Taking Gordon Ramsay’s wine programme to the subsequent stage
Ines Salpico
Having just lately been appointed head of wine for Gordon Ramsay Eating places, the gifted Giuseppe D’Aniello (the UK Sommelier Affiliation’s Finest Sommelier, UK 2023) has hit the bottom operating. Only a few weeks into his tenure he’s actively exploring the way to increase the wine programme throughout the group’s many venues. Certainly one of his targets is to leverage the wine lists and exquisite personal eating rooms in a brand new sequence of guided tastings. I used to be fortunate to function guinea pig at a prototype session, hosted by D’Aniello on the Savoy Grill. The tasting took us on a journey by means of the world’s greatest traditional-method glowing wines.
Past the inevitable Champagne (effectively represented by Devaux, Grande Réserve NV and Perrier-Jouët, Grand Brut NV) we tasted, amongst others, a trio of blanc de blancs from Trentino (Ferrari’s Most NV), Penedès (Raventós i Blanc’s 2022) and Tasmania (the Home of Arras NV). The road-up showcased singularity and high quality from totally different provenances and in addition the unbelievable worth to be discovered by wanting past the apparent – all elegantly guided by D’Aniello. I sit up for the event of his budding modifications and concepts.
St-Emilion’s younger visionary concentrating on younger Bordeaux lovers
Georgie Hindle
Born in St-Emilion on Bordeaux’s Proper Financial institution, Paul Junet is a gifted, sixth-generation winemaker with regional household roots that date again to 1858. At 35, Junet – who studied oenology at Bordeaux College and honed his craft at Napa’s Harlan Property and Burgundy’s Louis Latour – makes wine at a number of Bordeaux estates, together with his household’s St-Emilion Grand Cru Château Clos Junet (the 2022 is scrumptious – ripe and heady with nice tannins and recent acidity: £24.31 vinatis.co.uk).
He’s additionally reviving his ancestors’ Grand Mirande label, which emphasises distinctive terroir identities by means of distinct lieux-dits, just like climats, by way of bottlings of single varieties or blends. Presently ageing, the 2023 Merlot-driven Grand Mirande Berthonneau, from a clay-rich terroir, gives silky tannins and vibrant, crystalline fruit. The gravelly Bellescise is a extremely untypical 100% Cabernet Sauvignon that reveals purity, vitality and juiciness.
To focus on and distribute this new vary (there’s additionally a Pomerol and several other others), Junet has launched Maison Paul Junet, concentrating on 30- to 40-year-olds with direct gross sales by way of a new web site. ‘The present context is pushing us to reinvent ourselves – in any other case, it’s liquidation!’ he mentioned. Junet’s elegant wines and forward-thinking advertising make a compelling invitation to find the area’s Proper Financial institution soul.
Williams Selyem: Russian River Valley icon stays recent
Clive Pursehouse
Jeff Mangahas (left) with Clive Pursehouse
I popped in to see Jeff Mangahas whereas passing by means of Sonoma. Burt Williams and Ed Selyem began making wine collectively again in 1979. After relaunching underneath the identify Williams Selyem in 1984, the Healdsburg Pinot producer launched its traditional label. Bob Cabral grew to become head winemaker in 1998 as John Dyson acquired the model. Mangahas got here to work with Cabral in 2011, taking the lead position in 2013.
Mangahas believes the present releases present an class cultivated by one of many model’s founding practices: all wines are fermented in repurposed, open-top dairy containers. The shallow stainless-steel vessels create a higher skin-to-juice ratio, which Mangahas believes offers the wines wonderful texture with out over-extraction. The Saitone Property Zinfandel 2022 (US$180 Effective Wine Home, Liquorama, Napa Cabs), from vines planted in 1895, reveals a freshness and carry that the range can typically lack. The Lews MacGregor Winery Pinot Noir 2022 (US$168-$200 The Wine Home, Wally’s, Wine Ranger Cellars) is elegant and nuanced, with vigorous citrus and savoury character.
Search for our tackle the complete line-up in our 2022 Sonoma County classic report on Decanter Premium later this summer season.
Meerlust fiftieth celebrations
Julie Sheppard
Hannes Myburgh, eighth-generation proprietor of Meerlust Property in Stellenbosch, and cellar grasp Wim Truter have been in London just lately to have a good time 50 years of manufacturing underneath the vineyard’s personal label. Though the historic property can hint its roots again to 1693, its first bottled launch was a 1975 Cabernet Sauvignon, which we have been fortunate sufficient to style as a part of a powerful line-up of again vintages that included 4 different Cabs (1980, 1993, 2014 and 2021) plus 5 vintages of icon Bordeaux mix Rubicon (1980, 1995, 2001, 2015, 2021).
Standouts have been the 1980 and 1993 Cabernet Sauvignons, harmonious, with unbelievable depth to the palate and a still-youthful vibrancy. However the inaugural Rubicon 1980 classic really shone – a mix of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, 22 months in Yugoslavian oak, displaying fantastically plush, savoury evolution, class and complexity. Onerous to decide on between that and the Rubicon 1995: the primary phrase of my tasting word was merely, ‘Wow!’, a visceral response to a wine that steals your breath with its purity, presence and neverending end. ‘We’re working in the direction of the very best Rubicon nonetheless to return,’ mentioned Truter as we mentioned the evolution of the mix’s winemaking, although to be trustworthy, I’m undecided there’s truly room for enchancment…
Cellarworthy Prosecco
James Button
There’s a brand new faculty of pondering rising round top-quality Prosecco, with a number of wineries now tucking away vintages for launch at a later date, together with Bottega and Masottina, each primarily based in Conegliano. Masottina has stored again 10 vintages of its high RDO Levante Further Dry, a Prosecco Superiore Rive bottling that I used to be invited to style on the vineyard this April.
The outcomes have been stunning, and my takeaway is that there are positively a few candy spots: the 2020, for instance, is the right steadiness between freshness and complexity, with a tertiary porcini contact simply starting to emerge, and the mousse softening barely from its youthful vigour. Citrus peel, apricot pores and skin and jasmine introduce an explosion of flavours.
The 2014, in the meantime, stands out for its unbelievable perfume; an unique fragrance of camomile, jasmine, musk and sandalwood, with spices and dried pineapple flavours. It’s the umami complexity slightly than the everyday Prosecco fruitiness that makes this interesting. Don’t look previous these older vintages when you see them – and I get the sensation we are going to start to see again vintages of the very best Proseccos showing on the wine lists of the best institutions sooner slightly than later.
