At its current offer price of €6.95 in Dunnes Stores, it’s an absolute steal.

The region where the wine is made is a small appellation called Cabardès, a mere 5 minutes drive from the medieval village of Carcassone.

Cabardès: where the Atlantic meets the Med.

What’s interesting is that the appellation calls for wines to be a blend of Atlantic  (i.e. those from Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec/Cot, Cabernet Franc) and Mediterranean grapes (Rhône, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre).

The mix in this red is as follows: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Syrah and Grenache. As to the percentages, I’ve lost the detail, but don’t sweat it, it changes from year to year.

How does it taste?

Bloody good is how. Gorgeous dark fruit, nice acidity and really smooth. Perfect with a bit of duck or cassoulet.

There’s also a rosé, if you feel like picking something up for the missus.

UK drinkers reading?

Also available from Majestic (I reckon they deserve a link as it was there I swiped the bottle shot).

Rioja is a large wine growing area in Spain covering over 120,000 acres and while there are some whites produced there, it’s an area best known for its reds.

Most reds can be a blend of any or all from Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo grapes.

In terms of style, oak plays a major role, where the wine can age in barrels for a number of years before being bottled and released. The classification of Rioja is divided into three main categories, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva, which spend increasing time in barrel and bottle respectively before being released to the market.

The following three are Reservas, which have spent three years ageing, of which at least one must be in oak.

1. Campo Viejo Reserva 2006 (around €13)

While there’s a move towards a bigger more international style of wine in parts of Rioja, this one is staunchly classic old world in style. Intense cherries and vanilla aromas, low tannins, high acidity and a silky texture. Very accessibly priced for anyone wishing to get a taste of what classic Rioja is all about.

Down to €10 in the O’Brien’s July Offers. Noice.

With food? Duck, pasta, tapas, turkey, salmon

Available from: O’Brien’s and most supermarkets.

2. Campo Burgo Reserva 2001 (around €19)

Another Reserva sticking firmly to its classical roots rather than pander to the high point scoring modern fruit bombs. Founded in 1889, the last ten years have seen major investment in the quality of wine produced. So much so that this could easily bee seen as a benchmark in classic Rioja.

Precise, clean and almost austere, almost in a Bordeaux Haut Médoc style, but with an intensity of fruit which will reward those looking for that classic Rioja style.

With food? Meaty pasta dishes, chorizo, duck

Available from: The Corkscrew, Dublin, Kelly’s Clontarf, Egan’s Drogheda,  and selected Londis & Spar stores nationwide

3. Baigorri Reserva 2003 (around €25)

Old vine Tempranillo grapes, carefully selected, spending longer time in contact with their skins (maceration) and aged 18 months in new French oak giving it far more concentration and potency than the two wines above. In addition to the usual Tempranillo flavours of cherry, there’s liquorice and pepper in the mix. Full bodied and rich . A Rioja for hedonists.

With food? Big ass BBQ

Available from: The Corkscrew, Wines on the Green, 64 Wines, Glasthule, online from spanishwines.ie and select independents.

While on the topic of Spain: Iberian wine tours

New gastrotour company Iberian wine tours have started up this year and offer tours to Ribera del Duero/Rueda, Priorat and Barcelona, Porto and the Douro,  Santiago,  Rias Baixas and Ribeira Sacra.

Two upcoming wine tours this autumn are to Ribera del Duero and Salamanca for 4 nights from Sept 29th and to Barcelona, Priorat and Cava country for 4 nights from October 25th. For more information visit www.iberianwinetours.com.

A version of this article first appeared in the Sunday Tribune, 4th July.

As luck would have it Håkan Eriksson, formerly of enowine, had started that day as shop manager so gave me the tour. If you haven’t been it’s a bit of a mecca for wine lovers, with some great stuff on the shelves. Great prices on classed growth Bordeaux, some of it old stuff and ready for drinking, which you don’t find too much of.

And Bordeaux is where I stayed, spotting a half bottle of Château Beaumont 1998 for about €8. The current vintage (2006) on the shelves of O’Brien’s is around €20, so €8 was pretty attractive so I took her home for the evening. Half bottles are great for that glass and a bit of wine and still feeling fresh as a daisy the next day

Lean, austere style, classic Medoc. Pencil shavings, blackcurrant, smooth and silky and a nice level of acidity, all of which could see it last another couple of years without fading. Interesting too, in that critics would normally recommend drinking the “lowly” Médocs with 4-5 years of vintage and this is going strong after twelve. Purrfect with a simple bit of sweet roast lamb.

