La Brancaia Il Blu 2006

La Brancaia Il Blu 2006

La Brancaia Il Blu 2006 is one of the best Super Tuscan wines around and with a growing reputation it won't stay on my QPR doozy list for long. The 2006 vintage is sumptuous. A fantastic year for Merlot in Italy, that supple little grape has provided the knock out punch to the other great red of La Brancaia's, Ilatraia. Usually, vintage after vintage these two wines can barely be separated both excellent though with very different flavour profiles. However, this year Il Blu is a baby giraffes neck ahead and with 96 points from Galloni and a Tre Bicchiere award, I had to get hold of this years vintage and see if the wine justified this stonking rating.

Swiss owned La Brancaia are foremostly fine exponents of Chianti Classico, and, like many other Tuscan estates with Chianti holdings, soon turned their attention to the cheaper and Bordeaux-esque Maremma to begin producing Super Tuscan wines. Still today these wines are wowing the critics. A little out of fashion in the noughties those in the know still swear by the Super Tuscan often rivalling, sometimes surpassing, the quality of Bordeaux and often for a fraction of the price. The interesting thing about Il Blu, a 50% Sangiovese, 45% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon wine is that it's not actually from Maremma but grown within the Chianti jurisdiction.

The excellent thing about it, is that this wine can still be found for under £40. 96 Point wines at £40 are very few and far between especially from such a famous region. Although I wasn't quite as impressed, to me 96 represents a unique barrier to push through, I happily award this wine 95 Points and a rubber stamped BUY.

As frequent readers of this blog will know, I spent 3 of the last 4 years living in Italy and one of the most beautiful things about it, excluding the people, countryside, food and wine, was the way these 4 qualities were often married. We spent many Friday evenings drinking and eating at the local Agriturismo's, where you ate the produce from the working farms, many of these were not just farms and restaurants but also hotels too. At La Brancaia you can also take a vacation with a stunning location, great food and wine of course, and set yourself right in the heart of a gorgeous Italian wine holiday. Check it out here.

Back to the wine. I popped and poured the La Brancaia Il Blu 2006 on Sunday which, to be honest, was a good 5 years too early. The wines of La Brancaia, apart from the Chianti Classico which is surprisingly accessible young, should all be given at least 5 years in the cellar. Despite this it was very clear to see that this was a very special wine and after some time to breath I can say that, for 2009 so far, this is the best QPR wine of the year. If you love Italian wines you have to seek this out, if you are into Bordeaux you have to seek this out, if you collect wine to sell for profit... you have to seek this out. If an alien were to come down from Mars, point a gun to my head and forced me to choose just one wine to attempt to please his palate...I'd choose this wine.

Food Match: Duck, Pigeon or Venison.

Best Wines from this Producer: Consistently excellent within their varietal.

Chianti Classico
Brancia Il Blu
Tre
Ilatraia

La Brancaia Il Blu 2006 - BUY - £39
Deep dark ruby red edging on purple, the wine sits thick in the glass. On the nose you are taken on a power tour of fruit with cherries, plum and spicy vanilla oak. The wine is full bodied with the aromas carrying through to the attack. The mid palate is powerful and tannic at the moment but still enjoyable with the finish almost endless. Brilliantly structured, the wine hides the alcohol brilliantly and is sure to improve with age. 95 Points

Where can I buy this wine?
Europeans - Chicago WC - $47.50
Americans - Divine Golosita Toscane - €40
Brits - WineDirect - £39

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Which wine would you give to an alien to showcase the best planet earth had to offer?

Alois Lageder Cabernet Sauvignon Cor Romigberg

Alois Lageder Cabernet Sauvignon Cor Romigberg

Alois Lageder is one of the major players on the South Tyrol wine map producing a large and varied quantity of quality and affordable wines. In it's fifth generation, the latest Lageder is one of the pioneers in bio dynamic wine making in the region. Lageder, like many producers in the area, buy in grapes from local growers for many of their cheaper, single varietal wines. Most of these wines are fair priced and jolly good examples of the vast variety of grapes able to reach full ripeness in the cool but endlessly sunny Southern Tyrol.

The single vineyard-Lageder produced wines are grown along bio dynamic lines and the entire estate is environmentally adapted to the nth degree with solar panelling propelling the operation.

Alois Lageders Cabernet Sauvignon Cor Romigberg is practically unrivalled in the Southern Tyrol. Although the area is blessed with a ridiculous amount of sunshine hours, Cabernet Sauvignon is perhaps not one of the varieties that springs to mind when we envisage the Southern Tyrol because Cabernet Sauvignon likes to bask in the heat to fully ripen. However, it is the exceptional management of the vines here, as well as exhaustive analysis of the grapes that has produced a cool climate Cabernet without the "green".

The Romigberg vineyards are one of the most southerly of the Lageder parcels, several miles south of Bolzano and just north of the town of Termeno. Nestled between lake and mountain, it is little surprise then that this Cabernet Sauvignon has a very real and pronounced vein of minerality. What is a surprise is the luscious fruit, spice and floral notes that the wine offers. Containing just 3% Petit Verdot as an accompanying grape it seems improbable that the PV is driving the fruit.

The Cor Romigberg is the pride of the Lageder brand and spends 20 months in two thirds new french oak followed by a further 8 in bottle before release. The vines are at high density using the Guyot trellising system. In Italy these wines come onto the market around the €30 mark which, comparing to Tuscan Cabernet Sauvignons of this standard is a remarkable bargain. This is a classic cool climate Cabernet so don't imagine that the flavour profile will be anything like a Tuscan or southern Italian Cab.

Recently I had the opportunity to try the '03, a blazing hot vintage throughout Italy that played a part in reducing the usual minerality of the wine and gave further notice to the fruit. The Cor Romigberg is a wine that can benefit from cellaring in more typical vintages, however with the '03 I'm happy to say the wine is drinking beautifully at the end of 2009.

Alois Lageder Cabernet Sauvignon Cor Romigberg 2003 - BUY - £32
The darkest brooding ruby red. The nose is at once cherries, oak inspired spice, cassis and tobacco, a real aroma fans wine. On the palate the wine has strong but not aggressive tannins, it is powerful and the fruit is complimented by a straight minerality that gives this wine it's cool climate Cabernet feel. The finish is long and fruit driven the same as the attack. 90 Points.

Without tasting previous vintages it is hard to know if the Cor Romigberg is never green due to the grape selection process or if this particular vintage was so warm in the Southern Tyrol that this vintage is an anomaly putting it somewhere between a hot and cold climate Cabernet, it is at the very least a delicious wine.

Food Match: Lamb cutlets.

Best Wines from this Producer: Consistently excellent within their varietal.

Cabernet Sauvignon Cor Romigberg
Sauvignon Lehenhof
Chardonnay Lowengang
Pinot Grigio Benefizium Porer
Pinot Nero Krafuss

Where can I buy this Wine?
Europeans - Superiore.de - €36
Americans - SS Wines - $26.99
Brits - Superiore.de - £32

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Favourite Cabernet Sauvignon growing regions and favourite producer?

Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2010

Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2010

Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2010 was popped under my door this week and is the 33rd edition of one of the UK's most popular yearly wine guides. The guide is packed with everything you need to know about producers, grape varieties, the best vintages, when the wines are ready for consumption etc and is a really great guide to food accompaniments. However, unless you have particularly thin and freakishly long "pockets" you can't really call this a pocket guide. You can call it a handbag or manbag sized wine book but I doubt the people at Mitchell Beazley are going to change the name on account of me. We could petition them?

So who is Hugh Johnson?

If there is a wine enthusiast who hasn't heard of Hugh Johnson and doesn't have just one of his books I would be amazed. Hugh is behind several wine bibles including this yearly pocket wine book and the World Atlas of Wine (with Ja-Ro*) and Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion.

What sets this guide apart from other Pocket Guides is Hugh himself. From reading the foreword you get a real sense of Hugh's priorities and his devotion to wine including his deep and understandable concern about the EUs interference with our time honoured passion. Having myself spent some time talking to producers in the Rhone last year it's true that in France, as well as the rest of Europe, the attempts by the government to install a kind of prohibition are causing widespread concern for drinkers and producers alike.

Hugh has also given us, in this edition, a little something extra. A list of the best wines he has tried in the last 12 months. Of course, we all have our own palates and our taste buds may not run along Hugh's line or our pockets as deep, but the wines he has chosen are at least indicative of a wine performing to excellence within it's varietal and for wine enthusiasts whose tastes are broad these tips will be much appreciated.

The real winning formula behind this book is not simply Hugh's information and experience but the ease of use. Starting with easy to read vintage tables and progressing to a concise description of grape varieties, the best section is, in my humble opinion, the food matching guide. I have found with many pocket guides that this vital information is completely omitted, however in this book you can look up any number of meals and food types and be presented with several options for accompanying wines, including different cheese and vegetarian plates. There is but one problem with this, Hugh. It's the wrong way around. As a wine-o, I have countless bottles of wine lying around and want to know what food I should be buying for my wines, not which wines I should be buying for my food! For dinner parties my first thought is "which of my wines is at it's peak right now", then I will build a meal around it. Wine first, food second!

As an Italian wine enthusiast, this guide, like all general wine guides, isn't bursting with Italian-centric information. It covers the usual suspects in both grape variety and producers and only covers the vintages of the Piedmont and Tuscany so hard cheese to anyone in love with Amarone (which FYI, is a perfect wine/cheese combo) for that kind of information you have to buy the Gambero Rosso guides. This book tells me, Sarah Newton, nothing I don't already know about Italian wine but as I do drink wines from around the world it would be the first book I went to if I had a quick question about what to match with my Côte-Rôtie this weekend.

Even if you have the '09 guide, you should need to upgrade, you have a vintage report and the listings of the last drinkable year, but also every year the book covers new wine making areas in more detail. I may be among the few, but actually I do want to know if Romania and China are producing better wines!

This book is perfect for the serious wine drinker, but when you kick it up a notch to "geek" it doesn't cover everything but that's why it's called a pocket guide and of all the pocket guides around - the smart money's on Hugh. Just swap around the food matching and add vintage guides to Sicily and the Veneto to the 2011 book please Mr Johnson.

Where can I buy this Book?

A family run business - Amazon.com - £6.59

*Ja-Ro - Jancis Robinson

Fontanafredda Barbera Briccotondo 2007

Fontanafredda Barbera Briccotondo 2007

Fontanafredda Barbera Briccotondo 2007 is a real surprise. The gorgeous house of Fontanafredda has spent the last 10 years rapidly improving their entire range, their once iffy reputation now soundly banished. However, Barbera Briccotondo 2007 is not only excellent for Fontanafredda, it is an excellent Barbera in it's own right.

Fontanafredda is one the Piedmont's, and indeed one of Italy's, most famous wine producers. With a huge range of wines, Fontanafredda have been producing vino for over 100 years but their land has been used for wine production for much longer. One of the most beautiful estates in the world, Fontanafredda is a favourite on the wine tourism trail.

Bought from the Italian royal family by my bank, Monte dei Paschi Monte dei Paschi di Siena, this is one of the most professional outfits in the Piedmont with some of the best winemakers in Italy. This combination of money and skill turned Fontanafredda into one of the jewels in the Langhe crown. Historically and aesthetically perhaps Italys most fascinating estate.

As an Italian Wine Blogger I've come into contact with Fontanafredda many many times having sampled their Barolo, Barbaresco, Dolcetto, Langhe and Gavi on numerous occasions. Their Barbera though stands out in terms of QPR. This wine is reliably now, vintage after vintage, a great bargain. Retailing for as little as £8-9 in many areas this really is a rock steady Barbera as well as a great example of the varietal.

Food Match: Pizza, Mushroom Risotto.

Best Wines from this Producer: Consistently excellent within their varietal.

Barolo Vigna La Rosa

Barolo Vigna Lazzarito

Barbaresco Coste Rubin

Barbera Briccotondo

Barbera d'Alba Papagena

Dolcetto di Diano d'Alba

Fontanafredda Barbera Briccotondo 2007 - BUY - £9

A thick, deep purple in the glass, the aromas from this wine took no time attacking my nose with gorgeous dark chocolate and sweet cherry. Mid bodied and with high acidity the wine is smooth and fruity with a supple engaging finish. Nothing complex here but simply delicious and typical Barbera. 87 Points - a perfect food wine.

Where can I buy this wine?

Europeans - Superiore - €8

Americans - Zachys - $10

Brits - Croque en Bouche - £9

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Fontanafredda is available everywhere so I'm sure some of you have had the pleasure of a Fontanafredda wine. Share your experiences of this or any recent Barbera tastings. :)

Chateau Haut-Bages Averous Pauillac 2001

Chateau Haut-Bages Averous Pauillac 2001

Since 1978 (2 years before I landed) the famous Chateau Lynch-Bages has been producing "Averous" as the second label of the property rolling out 10,000 cases annually. As a second label it gives the consumer a chance to sample a prestigious Cinquièmes Cru wine without breaking the bank. However, even with the second label (and sometimes third label) sharing a close location to the Cru class property and benefiting from the input of their famous winemakers these wines seldom live up to their lauded fathers names.

Not so with Averous, in certain vintages holding a red hot flaming candle to Lynch-Bages and certainly the 2001 vintage has all the class, colour, texture and nose you'd want from top class Pauillac.

In the case of the Chateau Haut-Bages Averous 2001, currently selling with Virgin Wines at £27 we have a wine from a very good Claret vintage at less than half the price of the Lynch-Bages and at a great point in its drinking curve.

Chateau Lynch-Bages itself is, due to the failings of the 1855 system, a 5th growth property but it's an undisputed fact in wine circles that this classification falls well short of the châteaux obvious pedigree.

So what should you expect of a wine from Pauillac? For those who don't know Pauillac is an area within Bordeaux famous for producing top quality claret. Home to three of the five Bordeaux first growths Mouton-Rothschild, Latour and Lafite-Rothschild, Pauillac is considered the jewel in Bordeaux's red crown. Even within the appellation itself there is a great variance in the wine quality with "Pauillac" alone on the label no assurance of quality but certainly an assurance of price.

Just north of St Julien (whom frequent readers will know is my favourite area of Bordeaux) the best wines of Pauillac are in many ways similar to those of St Julien but true examples will carry clear notes of cigar-box, blackcurrent and pencil shavings. I'm sure the reader is aware of the prices currently attached to a 2001 first growth, but in case you haven't checked for a while or noticed the miserable fall of our pound then please have a brown paper bag ready before moving onto the next paragraph.

It's unusual for Wine90 to cover Bordeaux, but so impressed was I with this £27 2001 Chateau Haut-Bages Averous from the normally woefully dire range at Virgin Wines that I felt the need to tell any Virgin members that finally they have a top quality Bordeaux to buy for their subscription. Premier Cru Class Pauillac from Lafite in the 2001 vintage will set you back £365 a bottle. If I had the choice between 12 bottles of the Averous and 1 bottle of Lafite I would certainly choose Lafite but I'm a terrible snob. The smart money would be on Averous.

Chateau Haut-Bages Averous Pauillac 2001 - BUY - £27

Still somewhat dark in colour though a clear orange hue to the rim. On the nose this wine sings pure Pauillac and is as delightful a wine nose as I've had wafted my way in the last 6 months. Blackberries, cedar and super ripe. On the palate the wine was still quite tannic but firm with fruit continuing to a very full and fair length finish. A mid bodied wine that needs only 15 minutes out of the bottle. 89 Points

I haven't seen another wine writer rate this wine so highly so I'm out on a limb here but you gotta call 'em as you see 'em and I think the 2001 is reaching a peak. I highly recommend, any Brits (or anyone in fact!) reading this blog to please go out and try this wine and if you're not blown away, well, I'll send you a copy of Hugh Johnson's new book which the good people at Mitchell Beazley have sent me to review next week. So until next time, take care of yourself... and each other.

Where can I buy this Wine?

Europeans - Getraenkewelt-Weiser - €27.75

Americans - Sherry-Lehmann - $39.95

Brits - Virgin Wines - £27

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Recommend a wine for me to review! It's more fun when we get to interact! As long as it's available in the UK I'll try it. Any other comments about the blog or about this wine greatly received!