Agiorgitiko

Happy New Year!

Yes, fellow travelers, we have made it once round the year and twice round the alphabet. We started our tour of discovery on 1st September 2013 and have reached the start of lap 2 on 31st August 2014. We have tasted 26 red wines and 26 whites (one of the reds was actually a rose, but the grapes were red), mostly varietals, but with a few blends, so our target of 52 wines in 52 weeks has been met.

So, off we go again.

St George got about a bit. Slaying dragons all over the place it would seem. He is the patron saint of 20 countries, 24 cities and the Scouts. Both Christian and Muslim traditions venerate him, and he is pressed into service by organisations assisting sufferers of leprosy, plague, herpes and syphilis. Way to go, Georgie.

The Australians have a bank named after him and I expect he would have been pleased by that, but I like to think such a great man would have been far more excited to know that in Greece he has an eponymous wine grape.

Week A (2014) Tetramythos Agiorgitiko 2012. Vinoteca Farringdon £10.75.

If it needs spelling out (and it is a Greek word, so it probably does) Agiorgitiko means St.George. It is one of the two most widely planted red grapes is Greece, the other being Xinomavro that we tasted three weeks ago in week X (2014), and the wine that is made from it in the Nemea region is sometimes referred to as 'the blood of Hercules', so it would appear to have more than one heroic connection.

Agiorgitiko can make wines across a variety of styles, but this one is a medium intensity ruby colour with simple fruity aromas of red fruits and not much else. It has 13% abv and low acidity. It is pleasant and easy to drink, but not spectacular. The tannins are subtle and most noticeable 'in the finish', after it has been swallowed, where they leave a slightly green or unripe flavour which is a little bitter.

It is an organic wine, produced in a winery built ten years ago near the northern coast of the Peloponnese region of southern Greece, where a range of eight wines are made in different styles. My impression is that this one is designed to be drunk young, although I think it could be kept for a few years without the expectation of it developing into anything more than it is when it is bottled. Oak is used a the winery for some of their output, after fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, but there is no hint that the Agiorgitiko has spent any time in barrel.

Of the two recently tasted Greek wines I would have to award this on the runner-up position as the Xinomavro had been a pleasant surprise, where as this is just pleasant. It also costs 25p more.

Zweigelt

If I offered you a Rotburger you may well be a little cautious about accepting my generosity. If I followed that up by telling you not to worry because it was created in a lab in 1922 by a man, no, a professor, named Friedrich, you may not be any less certain.

But you should accept my offer. Friedrich (Felix to his friends) was indeed a professor, in an Austrian institute, and it is said that he did rather well through his association with a certain movement that came to prominence in the 1930's and rather less well after 1945, but by accepting that we can't choose everything about our circumstances we can concentrate on his real contribution to the www (not t'internet, the wonderful world of wine) and know that Rotburger is the name first given to a grape variety he created through crossing two existing varieties.

He created Rotburger by crossing Blaufrankisch and St.Laurent, two grapes that we have encountered before in weeks E (2013) where the former, also known as Kekfrankos, appeared in Egri Bikaver, and S (2014) where the latter was a varietal. Over fifty years after he did this his efforts were posthumously acknowledged by the grape being renamed in his honour. Zweigelt being his surname.

Week Z (2014) Zweigelt 2011, by Christoph Edelbauer. Newcomer Wines £22.90.

Each of the grape's parents were selected to provide their progeny with specific characteristics. Blaufrankisch is late ripening, tannic and spicy, whereas St.Laurent is dark skinned and highly aromatic. The combination must be considered successful as Zweigelt is now Austria's most widely planted variety.

This wine is an intense ruby colour and has fruit-driven flavours of blackcurrants and plums with a gentle spicy finish. The tannins are round and soft, which may have been enhanced by it having been double-decanted from bottle to jug and back again and there is ample acidity to balance the 13.5% alcohol. There is a fruit sweetness to this otherwise dry red wine.

I am slightly surprised by how full and rich this is, but that probably reveals more about my level of ignorance regarding red Austrian wines than how closely the contents of this bottle represent the type generally.

The maker, Christoph Edelbauer has been making wine in the Kamp valley of Austria for eleven years, according to austrianwine.com , which if they have their facts correct is impressive when you read he is now only 34. Or am I getting old?

This is another week where I like the wine and I also like the presentation. There isn't a huge amount of information on the bottle, especially for a non-German speaker like me, but the pseudo-handwritten label is reminiscent of how The One presents her homegrown apple juice and that appeals to me.

There is a particularly enjoyable German word on the reverse that I would love to be able to use if I ever play Scrabble again (yes, thank you, I know it would be against the rules) which has seventeen letters: Erzeugerabfullung. This is the local word meaning 'estate bottled' telling us that the entire process from vine to bottle took place on the producer's premises. No 20,000 litre shipping bags used here, even if the bottle was sold to me from a container.

This is the second bottle we have opened from the Austrian shop-in-a-container in Shoreditch and, so far, they have a 100% approval rating, even if the prices do represent their limited production volumes.

Yalumba

Earlier in the week I made my annual pilgrimage to the Great British Beer Festival at Olympia.This is the same venue that in May hosted the London Wine Fair and the two events do share some features and yet are very different.

The LWF is a trade only event, that is free to visit for those who have a strong enough link to the business of wine to qualify, whereas the GBBF is open to anyone with £10 to spend. (£8 if you, like me, are a CAMRA member.) Once through the doors at the LWF producers are keen to share their wines and provide samples to anyone holding a glass (which they will find for you if you have left yours in a safe place). At the GBBF the visitor can buy or rent a glass and then fill it with beer samples (buy only) in three sizes, a third, a half or a full pint. One noticeable difference is that there are no spittoons provided at 'Britain's Biggest Pub'. Maybe because the event is aimed at the consumer rather than the trade or, more likely, because no-one is expected to spit out a sample they have paid for. Conversely, there were no pork scratchings or 20" bratwurst at the Wine Fair.

The greatest similarity that struck me as I swirled, sniffed, sipped and swallowed a range of milds, bitters, porters and others at a leisurely pace, was the huge variety of styles on offer and the efforts the producers need to make if they wish their output to fare well in comparison to all of their available competitors. It seems that tasting notes are now as commonplace in the world of beer as they have been for a long time in the world of wine. That and the awarding of medals. Is this a short cut to help those to whom all notes sound the same? Maybe, as the awarding of the title of 'Champion Beer of Britain' to Timothy Taylor's Boltmaker generated an impressive queue to the corner of stand B18, where it could be tasted. The long queue appeared to me to be made up of people who looked like they had put lots of effort into understanding beer, and will doubtless have their own favourites, yet they still want to know what the judges say 'excellent' tastes like.

I have yet to progress beyond the rank of 'associate judge' at any competition, but an example of what I think tastes excellent is:

Week Y (2014) is Yalumba Organic Viognier 2012. £9.49 Waitrose.

Any followers of my game (see 52 Weeks : 52 Wines) will notice I have again bent the rules and selected this week's wine not on grape variety, but by the producer. Yalumba hold the claim to being Australia's oldest family-run winery, having started producing wines in 1849. Their excellent website says 'we planted vines which grew into a family tree'. Their marketeers should be pleased to hear that I rather like that. The originator of this family tree was an English brewer named Samuel Smith (no, not that one, this one came from Dorset) so it seems my visits to Olympia have one more connection.

Yalumba produce a great variety of wines and that allowed me to select one of my favourite grape varieties; Viognier. The variety is known best, historically, as the premier white grape grown in the Northern Rhone valley and used to produce the whites of Condrieu and, as a minor blending partner, Cote Rotie and other great reds from the region.

This wine is fresh, intensely flavoured and full-bodied. It has 13.5% abv and almost no residual sugar (0.5g/l) so it is bone dry, but the combination of the fruits and possibly influenced by the high alcohol content it still has a perceived sweetness. The flavours are of warm stone fruits, with floral tones and a gentle spicy kick. It has a long and pleasing finish, leaving an apricot and light honey flavour as it fades away calling to be tasted again. At least, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

My opinion is that this is very good value for money and that I will buy this again. A much more compelling endorsement is offered by The One's mother who, at the age of 94 and claiming that the years have robbed her of the ability to taste anything, is still very capable of spotting a good thing when it passes her way. 'This is nice', she said, so I must be right.

Xinomavro

Acid black may sound like the name of a 1970's prog-rock band but it also a literal translation of the name of the Greek grape, Xinomavro. It is not grown anywhere else so this is a good wine to be trying on our journey of discovery.


Week X (2014) Thymiopoulos Xinomavro, Noussa. 2012. M&S £10.50

It is a medium intensity, bright ruby colour and smells of plums and raspberries with some lightly spicy bits.

Many people liken Xinomavro to either Burgundy or Barolo and I can see the comparison, which surprises me. Partly because I am still doubtful about my own palate and partly, I have shamefully to admit, that I expected this to be a bit rough. Prejudice; never a good thing. Mea culpa.

At 14% abv it is quite weighty, but it has good acidity and smooth tannins too, making it likely to be capable of ageing well and me regret that I opened it only two years after the grapes were picked. There is an obvious resolution to this problem and as I do seem to visit this particular supplier regularly perhaps I can 'lay one down' as rude schoolboys and genuine wine people might say.

There is a profile of the grower, Apostolos Thymiopoulos, on the Wine Society's site which explains his adherence to biodynamics and what the French would call Lutte Raisonnee, the practice of using natural remedies to pest control such as guinea fowl to combat locusts rather than chemical sprays. Based on the contents of this one bottle it would seem that the extra care taken in the production of his wines is rewarded by the results.

The back label recommends drinking this with a rich beef stew, but I chose to open it alongside a lamb kleftiko and enjoyed both very much. Having read about the grape variety I was curious to find out more about kleftiko. I am glad I did as the name has its root in history with a 'kleft' being a Greek bandit and the name being particularly used to describe an independence fighter, either from the Turks in the 15th C, or from the war of independence between 1821-8. You see? Wine can be a great educational facilitator. Yes, it can.

Weissburgunder

At the northern end of the City of London, in Shoreditch, there is a man selling Austrian wines from a container. I don't mean he is pouring it out of a carton but that his shop is a shipping container. You might think this is a little unusual, and I would agree, but the shop is one of the outlets at a 'pop up shopping mall' called Boxpark. The idea of a pop up shopping mall is difficult to understand until you visit and discover that it is a very hip concept in an increasingly hip part of London. Not my natural territory by any measure.

Newcomer Wines specialise in small scale Austrian wine producers and claim to be leading a revolution and shaking up the old fashioned view of wine by selling the wines from 'producers with great stories and cool labels'.

Week W (2014) is 'WB' Weissburgunder by Ewald Zweytick, 2012. Newcomer Wines £14.90

Weissburgunder is another grape with a range of international synonyms. In France it is Pinot Blanc, some Austrians know it as Klevner. In Hungary it is Feher Burgundi and Rulandske Bile in the Czech Republic. I have to say that the Czech name would be a lot more appealing if I could work out how to put an acute accent over the last 'e'.

Although a white grape it is a mutation of Pinot Noir and, as the Germanic name suggests, can be found in Burgundy (as well as Champagne and Alsace) where it has been confused with Chardonnay. Further confusion occurs the USA where a lot of vines called Pinot Blanc are actually Melon de Bourgogne, the Loire grape responsible for Muscadet. So this one could give the Italians a run for their money.

It is a rich lemon yellow, with the suggestion of a green hint (or was that a reflection of the kitchen worktop?) and an aroma of ripe melon.and the inevitable crisp green apples. On the palate it is slightly oily and mouth-filling, smooth and fruity. It is 13.5% abv and this balances the acidity very nicely. It is not unlike a white Burgundy and, if it wasn't for the fact that Majestic knock out a decent Macon Village for 60% of the price, this could become a regular purchase.