The lowdown on the nose

Not much subtlety here, but rather a dried apricot/peach component on the nose  – not the fruit, more like the really pungent Haribo jellies.

The lowdown on the mouth

Slightly buttery peach with a little bit of yeastiness thrown in too. It went really well with scallops on Clonakiity black pudding with truffle mash.

Where and how much?

€13.50 from Sweeney’s Wine, Hart’s Corner, Dublin 9

The lowdown

• To look at: Deep, dark ruby with quite an amount of sediment – what looks like big bits of grape skin.
• