• what about the rest of Oregon? Washington seems to understand its shared AVAs more, while the south of Oregon is overlooked. Get those wines into the market, as they may represent better value and give more variety.

Oregon needs to get over its Pinot Noir obsession, even though it produces such good, international quality versions of the grape. It needs to back up those wines with variety and choice. Rather than making wines for their own pleasure, Oregon needs to think about a much wider audience.

tasting highlights

Adelsheim Caitlin's Reserve Chardonnay 2013 ($45) ✪✪✪✪✪
Belle Pente Estate Reserve Pinot Noir 2011 ($48) ✪✪✪✪✪ and 2004 ✪✪✪✪✪
Bergström Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013 ($85) ✪✪✪✪✪
Chehalem Reserve Pinot Noir 1994 (magnum) ✪✪✪✪
Domaine Drouhin Arthur Chardonnay 2013 ($35) ✪✪✪✪
Erath Pommard Clone Prince Hill Vineyard 2009 ✪✪✪✪✪
Yamhill Valley Vineyards Reserve Pinot Noir 1994 (Methusalem) ✪✪✪✪

Savage Grace

On my last trip to Washington in March, I visited many of the state's AVAs and tasted many great wines, with the further good fortune of meeting the makers of those wines. One winemaker in particular stood out, for his wines seemed both typical and atypical of Washington. The wines of Savage Grace have astonishingly high acidity - a characteristic I associate with the cool nights of Washington - but their fruit profile is much more restrained and reserved than much of the other wine I've tasted from the state. In March, I tasted his Sauvignon Blanc - which has an acidity I've rarely tasted outside the Loire Valley - Chardonnay, and Cabernet Franc - the latter two wines being among the highlights of the trip. So when last weekend I returned to Seattle to visit my good friend Matt Hemeyer of @drinkaddition, I made sure that I visited winemaker Michael Savage in his tasting room in Woodinville.

Woodinville

With hazy smoke drifting from Washington's forest fires on a warm Saturday afternoon, the atmosphere was warm and oppressive. I was also slightly hungover, the clanging in my head augmented by an outdoor pub-punk-metal band playing a block away from Woodinville's tasting rooms. These rooms are on an industrial estate, with dozens and dozens of sandwich boards pointing hopefully from the car park to a series of anonymous units. In the car park, there was a tour bus and a limousine, out of which staggered a high-heeled bachelorette party, as if they'd taken a very bad wrong turn from Napa. We wandered through the estate looking for a sandwich board to point us in the right direction, until we finally found Savage Grace, the estate's very last tasting room.

the tasting room experience

I really wasn't expecting to find Michael Savage, quiet and diffident, in the middle of an industrial estate visited by tour buses and bachelorette parties. Even though he's at the end of the estate, one of each came in while we were there, and he dealt with them nervously but efficiently. The tasting room is small, an industrial unit very tastefully converted into an intimate, stylish area.

Woodinville serves as a base for many wineries who source their grapes from distant, desolate eastern Washington. Like many other industrial tasting rooms, the wine is made on site, a tiny 'cellar' right next to the tasting experience. Michael took us into the cellar to show us the Sauvignon Blanc that had just been picked two days previously. He was ready to pour cultivated yeast into the tank - he described how he had experimented with native yeasts for Sauvignon Blanc and believed it made an inferior wine - and gave my friend Matt the opportunity to do it for himself. We all await with baited breath to see how the 2015 Sauvignon turns out: Michael thinks it will be bottled in February.

Michael Savage

Nervous, shy, and awkward, Michael Savage is not dissimilar to a quieter Woody Allen. Every question is received with a long pause as he considers the several different answers he could give. The answer he eventually decides to share is not likely to be the one expected, and it can take a while to follow his train of thought. Each answer takes a certain direction, however: his very particular take on how he thinks wine should be made and how he makes it.

Acidity is absolutely important. He picks his grapes earlier than anyone else does in the same vineyard, resulting not only in high acidity but wines with a very subtle, less fruity nature. He also chooses vineyards and growing regions that are cool, particularly Columbia Gorge, a wet AVA that straddles Washington and Oregon. The wines are generally released very young, giving the wines a raw just out of the barrel feel. This gives consumers the rare chance to taste quality, young wine near the beginning of its life. Although Michael is only into his fifth vintage with Savage Grace, the acidity and complexity of the wines offer definite ageing potential. Michael says he doesn't care when people drink his wines, though, just as long as they drink them.

the wines

just-picked Sauvignon Blanc

Having tasted eleven of his wines over the weekend, I just want to highlight some of my favourites.

Grüner Veltliner 2014 ($20)

Grüner Veltliner is a late-ripening grape with naturally high acidity (the grapes were picked in early and then late October), not always suited to the warmer climates of the US. Like many of the Savage Grace wines, the grapes come from Columbia Gorge's Underwood vineyard, the cool climate allowing a slow ripening of the grapes. This Grüner has typically floral and spicy notes of jasmine, ginger, and white pepper, with lightly tropical fruits. ✪✪✪✪✪

Chardonnay 2013 ($30)

I have written about this wine before, and I still think it's an exceptional example of a cool-climate Chardonnay not often found in the US. It's again from Columbia Gorge, though from Celilo vineyard, considered one of Washington's finest for Chardonnay. Grapes picked from the higher part of the vineyard give the wine its bracing acidity and are aged in tank, while those from the lower part are picked earlier, are aged in neutral barrel, and lend the wine its lightly spicy, cinnamon, and lime flavours. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Cabernet Franc 2014 ($26)

Another wine I have written about before, and the one that I think is truly outstanding. To taste a red wine this young yet complex is very rare, with firm tannins, red fruits, and green, padrone pepper, rhubarb aromas. Michael told me that he accidentally aged a couple of the bottles in the warm back of his car for a couple of months. On opening the bottles, the wines tasted just as good but as if they were a year older, convincing him that this Cabernet Franc has great ageing potential. I suggested he should make a Madeira out of the grape in the future. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

From Red Willow vineyard - one of Washington's greatest - this Cabernet has only just been bottled. It may seem a surprise that Michael should be making wine from a grape as bold as Cabernet, but the wine is quite different from most. Despite being so young, there are gamey, animal aromas, with intense black fruits and gripping but not dominant tannins. This is a restrained, yet intense Cabernet Sauvignon that's difficult to classify - its experimental nature is emphasised further as it's made from a new clone planted in the vineyard. ✪✪✪✪✪

Riesling 2013

The Seattle Times named this Riesling as the best Washington white of the year, and it's sadly already sold out. Michael described the wine as having a magical quality that he couldn't define. The grapes hung longer than they normally do, but still had a higher than usual acidity which is able to balance the residual sugar in the wine (29g/L). There's a wonderful complexity, with smoke, petrol, mineral aromas, together with lemon, lime, and orange blossom, given further depth by a honeyed sweetness. Once again, the grapes are from Underwood vineyard, where late ripening can cause issues: the terraces are so steep that the seventy-something vineyard owner can't access them on his tractor come wet November. He even once overturned the tractor trying to do so. Even Michael Savage's search for perfectionism falls short of asking the grower to do that again. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Riesling

One of my tutors on the WSET Level 3 summarised students' appreciation of Riesling: "When you study Level 1, you just don't get Riesling. At Level 2, you realise it's important but you don't understand why. By Level 3, you begin to appreciate it more but still don't quite understand why everyone goes on about it. It's only when you study the Diploma that you realise it produces the greatest white wines of the world." Likewise, the Oxford Companion to Wine describes Alsace Riesling as "one of the most difficult varieties for beginners, but one of the most rewarding wines for connoisseurs."

This may seem a snobby, off-putting way of viewing wine - 'you can only appreciate it if you know what you're talking about' - but Riesling does not have the broad appeal of Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay. Its flavours are varied and complex, it develops difficult petrol-like aromas as it matures, it's a demanding grape at its best in cool-climate areas, and it's difficult to grow well and economically. Riesling is not so much a drink for connossieurs, but it is one for those - both winemakers and drinkers - willing to dedicate some time and effort to it.

It's also suffered from the whims of fashion. The popularity of Blue Nun and other low-quality German wines in the 1970s and 80s caused the reputation of both German wine and Riesling to fall, even though many of those wines were made from Müller-Thurgau. It's taken a very different style of Riesling from Australia to help regain the grape's reputation.

where it's grown

Riesling's heartland is in the cool areas of Germany around the great Rhine and Mosel rivers. The vines grow on slopes that steeply rise from the river on difficult soils. Particularly in the cool climate of the Mosel, Riesling has to work incredibly hard, which is why the wines are so austere with high acidity. Riesling is also one of the 'noble' grapes in neighbouring Alsace, the only area of France where the grape is able to be grown. The wines are lightly floral when young, gaining a gunflint complexity as they mature.

Despite Australia's reputation as a blisteringly hot country making big, fruity wines, it has gained standing for its Rieslings. In the high altitude areas of Clare Valley and Eden Valley near Adelaide, the wines are fruitier (zesty limes) and more giving than their Alsatian and German counterparts. It is these bone-dry Rieslings, with characteristically high acidity, which have turned drinkers back on to the grape.

styles

The great Rieslings of Germany are known for their sweetness. The regulations and terminology of German winemaking are convoluted and labyrinthine, and it can be difficult to know what level of sweetness to expect. However, the lower the alcohol (and it can be as low as 7-8%), the sweeter the wine. As sweet German wines have fallen out of fashion, more producers are making dry Rieslings (labelled "Trocken") to follow the popularity of Australian wines. Alsace, on the other hand, has always made bone-dry Riesling.

wines

I conducted a blind tasting of three Rieslings, from the Mosel, Alsace, and Napa, an area certainly not known for its Riesling.

Trefethen Dry Riesling 2013 ($25)

The US in general has yet to master Riesling. It is the second most-planted white grape in Washington State, where Chateau Ste Michelle is the world's biggest producer of Riesling, but the wines lack depth and complexity. Oregon, cool and rainy, ought to have the potential to produce interesting Riesling, but producers stick to Pinot Noir - only 718 acres of the grape are planted (compared to over 15,000 acres of Pinot Noir). If you can, try Chehalem's Rieslings. Finger Lakes in New York is cool enough for Riesling, although the wines are still too expensive for what they are. A good example of Finger Lakes Riesling is the Tierce Dry Riesling, made by three of the area's top producers.

California, meanwhile, is just too hot and sunny, but there are a small band of producers that battle through regardless. The cool hills of Santa Rita offer potential for the grape, but only a handful of producers dare tackle it in Napa and Sonoma; in my tastings, I've only encountered Riesling from three producers - Scribe, Chateau Montelena, and Trefethen. In The Wines of the Napa Valley, Larry Walker describes Trefethen's Riesling as "consistently at the head of the class for California," although that's a very small class. Dry, with green apples and a lemon and lime zest, the wine has a nice acidity and the characteristics of Riesling. It lacks complexity, however, its flavours pleasing but somewhat one-dimensional, demonstrating the difficulties winemakers in California have in making truly memorable wine from the grape.

S. A. Prüm Graacher Domprost Estate Bottled 2009 ($31)

From a famous vineyard on the steep slate slopes of the Middle Mosel, this is a superb example of Riesling at its most complex, although not quite as sweet as the classic style of Mosel wine. A wet, farmyard nose with orange peel and apricots, spicy butterscotch, and a whiff of petrol, the wine is maturing nicely at five years of age. Despite that age, the acidity on the palate still gives the wine plenty of structure. The fruits on the palate are a little fresher and more citrus-based than the nose, suggesting that the wine has a few years left yet, and the long finish has a slightly sweet, cinnamon, and white pepper feel. An outstanding wine at an astonishing price, from San Francisco's Ferry Plaza Wine Merchants.

Domaine Ostertag Heissenberg Alsace AOC Riesling 2011 ($36)

Ostertag are one of my favourite producers. Biodynamic, the wines are of a guaranteed quality but also individuality. Slightly younger than its German counterpart but from rich, mineral soils, this Riesling still has a developing, petrol nose with strong orange-citrus flavours. Floral too, with a dry, spicy finish. The rich flavours of the wine make it an ideal accompaniment to an oily, acidic dish such as salmon. As good a wine as this is, however, it lacks the long complexity of the Mosel.

 

No surprises that the Napa Riesling could not compete with Alsace or the Mosel. I was surprised, however, by how much quality was packed into the latter wine at the $30 mark. The Mosel, with its steep slopes and small vineyards, is a difficult area in which to make quality wine, yet this wine was a complex, sophisticated wine at a very reasonable price. Proof that the best wines of Germany are not always at an off-putting price and evidence of the quality German wine often reaches.

Washington State

On a very wet afternoon, I visited three wineries in Woodinville, an area north west of Seattle where some of Washington state's major producers are based. As the cold, wet weather in mid-July suggested, this is not vine-growing country; instead, producers buy grapes from eastern Washington and make the wine closer to the crowds of drinkers of Seattle.

where?

The contrast between Seattle and eastern Washington could not be greater. Seattle is a green, hilly city surrounded by mountains and water, with active volcanoes just 90 miles away. Average rainfall is 45-50 inches a year, meaning that serious viticulture is all but impossible. East of Seattle are the Cascade mountains, a bleak, rocky range which break up the rain from the Pacific and create a very different environment beyond the mountains. Eastern Washington is arid, hot, and almost desert like, with rainfall as little as 4-8 inches a year.

Washington's wine industry has expanded hugely over the last twenty years; from 12 wineries in 1980 to 60 ten years later to over 700 today. It's now the second largest wine-producing state in the US, although California produces over 90% of the country's wine. There are eleven, and arguably too many, AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) for such a young wine region: the entire wine area is Colombia Valley AVA, within which the most important AVAs are Yakima Valley and Walla Walla Valley.

grapes

Washington produces wine from a huge variety of grapes, which is both to its advantage and disadvantage. Unlike Oregon and its Pinot Noir, Washington lacks a signature grape which consumers can identify the state with; at the same time, this allows winemakers a freer range of possibilities.

During the 1990s, Washington was most strongly associated with Merlot. In June 1991, the Washington Wine Commission met to discuss how best to promote the state's growing wine industry. They briefly discussed Cabernet Sauvignon before realising the futility of competing with Napa Valley, settling on Merlot, a grape little planted and largely unknown in the States at that time. Coincidentally, in November 1991 60 Minutes broadcast a documentary, "The French Paradox," which claimed that drinking red wine had health benefits. This led to the fashion for Merlot, which Washington was well positioned to take advantage of.

Despite its notorious fall from grace, Merlot is still the third most sold varietal wine in the US and Washington would arguably do well to reclaim its status as the best state by far for the grape, giving the state a stronger identity than it currently has. Washington Merlot at its best has ripe, rich red and black fruits, with a high acidity, and a coffee toastiness from the use of new oak.

The other black grapes that thrive in Washington are Cabernet Sauvignon and, increasingly, Syrah; there is great potential for Sangiovese and Tempranillo, though the American market remains addicted to French varieties. The most planted grape in the state, perhaps surprisingly for such a warm climate, is Riesling: astonishingly, Chateau Ste. Michelle is the largest producer of Riesling in the world (and that doesn't include the other brands it owns). Washington Riesling is made in a whole variety of styles of sweetness, but is recognisable for its stone and tropical fruits. Chardonnays are beginning to become less oaky and more balanced, while Washington's best whites are perhaps from less fashionable Sauvignon Blanc-Sémillon blends.

Tempranillo in véraison

wineries

Betz Family Winery

Bob Betz worked for Chateau Ste. Michelle from 1974, until establishing his own winery in the late 1990s. In the meantime, he became one of the most important exponents of Washington wine, both in promoting the wine outside the state and in defining the most suitable areas for planting. He's now the only Master of Wine in the US actually making wine. At 5,000 cases a year, production is small and focused on high-end Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

My visit focused on two vintages from two single-vineyard Syrahs, La Serenne from Boushey vineyard in Yakima and La Côte Rousse from Ciel du Cheval in Red Mountain. La Serenne 2010 was subtle and elegant, with juicy blackberries, light pepper, and a slightly dusty finish: just beginning to open up now, but with lots of ageing potential still. The 2012, which will be released in September, was too young but still indicative of the warmer vintage - earthier, thornier, with darker fruits. La Côte Rousse is a richer, warmer wine, from a hotter, sandier vineyard (though just 20 miles away). The 2010 was far more pungent than La Serenne, its smokiness almost peaty, with tobacco leaves, ripe blackcurrants, and sweet spices. Again, the 2012 is a little too young, but showing an additional, engaging floral character.

Delille Cellars

Just a four minute drive away are Delille Cellars, established in 1992. Many of their grapes are sourced from Red Mountain AVA, particularly from Ciel du Cheval and Grand Ciel vineyards, the latter established by the winery in 2001. Highlights included the Ciel du Cheval 2013 Roussanne, a complex yet immediate and refreshing wine - nutty and yeasty, with stone and tropical fruits. This is part of the "Doyenne" series, focusing on Rhône style wines, but it's Bordeaux blends the winery specialises in. The D2, named for the road which goes through the Médoc in Bordeaux, is their best-selling wine and is a good example of a Merlot-based wine from Washington, with black fruits, cedar, and a nice spicy finish. The flagship wine is the Cabernet Sauvignon dominated Harrison Hill from Snipes Mountain AVA. Complex, maturing flavours of tar and leather, smoke, black tea, and figs, as well as cassis and brambles, though with a subdued finish. A very good wine, but at a hefty $85. My favourite wine, though, was a white, the Chaleur Estate 2013 - a blend of 65% Sauvignon Blanc and 35% Sémillon. Cellared in the last three White House administrations, this is a complex wine that shows all the best of Bordeaux blends - oaky and creamy, smoky and toasty, with lemon, spices, and brioche, and a barnyard feel.

Brian Carter Cellars

Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to meet winemaker Brian Carter, described to me as "the librarian of Washington wine," and didn't get the full story to his winemaking philosophy. All of his wines are blends, often quite unusual, taking advantage of the number of varieties grown in Washington, as well as growers' and winemakers' increased understanding of how to get the best out of the different varieties.

I did get to taste six of his wines. Oriana is a unique blend of Viognier (53%), Roussanne (32%), and Riesling (15%), which was aromatic, nutty, with a spicy finish. Together with the peach and nectarine aromas, this was a wine expressing, yet integrating, all three of the varieties. Tuttorosso 2009 is a super Tuscan blend, which seems to be how Sangiovese is most used in Washington. I was looking forward to this, but found it a little simple with smoky red cherries and light spices. The most interesting was the Corrida, a blend, which I can only assume is unique, of Tempranillo (62%), Graciano (12%), Merlot (11%), Cabernet Sauvignon (9%), and Garnacha (6%). Evocative of grilled sausages, with a peppery finish and dry tannins, this is a wine definitely doing its own thing, and no Rioja clone.

These are just three of Washington's 700+ wineries, but which give a good indication of the range and style of the state's wines. I hope to be back before long to taste more, but for now I'm off to California to explore the Golden State.

World Cup of Wine Final

The World Cup was contested by two heavyweights, both in terms of football and wine. Argentina contested the first World Cup Final in 1930 and have won the competition twice, while Germany were appearing in their eighth final. It seemed only right, then, that two high-quality wines were pitted against one another.

Germany v Argentina

Germany has been making wine since vines were introduced by the Romans in the third century and the arrival of Christianity saw the craft of winemaking continued by Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries. Modern viticulture began in the eighteenth century, after a century of war had ravaged the landscape and the economy. It was during this century that Riesling became the dominant grape on the steep slopes of the rivers Rhine and Mosel, and many of the villages we still associate with Riesling gained their reputation from that time.

The great German Rieslings are identified by their sweetness, a feature which originates from the late picking of rotting grapes in cool October. It was in the eighteenth century that the current classifications of Auslese and Spätlese were introduced; improved selection of healthy and rotten grapes led to the further classifications of Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese in the nineteenth century, followed by the Eiswein category for grapes picked when frozen.

German wine labels, using terms developed centuries ago, are incredibly confusing. In general, if you see these terms, then they will have the following characteristics.

Trocken	a dry wine; grapes picked as normal during harvest
Kabinett	dry to medium sweet; light in style, with the sweeter wines having very low alcohol (8%). The term comes from the traditional use of the English word "cabinet" for quality wines.
Spätlese	dry to medium sweet; the grapes are picked at the end of the harvest when they are beginning to rot, increasing the level of residual sugar. A dry Spätlese can be particularly rich in style.
Auslese	dry to medium sweet; the grapes are selected for their amount of rot. More likely to have some sweetness, but a dry Auslese will have high alcohol.
Beerenauslese	sweet; overripe grapes are individually picked to create a rich, golden wine
Trockenbeerenauslese	lusciously sweet; the grapes picked are shrivelled by noble rot, producing a golden-orange wine. The painstaking selection of the grapes, as well as the quality of the wines, means that these are some of the most expensive wines in the world.
Eiswein	lusciously sweet; the grapes are picked in the middle of the night when the grapes are frozen and the temperature must be below -8°C.

In contrast, the development of modern German football is relatively recent. Its amateur system was only disbanded in the 1960s, giving way to the current, professional Bundesliga. The unexpected 1954 World Cup victory, only the country's second appearance at the tournament, was the moment when West Germany felt able to move on from the Second World War and see itself as a nation again. Since then, the national team has become one of the dominant forces of international football, winning the World Cup again in 1974 and 90 and reaching the final in 1966, 82, 86, and 2002.

the German commentator was famously quite excited by the 1954 winning goal

Clemens Busch Rothenpfad 2011 (c. £50)

the steep slopes of Pündericher Marienburg

The Mosel, a river that winds from Koblenz in western Germany into Luxembourg and France, is one of the most difficult areas in the world to grow vines. It's a cool climate, the vineyards are on steeply sloped terraces rising from the river, the grapes have to be picked by hand, and the soil is rocky - all this means, however, that the vines have to work hard to flower and the harder a vine works the greater the wine.

Clemens Busch is a small producer, holding just 13ha, who makes working the land on the Mosel even harder by only farming biodynamically (for instance, he climbs the slopes throughout the growing season to spray herbal tea on the vines). Most of his land is in the Pündericher Marienburg vineyard, which he divides into five different patches to mark the different soils which will influence the finished wines in individual ways.

Rothenpfad, meaning "red path," is one of those patches, just over a hectare in size. It had fallen into neglect, but Busch replanted it as well as maintaining seventy-year-old vines still living. The soils are red slate, which gives the wine delicate spicy flavours. The wine is a beautiful, expressive Riesling, but because it comes from a small patch of land on which the vines have had to work very hard, it's a difficult, particular wine. I imagine it may take a few years for this wine to express fully its dry, mineral, spice aromas and lose some of its intense concentration, but it will be well worth the wait.

Argentina: Argentinian wine has been shaped by colonialism and immigration: vines planted by Jesuit missionaries in the 1500s and modernised techniques introduced by Italian immigrants in the nineteenth century. The Jesuits established vineyards at the foothills of the Andes, where the Argentinian wine industry is still centred. The Andes are key for two reasons: water flows down from the snow-capped mountains to irrigate the vineyards and altitude allows a much longer ripening season which the area's heat would otherwise prevent.  

Despite this long history, it's only the last twenty years which have seen the production of quality wine; up until that point, wine was made in large quantities for local consumption. The radical shift in focus by confident, ambitious producers has seen Argentina become the seventh-largest exporter of wine in the world, bolstered mainly by Malbec. There is still a lot for the wine industry to discover about itself, however, such as expanding production to the cooler south to enable a greater variety of wine the country produces.

In contrast, Argentinian football has had a rich history right from the beginning. The country played its first international fixture in 1901, competed in the first South American Championship in 1916, and reached the first World Cup Final in 1930. One of the first great international stars was the late Alfredo di Stefano, subject of a political tug-of-war between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the 1950s, which led to the clubs agreeing to play him alternate seasons (it didn't happen - Real Madrid got him the first season, he initially struggled to fit in, and Barcelona gave up their rights to his contract).

In English eyes, at least, Argentinian football has always had an edge of venom and controversy: the "animals" of 1966, the alleged match-fixing under the generals in 1978, the "hand of God" of 1986, the first player to be sent off in a World Cup Final in 1990 (and, for good measure, they had a second player dismissed too). However, their two victories, in 1978, under the floating ticker tape, and 1986, with the genius of Maradona, are two of the most memorable in World Cup history.

Zaha Malbec 2011 (c. £25)

The Malbecs coming from Argentina are becoming increasingly serious. Initially powerful, heavy, high-alcohol wines, with instant appeal for the casual drinker, the wines now have a more balanced and intelligent use of oak, made from a greater understanding of the vineyards and their different expressions. The popularity of Malbec has enabled producers to gradually up the ante: such is the grape's appeal, consumers are willing to pay a bit more for the wines than they may for others.

Malbec originates from south-west France, where it was once grown in Bordeaux (and it's beginning to be taken notice of again in areas such as Bourg), as well as Cahors, the only appellation in France dedicated to the grape. The wines of Cahors, which used to be called "the black wine" by the English, can reach levels of greatness, but they don't have the soft, attractive fruitiness of the wines of Mendoza, qualities which come from the long growing season high in the Andes. In the Andes, the temperatures are hot during the day, speeding the ripening up, but cold at night, slowing the ripening down. It's these diurnal temperature ranges that allow Malbec to ripen in a way that gives the wine soft yet substantial black fruits.

This Malbec comes from the Altamira area of Mendoza, 1,000m above sea level. That altitude stretches out that long ripening season, giving the wine floral, perfumed aromatics, with an added grainy texture from the sand and limestone soils. The characteristic flavours of damsons and mulberries give this wine a powerful structure, alongside the spicy oakiness on the finish. A big, but balanced, wine.

wine result an intense competition between two very different wines which are proud to showcase the individual characteristics of the grape and area. The Riesling wins for its complex potential for ageing and as an expression of centuries of winemaking tradition, while the Malbec is more of an exciting sign of what Argentina is capable of in the future. Germany 3-2 Argentina

actual result an involving, but not always, exciting game of football that looked like it was petering out to penalties, before Mario Götze's stunning late goal snatched victory for a German team that had been building ten years for this moment. Germany 1-0 Argentina

World Cup of Wine Quarter-Finals

The quarter-finals of the World Cup are where the action really hots up and the quality of the teams becomes apparent, at least in theory. The games themselves were actually quite disappointing, with just five goals and enlivened mostly by the decision of the Dutch manager, Louis van Gaal, to bring on a different goalkeeper for the penalty shoot-out, much to the surprise of the first-choice keeper. No disappointment with the two wines below, however.

France v Germany

France: it is very tempting to dismiss French wine as snobbish, elitist, and out of touch with the rest of the world. Tempting, because there is some truth to it. The best French wine is far too expensive for even the wealthier drinker, though that's in part due to foreign investors, while the cheapest French wine can taste even cheaper than it actually is - as if French winemakers don't think wine at that price matters. It does, as entry-level wine can give an overall impression of a producer's or region's wine to a consumer.

However, there are a couple of things to remember. Whenever I hear a customer say they prefer New World wine to Old World, I want to ask them, What are the grapes in that New World Wine? (Answer: almost always French.) Why is the wine a blend of, say, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot? (Answer: because that's what the French do.) If the wine's been aged in oak, where does that oak come from? (Answer: very often France.) France is still the model for most winemakers around the world, including Europe, and, along with Italy and Spain, the largest producer of wine in world.

Secondly, French wine can mean anything you want. France projects itself as a uniform, homeogeneous country, but it's as varied - culturally, geographically, linguistically - as any in Europe: Celtic Brittany, Atlantic Bordeaux, the Basque south west, Catalan Roussillon, subversive Languedoc, Mediterranean Rhone, isolated Provence, Alpine Savoie, Germanic Alsace, Flemish Flanders. This is a country heavily influenced by its neighbours, and that's reflected in the wines too.

