Volg Weinkellereiein Nach 7 2003, Switzerland

This is an extraordinary wine from the freakishly hot 2003 vintage in Switzerland from Pinot Noir. Only 1 barrel was made. It is made in a Madeirised style, and comes in at 17% alcohol.
The nose begins with something like sweet dried strawberries and toffee apples, followed by the richness of walnuts and dried unsulphured apricots. It's really wonderfully aromatic - you wouldn't necessarily pick it as Pinot from any varietal flavours, but it there is something quite ethereal and complex about the aromatic profile. There's a beautiful feeling of fresh sweetness to the palate, with walnut and dried fruit sweetness going hand-in-hand with elegant red fruit acidity. It carries the richness and opulence of the style with an alluring freshness and lightness of touch. Stunning

Eating (and drinking) a cow at Vinoteca

Eating out is a gamble, right? In the space of one year, I had two meals at Brawn in Columbia road; the first was probably the best meal I've had in the capital, and the second shambolically average. Our local restaurants are all very good, most of the time. There are three words, though, that ring out over all of London like the peal of church bells, reminding us that there's always a haven of bankable flavour in Farringdon. Vinoteca Bavette Steak.
Vinoteca is the only place in London that we've been going to regularly since we moved here. It has such confidence in itself that it can do things few places can - prices are fair, the wine list has plenty of fascinating things on or under the £30 mark, and the service is always surprisingly efficient (even when there every square inch of the place is crammed with optimistic couples queueing for a table whilst nibbling on some top-notch charcuterie - see above).
I had a glass of the lively, peach and blossom scented Surrey Gold from Denbies - light and with an attractive natural sweetness, it was a good aperitif, like the slightly nervy cousin of an Edelzwicker wine from Alsace. The bottle above is a 2008 'Bull's Blood' from Bolyki in Hungary. Great stuff - quite complex red fruits on the nose, and big on savoury flavour. Only 13% alcohol, too.
I'd buy it again and pay a bit more attention next time...most of my senses were tuned onto the steak. As ever, they work magic with the humble bavette here. It has a remarkable texture - juicy like a steak but with the (good) chewiness of a braising cut. The charring runs through the sweet, deeply seasoned meat at just the right level. There are great wads of it thrown over the plate, with enormous crisp but fluffy chips and a Cafe de Paris butter that frankly doesn't stand a chance against a hunk of iron of this quality. It's more of a lubricant, and does a very good job at it. I'm certainly glad we're past the slightly irritating 'chorizo butter' stage it went through a few years ago. It's perfect. Don't change it please. Ever.

Bonotto Delle Tezze Carmenère Barabane 2008, Piave, Italy

Who knows what you're actually sipping in those Venetian wine bars when you order a glass of the local 'Cabernet'?

In the case of Chile, where most wines from this variety come from, a lot of what used to be labelled as Merlot has turned out to be Carmenère, as the two were frequently mixed up in pre-phylloxera Bordeaux before being exported. In Italy, it was mistaken for Cabernet Franc. That 'Cabernet', which can often be a green, feral and not entirely pleasant wine, might just be (or contain) an over-cropped and under-ripe Carmenère. It tends to be the cheapest wine on the menu, so who really minds?
Only since 2009 could producers in the Piave call their wines Carmenère; in fact, in the Gambero Rosso of 2009, this wine is called 'Cabernet Barabane'. The term Cabernet conjures up images of big juicy southern hemisphere wines to many casual wine buyers, which is about as far away from the style as you can get. Carmenère is recognisable but not nearly so loaded, and consequently not so much of a false friend. A good move.
To the wine. It's alive and expressive on the nose, with some raspberry coulis, fresh mint leaves, green bell pepper and a little burnt sugar (verging on treacle). The palate is quite generous in style, with sweet berry fruit and decent acidity but quite one-dimensional - I don't quite get that aromatic freshness from the nose coming through. It's solid stuff, even without some of the focus that I love from northern Italy.

Baccaria Frappato 2010, Sicily, Italy

I bought this because I tasted it at the the Christmas Tasting at Bottle Apostle in Hackney, and really liked it. It's inexpensive (£8), with a pretty hideous label to match; I'd expect it would sell more with a good label at £10 than with this one at £8. The juice itself is a lot more convincing. There's fresh, sweet strawberry jam, raspberries, and a slight tang sour dried cherry on the nose, as well as summery red rose and even hints of something dark and tarry. That tangy, slightly sweet dried cherry fruit is what dominates the palate, delivering a snappy, refreshing mouthful. It's a charmer.

Brovia Barbera d'Alba Brea 2006, Piedmont, Italy

This has been in the cellar for a couple of years since I bought it from merchants Bat and Bottle. It has a beautiful pure red cherry fruit expression, with the warmth of prune, nutmeg and clove spice and a little creamy milk chocolate. There's an attractive aromatic nuance of dried tea leaves too. It's very classic on the palate - there's no burly over-ripe fruit here. On the palate that slight pruney sweetness accompanies fresher plum fruit and lip-smacking red fruit acidity. It's drinking just right about now, as some of the brightness of youth has subdued and it gains a touch of elegance and savoury complexity.

Dinner and wines from Chateau Tahbilk and De Bortoli at the Wapping Project

Had a really good time at the Wapping Project last week, set in a stunning old hydraulic power station in a quiet part of one of the most interesting and historical parts of London. Excuse the terrible photo - it's a dark, cavernous and very atmospheric space. The food was very good - special mention goes to a fabulous charcuterie plate (I'm sure it's the same supplier as The Empress in Victoria Park, home of the king of charcuterie plates!) and a beautifully cooked middlewhite of pork with braised chard. Dessert, a bitter chocolate pot with tea-soaked prune was unfortunately seriously light on bitter chocolate.
The wine list is almost exclusively Australian, basing itself around an impressive collection of small-to-medium sized producers. We had a 2008 Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne, which came out far too cold but opened up to a classic nose of honeysuckle, lime cordial and yellow grapefruit, the palate a fine balance of pithiness and floral sweetness. The style isn't about refreshment and acidity, and perhaps you want a bit more of that with quite hearty food. What it is about is those delicate floral and citrus flavours and how they'll develop over time. It's still young.
What stole the show was a glass of De Bortoli Old Boys 21yr-old tawny. This was very memorable, with layers of prune, dried fig, walnuts and chestnut honey on the nose. The palate is long and complex, delivering more of those figs and roast walnuts, as well as a slight caramel sweetness and serious acidity. The acidity really surprised me - it's formidable and bounds the whole wine together.