The blend is one that varies on the vintage, but it’s classic left bank, with a big share of Merlot than I sensed when drinking.

• 52% Cabernet Sauvignon
• 43% Merlot
• 3% Petit Verdot
• 2% Cabernet Franc

Faith restored in Bordeaux? Getting there. Any Bordeaux rocking your boat?

First up the keenly priced Château d’Argadens 2005 “Bordeaux Superieur”, owned by the Sichel family, joint owners of the famed Margaux third growth, Château Palmer and of rising star, Château d’Angludet.

A bit of background

Château d’Argadens was bought by the Sichel family in 2002 (it was known as Château Salle d’Arche at the time). Since then they’ve overhauled the operations there, increasing density of plantings, modernising the cellars and making better wines.

Their hard work has been recognised a decent medal count at Le Concours des Grands Vins de France.

The is located about 40km south of St. Emilion, in Saint-André du Bois, in the Entre-Deux-Mers (between the two waters of the Dordogne and Garonne rivers).

Grapes

The grapes which go into the Château d’Argadens 2005 are as follows:

• Merlot (58%)
• Cabernet Sauvignon (35%)
• Cabernet Franc (7%)

Tasting experience

I first tried the Château d’Argadens about 15 months ago at a tasting but only got around to buying it last week as part of my “falling in love again” project.

On opening, none of the promised suppleness, complex berry fruit nor easy drinking. Iron filings. I moved straight on to a New Zealand Pinot Noir which was immediately satisfied.

After about 90 minutes when dinner (lamb) was served, I came back to the Argadens. No iron filings, this time – just a sublime with the food. Great fruit and an acidity which lifted the whole experience. Perfect example of what a bit of a breathe and good food can do for a wine. It was really starting to sing as we finished the bottle and definitely a wine to bring one back to Bordeaux.

Available from:

Available from: Curiouswines.ie, Fromvineyardsdirect.ie (’04 vintage) and Mitchell and Son from €12.95.

Related Links

• Sichel Family
• Google Map of the approximate location of Château d’Argadens

This week’s engagment was to the launch of a month long tapas festival. The launch was on the Odessa roof terrace, my time to climb and experience the dizzy heights of the Dame Court establishment.

Kevin Dundon of Dunbrody House fame cooked up a selection of tapas plates, developed by celebrated Basque chef, Martin Berasategui. Martin runs a three Mitchie Star restaurant just outside Spain’s culinary capital, San Sebastian (Donostia). The dishes were simple, the best food often is, and tasted wonderful. My complaint with tapas, is that it’s never enough. Better left wanting more than more than enough, I suppose.

Anyway, back to the festival itself and what’s involved.

Campo Viejo Fiesta De Tapas

The ridiculously good Campo Viejo from Rioja (see my wine of the week) has joined forces for some good old brand symbiosis.

The ying to their yang are a number of tapas establishments throughout Dublin and there’s a festival of tapas or “Campo Viejo Fiesta De Tapas” running throughout the month of June.

The participating venues are:

• Alfie’s Restaurant
• Bar Pinxto
• Porto House
• Salamanca Dame Street
• Salamanca St Andrew Street
• Shebeen Chic
• Pygmalion
• Havana Tapas.

Each of the venues will be providing a tasty and affordable tapas menu with plenty of Campo Viejo to wash it down.

Without further ado, for this installment of my irregular wine of the week I’m staying with an Iberian wine but skipping over the border to Spain and to reliable Rioja. I’m rarely disappointed with Rioja, particularly those in the “classic style”.

What do I mean by classic style? Typically, lighter to medium bodied wines with a good mouthwatering red berry and vanilla explosion.

The Campo Viejo crianza is the star this week and is one such wine. It was quite a while since I had it and for 10 yoyos, it’s a very decent example of what good Rioja is all about.

Medium bodied, light tannins, smooth silky texture with a high acidity, bursting with raspberry and a hint of vanilla. The lighter body style is perfect for the summer evenings and would go well with anything from tapas, salmon to lamb, pasta. Very versatile as a food matcher.

It also is a featured wine in provocative book, The Wine Trials 2010 where inexpensive wines are pitted blind against some exceeding expensive wines and you can guess which comes out on top. The tasting note from The Wine Trials,

The winemakers at Campo Viejo have clearly resisted the trend for syrupy fruit bombs; instead, they produce subtle, idiosyncratic wines. We recommend that anyone who’s never had a distinctly Old World wine try it. Red fruit, vegetables, barnyard, and even motor oil aromas; spicy dark cherry flavors.

Price: 9-10 yoyo

The good news is that it will only set you back around €9-€10 and it’s available from Tesco, O’Brien’s and many other supermarkets, convenience stores around the country.

Olé.

What? A red wine from Austria. The Austrians have been making reds all this time but we’ve been too busy getting a hard on for the groovy Grüner Veltliner (I count myself part of the group of erectees). The Austrians came to town a few months ago, but along with their Grüners, they brought their reds, Blaufrankisch, Zweigelt, St. Laurent and blends thereof.

St. Laurent, besides the excellent name, was the highlight for me and best in show the Glatzer St. Laurent which I’ve since revisited via O’Brien’s.

The closest description for the Glatzer I could come up with is good Burgundian Pinot Noir, wonderful alluring, enchanting aromas, with a gorgeous velvety, dusty texture, low tannins, streak of minerality and a high acidity.

This is made in Burgenland, a province in the east of the country. The vineyard is Altenberg or “high hill” in Roman town called Carnuntum (which I visited when I was a lad about 18 years ago with a certain wine perv). Carnumtum is half way between Wien (Vienna) and Preßburg, better known now as the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava. At the time I was there, the split of the Czech and Slovak republics was a twinkle in a new nation’s father’s eye but I digress.

Many of the St. Laurent’s presented at the Austrian tasting were of similar style and quality.

But if one tires of the cheaper Pinots from Chile or New Zealand, then this St. Laurent is a suitable alternative to those aspiring to Burgundian nirvana.

Availability

There’s not alot of this elusive stuff about, the Glatzer St. Laurent is available from O’Brien’s for €21.45.

Others apparitions of St. Laurent in Dublin though not yet transubstanitated? Look to Mitchell’s, The Corkscrew and Fallon & Byrne.

Seek it out with my blessing.

Tschüβ!

Bordeaux en primeur doesn’t need me and I don’t need it. The point is this, though, the production and taste have no correlation with the final prices – it’s all debt servicing on large mortgages, supply and demand economics, and what Russian oil oligarchs or wealthy Chinese industrialists want to drink is their own business.

‘Nuff said on Bordeaux for the moment. Here are three reds, born in “Bordeaux”, but raised in the brave new world, Australia, South African and Chile. All great examples of what the New World can do with a focus on terroir.

1. Grosset “Gaia”, Clare Valley, South Australia 2006 (around €33)

A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. If anyone remains unconvinced of Australia’s ability to produce fine wines of elegance, finesse and structure, then they need to try this stunning red.

It’s made in the Clare Valley in South Australia where there’s a real focus on terroir – aspect, soils etc. and which is arguably better known for its Riesling.

Great restraint, purity and focus, balanced fruit, mineral backbone and the graphite/pencil shavings characteristic of a good claret.

While price may look a little steep it’s far less expensive than a Bordeuax of similar quality. I tried this in Ely last week and was really impressed, though perhaps a couple of more years rest will see it drinking even better.

Available from: Le Caveau, Kilkenny (though it seems to be the ’03) Wineonline.ie, 64 Wine, Glasthule and Ely wine bars.

2. Meerlust “Rubicon” 2005, Stellenbosch, South Africa (around €35)

Meerlust has been producing world class wines for quite a while now and has been in the hands of the Myburgh family since 1756. Hannes Myburgh was in Dublin a few weeks ago to present some the wines from his family’s estate.

Another blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot with each batch grown on soils most suited. Read into this a real focus and commitment to terroir – knowing their soils and geography and matching them to the optimal growing conditions for the different grapes in their blend.

When Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the Roman empire changed for ever, there was no going back. In many ways this was the same for Meerlust Estate and South African wine. They can and do produce wines to rival the best from anywhere.

Dark fruits and minerality on the nose leading to a full rich body. There’s still some youthfulness in this wine which suggests ageing potential. Bottom of the wardrobe for 2-3 years.

Available from: The Corkscrew, Dublin 2, O’Brien’s, Gibney’s Malahide, Terroirs, Dublin 4, On the Grapevine, Dalkey and other independents nationwide.

3. Escudo Rojo 2004, Maipo Chile 2004 (around €20)

I picked this out as a low cost accompaniment for dinner for 20 in a restaurant back in December and everyone was impressed with the wine, if not my good taste, ahem.

The link to Bordeaux is not just in the grapes (there’s some Syrah in there too), but in Baron Philippe de Rothschild who is behind this project. You could well be drinking a classed growth. Like the wines above, it shares the following characteristics: elegance, structure, restraint, purity and austerity – everything classic claret lovers look for in their wine.

Available from: Clada Wines, Galway; The Corkscrew, Chatham St, D2; Fahy’s, Ballina; Food Room, Clontarf; Gibney’s, Malahide; Jus de Vine, Portmarnock; O’Birds, Navan; Shevlin’s, Rathfarnham

Your thoughts? Can new world match the best of Bordeaux?

Background to Red Nose Wine

Gary Gubbins started his career as an engineer. After stints living in Paris and further south in Provence, he embarked on his most ambitious project, to create Red Nose Wine, his warehouse in Clonmel twinned with ecommerce site, rednosewine.com. Read more about Gary in my profile piece, Introjuicing: Red Nose Wine.

Gary is squarely focused on family run vineyards where the wines reflect the land they come from and the people who make them.

Here are three good examples.

1. Château Margüi Coteaux Varois en Provence AOC, 2007 €18

This life of this wine shares similarities with the Red Nose Wine story. The Provence vineyard had fallen into disrepair in the 1970s. In 2000, Philippe Guillanton, then CEO of Yahoo in France, decided to change tack and resurrect the 1,100 hectare derelict estate. Richly flavoured, bursting with dark berries, vanilla, coffee and liquorice. Delicious.

With food? BBQ, cheese or sip on its own and meditate on the complex layers of flavour.

2. Moulin de Gassac “Albaran” Languedoc, 2008 €12

From the producers of the Grand Cru of the Languedoc, “Mas de Daumas Gassac” where the estate is organically farmed and grapes handpicked.  A blend of Cabernet, Mourvèdre and Syrah, and full of bright red berries and soft silky tannins with just a pinch of spice. Gorgeous gumption in a glass.

With food? Perfect with lamb.

3. Mas de Daumas Gassac White 2008 – €38

The Grand Cru itself, albeit the white, made from Viognier, Chardonnay, Petit Manseng, Chenin Blanc and a host of other lesser known grapes. Gorgeous aromatics lead to a rich buttery tropical flavours. This is a white which will reward 20 minutes in a decanter to fully open up. A true superstar of the south.

With food? It’s so versatile it could go with anything from wine’s foodmatching nemesis, Asparagus to goat’s cheese or fruit tarts.

All wines available from Red Nose Wine in Clonmel, some good independents and online at www.rednosewine.com

With the winter having made a brief comeback over the last couple of weeks, keep those fresh zesty whites on ice in favour of rich, warming reds. Of course, that’s what I would have said until I saw the sunshine today. But let’s wait until there’s a run of it before we declare winter over.

I’ve selected three from the McLaren Vale (via Simply Wines) in South Australia to keep you going until Spring truly arrives.

All three are available online from simplywines.ie or offline from the Simply Wines warehouse in the Ballyogan Business Park on the Ballyogan Road, Dublin 18. For those interested, I’ve just published an interview with Simply Wines master vintner, Ian Dornan.

1. Battle of Bosworth Shiraz Viognier, McLaren Vale 2007 (€15)

My wine of the week last week and deservedly so. A northern Rhône style of spicy red Syrah grapes with the white Viognier fermented together. Meaty, spicy liquorice flavours softened by the floral, aromatic flavours and silky texture of Viognier.

With food: beef or mature cheddar

2. Pertaringa Two Gentlemens Grenache McLaren Vale 2005 (€19)

Grenache grown on its own roots in some of the oldest soils on the planet. Powerful nose of cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper. The palate follows in a similar vein with a rich spices underpinning dark fruit. Christmas cake in a glass. Stunningly good.

With food: Went perfectly with a rich warming lamb rogan josh, spices bought from greensaffron.com

3. Pertaringa Understudy Cabernet Petit Verdot McLaren Vale 2005 (€15)

The second from the Pertaringa stable is full-bodied blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Concentrated blackcurrants, vanilla and cinnamon with soft sweet tannins. Rich, complex and beautifully balanced.

With food: new spring lamb