Albert Mann Grand Cru Schlossberg Riesling 2011 (c.£35)

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Alsace was an area greatly contested by Germany and France, and it is still a heavily Germanic area - to imagine Alsace and its Franco-Germanic culture, listen to Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, who's fluent in both languages, speak. The grapes of Alsace are also found in both countries: Gewurztraminer (Gewürztraminer in Germany), Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder), Sylvaner (Silvaner), Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder), and Riesling. The Rieslings of Alsace traditionally tend to be drier than their German counterparts, though German winemakers are producing more dry Rieslings nowadays.

The Alsace in question here is stunning: off-dry (surprisingly), with zesty lemon and lime aromas, and a developing nuttiness, with stone fruits as well, and delicate floral notes. There's a full-bodied richness, which comes from the granite soils of the Schlossberg vineyard. This is still a young wine, which is going to improve and improve, developing petrol and further nutty aromas.

Germany: pity Germany, if you can. One of the greatest wine countries, yet so little regarded by many wine drinkers; consistently producing some of the most distinctive wine in the world, yet, ironically for the producers of Mercedes-Benz and BMW, so bad at marketing that wine; and a wine industry overshadowed by the marketing success in the 1980s of Blue Nun and Black Tower. Those wines were cloyingly sweet and mass produced, bought by consumers because they (rightly) thought German wine was supposed to be good, but rejected, to the detriment of German wine and Riesling, because in those cases it actually wasn't.

When it comes to sweet wines, the most important aspect is the acidity: a wine with some sweetness will seem fat and cloying if the acidity is too low. This was the problem with the high-volume German wines of the 1980s: Blue Nun, which still sells 2m bottles a year in the UK alone, is now sweeter than it was in the 80s - it just happens to have a higher acidity, making the sweetness much more balanced.

As for those wines of the 80s, which damaged the reputation of Riesling, they were made from Müller-Thurgau, a nondescript, easy-to-grow grape.

Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücker Riesling Spätlese 2010, Nahe (c.£35)

Does a word of that name make any sense, apart from the name of the grape? This is the huge problem quality German wine has: German wine labels are as complicated and confusing as any in the world. In this instance, Dönnhoff refers to the producer, Oberhäuser Brücker to the village and vineyard, Riesling is the grape, Spätlese means the grapes have been picked after they've fully ripened, and Nahe is the region. 

The wine is medium sweet, with developing petrol aromas which are characteristic of Riesling, low alcohol (8% - the lower the alcohol in a German Riesling, the sweeter it will be), a honeyed sweetness, with juicy stone fruits. The sweet flavours dominate throughout, but they're all balanced by a naturally high acidity.

wine result a fantastically high contest, as one would expect from two great, neighbouring wine regions. Both are complex, ageworthy wines, with the sweetness being the major difference rather than quality. France 3-3 Germany, with Germany winning on penalties

actual result expectations before the game were of a repeat of the 1982 semi-final, one of the all-time great and controversial games: if the game had been anything like the wines, then it would have lived up to expectations. Instead, it was a drab affair where France forgot they had to actually try to win. France 0-1 Germany 

Is this the last wine match up? Will we have to resort to drinking Jägermeister for the semi-finals? Read the next blog to find out! 

Blind Tasting at Australia House

One of the many daunting aspects of studying for the Diploma is tasting wines blind. All you have in front of you is a glass with some wine in it, and after that it's up to you. No clues about taste, no prejudices about quality, and lots of fear you just might get it completely wrong. Sniffing the wine, swishing it in your mouth, writing tentative tasting notes are a test of your ability as a taster, proof that you can distinguish a good wine from a bad one, as well as one style from another.

At the same time, it's an exciting challenge. The wine speaks for itself; you have to dig deep into your knowledge; and if you get something completely wrong, it's a learning experience for the next time. And if you get something right, there's a feeling of smug satisfaction you shouldn't cherish for too long.

so what's the point of blind tasting and how do you go about it?

The point of blind tasting is quite simple: you taste a wine without knowing what it is in order to form an objective opinion. It's almost like a conversation where the wine is speaking to you in code, which you use your knowledge and experience to interpret. It's difficult - as much knowledge and experience as you have, that code can still be indecipherable - but with a certain logic, educated guesswork, and luck you can come to the right conclusions. Perhaps more importantly, you can discover exciting wines you might have otherwise ignored.

Blind tastings, for instance at the launch of a region's new vintage, can involve hundreds of wines or, at smaller tasting events, are arranged in flights - that is, three or more wines that have something in common to taste side by side - with the purpose of distinguishing wines by quality, style, origin, flavour, and/or price. It requires knowledge, of course - for instance, what Cabernet Sauvignon generally tastes like compared to Syrah/Shiraz - and the ability to reach conclusions based on that knowledge. Look for flavour characteristics and think of grapes they're associated with; the intensity of the aromas may also point you to a grape or a region; analyse the acidity on tasting and, for a red wine, the tannins; and from all this draw conclusions about the style and quality of the wine.

But it also requires a great deal of guesswork and luck; after all, there are so many wines out there doing their own thing and not adhering to textbook descriptions. That's why assessing the flavour profile and quality of the wine is just as, if not more important than, guessing the grape the wine's made from: origin is important, quality is essential.

When you discover the identity of the wine, will your opinion change or be confirmed? Will the price point alter your view of the wine commercially? Will you turn away in disgust and inwardly curse, I can't believe I liked that wine?

