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3 wines to try, buy and put by
Sunday, January 11, 2009
TO TRY

Fattoria Le Terrazze Rosso Conero, DOC Marche 2005 (89), €19.95 from Berry Brothers and Rudd, Harry Street, Dublin 2 and nationwide at BBR.ie Bob Dylan devotees Antonio and Georgina Terni run a beautiful, mediumsized winery around six miles south of Ancona on Italy’s Adriatic coast. They make two very hip wines – Planet Waves, named after the Dylan album, and Visions of J, after the Visions of Johanna track on the Dylan masterpiece Blonde On Blonde.

This wine is the basic red, from which Visions of J is the irregularly-produced reserve vintage. It is made from the dominant red grape on Italy’s Adriatic coast, montepulciano d’Abruzzo, and a dash of sangiovese. A magnificently moody wine, it is all chocolate and strongly-perfumed red berries with good grippy tannins, but happily mid-bodied and 13.5 per cent. Like Dylan at his best, it is warm and expressive, yet fresh and cutting.

TO BUY

Paddy Borthwick Vineyards, Sauvignon Blanc, Wairarapa Valley, New Zealand, 2007 (90), €14 nationwide at Wines direct.ie, and the Wines Direct Wine Store, Lough Sheever Corporate Park, Mullingar Paddy Borthwick opts for one of the more unusual combinations of harvesting his grapes – not man and machine, but man and sheep.

The sheep nibble the leaf cover to reveal the fruit, while the machine harvester shakes them off (the grapes, not the sheep).

The sheep’s manure adds to the soil and the result is superb single vineyard sauvignon blanc. A touch of oak for a quarter of the crop, steel tank maturation and five months on lees all combine to produce a superlative, Sancerre-like zest, all gooseberry and lime rather than typical New World tropical fruits. And a dazzling price.

TO PUT BY

Clos du Val, Merlot, Napa Valley 2004 (91), €23.50 from O’Briens wine shops nationwide and at brienswines.ie Clos du Val is a French-owned Napa Valley outpost which was co-founded by two Frenchmen with strong Bordeaux backgrounds, John Goelet and Bernard Portet.

Portet grew up amid the vines of Cháteau Lafite, where his father was technical director. He spotted that some of the rich, dense soils of the Staggs Leap district in Napa were not unlike those in St Emilion and Pomerol. His merlot is a testament to that insight, and exhibits the very best characteristics of top flight Pomerol at a fraction of the price.

A glossy, insider’s bargain which should reward another two to four years patience, this is a superb, soft and exotic merlot, with glossy rich blackcurrant tones that mesh smoothly with chocolate and a flicker of spicy liquorice.

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