Australia House

I travelled down yesterday to the Unreal City for a blind tasting arranged by Wine Australia. This is part of a series of trade blind tastings they've arranged in order to promote Australian wine, all held at the Australian Embassy. A great opportunity to taste a range of styles of Australian wines, there were twenty-one wines arranged in four different flights. Excitingly, there were quiz questions too. Tasting these wines one after the other, without knowing what they were but constantly trying to work out what they were, was intense and tough. The difficulty is at the beginning of the flights conclusions are formed that the subsequent wines dispute. Still, when I got a list of the wines afterwards, I didn't do quite as badly in the quiz questions as I had worried.

flight one

Four white wines: three of them from the same grape, the other from a different varietal. Which was the odd one out and what was the grape? Wines with a palate-cleansing high acidity and a searingly dry finish pointed to Riesling, but the quiz question didn't help because with each wine I was trying too hard to spot the one that stood out as different. In the end, I plumped for the wine which had fruitier flavours and was less dry, but I had no idea which other varietal it could be. As a safe bet that's always wrong, I went for Chardonnay. It turned out to be Pinot Gris; I don't think I've ever had an Australian Pinot Gris before, so this was a new experience. I didn't actually like it that much though (one of the indications to me that it wasn't Riesling).

trick wine: The Lane Block 2 Pinot Gris 2012, Adelaide Hills (£15)

best wine: Gatt Eden Valley Riesling 2010 (£20)

 

flight two

Six white wines, all the same grape variety: which of the wines is from Margaret River? In France, it's possible to differentiate between regions because the grapes used are different: despite the similarity in name, the differences between a Pouilly-Fuissé (made from Chardonnay and powerfully oaked) and Pouilly-Fumé (Sauvignon Blanc) should be clear in a blind tasting. The differences between the wine regions of Australia are less clear, because the same grapes are grown across the country and styles vary according to producer as much as anything else. The wines in this flight were all from Chardonnay and I went for Wine 7 as being from Margaret River just because it was fuller bodied and oakier than the other wines. No idea if it was educated guesswork or sheer luck, but I was right.

Margaret River wine: Voyager Estate Chardonnay 2008 (£22.40)

best wine: Lethbridge Allegra Chardonnay 2008, Geelong (£46)

flight three

Six red wines, all the same grape variety: what's the grape variety and which is the most expensive wine? The menthol aromas of the first wine suggested that it was Cabernet Sauvignon, aromas which were constant throughout this flight, to the point that I felt the wines were just too minty and eucalyptus flavoured, lacking the black fruits and oaky tannins that makes wine from Cabernet Sauvignon so appealing. The best wine by far was the final one of the flight and which I selected as the most expensive of the six. As with the Chardonnays, my favourite was the most costly: proof that I have acquired an expensive palate, but also that price and quality do sometimes correlate.

most expensive wine: Balnaves The Tally Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Coonawarra (£82)

best wine: as above

flight four

Another five reds: which one is from Barossa? Part of the education in the guesswork is knowing which grapes Australia mostly uses: for whites, there's Semillon, Chardonnay, and Riesling, for reds Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Of those five, it was obvious that there could only be one of them missing in these four flights and that it was going to be white. The simple difference between Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, I have found in Diploma tastings, is the menthol and cassis aromas of the former and the chocolate aromas of the latter. The Shirazes impressed much more than the Cabernets, as there were some really complex, developed wines. Which one was from Barossa? Didn't have a clue, so went for the one I rated the best. That was from Adelaide Hills. My second favourite was from Barossa, at £9.99 amazingly good value.
 

Barossa wine: Thorn Clarke Shiraz 2010 (£9.99)

best wine: The Lane Reunion Shiraz 2010, Adelaide Hills (£28.50)

There was another quiz question: which of the wines on show is not from Australia and where's it from? My methodology here was to find the wine that wasn't screwcap, but every single bottle was (this is why a blind tasting should be served in neutral bottles). I went for one of the Cabernets as being from Hawke's Bay in New Zealand because it had gripping, unripe tannins (and most wine from New Zealand is screwcap and I thought wouldn't it be wonderful for the Ozzies to advertise a Kiwi wine in their own embassy), but it turned out to be a Chardonnay from South Africa. It would have been much more fun to involve a French wine, for that direct New World/Old World comparison; plus, it's so difficult to distinguish between New World wines as it's down more to the producer than the region or country.

my guess at non-Australian wine: Chapel Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, McLaren Vale (£20)

actual non-Australian wine: Bouchard Finlayson Crocodile's Lair 2012 (£13)*

This was a great, if intense, educational experience. The wines were mainly of very good quality; the tasting showed just how good Australian white wines are; and I do feel my tasting qualities have improved since I started my Diploma. One caveat though: Wine Australia have been hosting these tastings once a month since March through till June, every one in the same venue in the centre of London. The rest of Britain would like to learn about Australian wine too!

•yes, at an Australian tasting they picked a non-Australian wine called Crocodile's Lair

Diploma Week Three - Australia

A month after enduring the spirits and sparkling wine exams, we reconvened for three days of tasting New World wine and, thankfully, no exams. I'm a little suspicious of the term "New World"; after all, some of the oldest vines in the world are in Australia and California. However, as the first day tasting Australian wine demonstrated, the development of serious, quality wine, as well as popular, affordable wine, in non-European countries is a relatively recent phenomenon. Our tutor for the day, Michael Buriak, recalled working in the wine trade in the 1980s and stocking his shop's first ever bottle of Australian wine, seen as a novelty item. It sold out instantly, and Australian wine has never looked back - it's now consistently the number one selling wine by country in the UK. (Only the US drinks more Australian wine than the UK, and that's because of the ubiquitous Yellow Tail brand.)

The popularity of Australian wine makes it an interesting category. It's best known for producing inexpensive, high-volume, drinkable wines which unfortunately means that consumers are likely to stick to the inexpensive wines and ignore the high-quality, premium alternatives. This is a perception Australian wine is trying to shift, but when big brands like Jacob's Creek and Hardy's dominate the market it's hard.

Despite having 120-year-old vines, Australian winemakers are still learning their trade, moving on from big, oaky Chardonnay and fruit-bomb Shiraz to produce wines of elegance and subtlety. As I've learnt from working at hangingditch over the last eighteen months, and as this day's tasting further proved, premium Australian wine can be sensational and is getting better and better.

what we tasted

This was a stellar line-up, showcasing Australian wine at its best and most varied. Much of the wine was not the inexpensive stuff that makes Australian wine so popular, but it meant that we gained a real understanding of Australian terroir.

Australia is divided into areas of geographical indication. Although some of these areas are particularly associated with a grape variety or style of wine (e.g. Coonawarra and Cabernet Sauvignon), there are no real rules to them beyond geography. They can be very small or enormous, and there's probably no larger wine region in the world than South Eastern Australia, not that different in size from the EU. If you see the term South Eastern Australia on the label, then it's likely to be an inexpensive wine produced in the bulk regions of Riverland, Murray Valley, and Riverina.

Our first wine was an example of what makes Australian wine so popular. Hardy's Nottage Hill Chardonnay 2013 (c.£8) is a high-volume wine from South Eastern Australia, which basically means absolutely anywhere. It's been given oak qualities through the use of oak chips to give it a semblance of complexity. It's a decent wine that will make a sunny weekend perfectly pleasant. We saved this wine to taste alongside other Chardonnays later in the day, which did not do it any favours.

After that, our tasting was all about quality and varietal/regional typicity. Shaw + Smith are an excellent winery based in Adelaide Hills. Australia is a huge country dominated by arid, inhospitable desert. As with the population centres, quality wine is focused on the cooler coastal regions, which are cooled further by altitude. Thus, there's a concentration of quality wine regions around the city of Adelaide, such as Barossa Valley, Eden Valley, Clare Valley, and Adelaide Hills. We tasted two of Shaw + Smith's wines, both of which were very good. The 2013 Sauvignon Blanc (c£16) was as good a Sauvignon Blanc as I've tasted in a while, while the 2012 Chardonnay (c£25), perhaps still a little too young, had an engaging delicate oakiness - a real indication of how Australian winemakers have discovered the attraction of restraint.

Interest in Riesling, the great and underappreciated German grape, has been revitalised by dry examples from Australia, particularly Eden and Clare Valley. Grosset Wines are a producer active since the early 1980s; winemaker Jeffrey Grosset considers 2013 to be the best Clare Valley vintage he's ever experienced, and the wine we tasted was from Polish Hill, one of the best sub-regions of Clare Valley (c£30). Therefore, the wine had a lot going for it, but its searingly high acidity meant that this wine possibly needs a few years before it drinks nearer its best. A more approachable Riesling came from a famous producer in Western Australia, Leeuwin, whose leading range of wines, "Art Series," features a work of art on the label each year from a local artist. The 2011 Riesling (c£20) was a complex, ageworthy wine, but still full of immediate citrus and sweet spice flavours.

In the same Art Series was the most expensive wine of the day, the 2010 Chardonnay (c£60), an outstanding wine that had everything you'd expect from a oaked Chardonnay: big, rich, toasty, with tropical fruits. Worth £60? If you've got the money, then yes. (The more affordable Leeuwin "Prelude" Chardonnay from the Wine Society gives an indication of what the premium version tastes like.)

Other than Riesling, the white grape that works best in Australia is Semillon. As Michael pointed out, this is one of the world's great grape varieties but is vastly underappreciated. It's there in Bordeaux in white blends and classic sweet wines like Sauternes, but other than it gets largely overlooked. We tasted a couple of Semillon wines, which showed how well it works in Australia. The first was my favourite wine of the day, a 2007 from Brokenwood in Hunter Valley (c£25). Hunter Valley is a region to the north of Sydney, its inhospitable climate as northern as quality wine gets in the country, but which is known for producing great Semillon. This was a fantastic wine: so complex and developed, yet its fruit fresh and young, a wine capable of lots of further ageing. The other Semillon was part of a blend with Sauvignon Blanc, as is common in Bordeaux whites. Produced biodynamically by Cullen in Margaret River, Western Australia, this was an unusual wine with 25% new oak to give it some depth and smoky flavours, as well as fragrant chamomile, thyme, and white chocolate aromas (c£20).

The grape that Australia is most famous for is, of course, Shiraz. The Eileen Hardy 2004 was a particularly interesting wine, as it demonstrated the difficulty Australia has in selling itself as a maker of premium, as well as inexpensive, wines. Produced by Hardy's, one of the country's leading brands, it retails at £40. For its quality, that's still quite a low price, but it struggles to sell. Why? Because who would pay that money for a wine by a brand? The wine was an outstanding example of a complex Australian Shiraz; identifiably McLaren Vale (to the south of Adelaide), with riper fruits than a French equivalent, it was a beautifully perfumed, elegant, mature Shiraz. Even maturer was the 1999 Jim Barry McRae Wood Museum Release. At £35-40 and fifteen years old, this represents incredibly good value. The wine is from Clare Valley; although known for Riesling, the area produces elegant, smooth Shiraz and this is a stunning example, with black fruits, leather and meat, coffee and floral flavours.

As all the great white wines we tasted showed, Australia isn't just about Shiraz. Cabernet Sauvignon is known for its association with Coonawarra (c£16), but it's in Margaret River, Western Australia, that the grape arguably reaches the heights of Bordeaux. The Vasse Felix Heytesbury (c£40), from the area's oldest producer (established 1967), was outstanding and a fitting climax to the day. As with many of the other wines, it demonstrated that the French concept of terroir is very much present in a New World country such as Australia, representing the qualities of the grape and the wine's specific area - and showing also that expensive Australian wine is very much worth it. 

The day's tasting was exhaustive (and exhausting) - and we had two days of other New World wine to follow. None quite matched the extensive, exceptional line-up of Australian wines, but I'm now on my way to California to explore fully the great wines of that region. Expect lots of blogs about sunshine and wine. I'll try not to gloat too much.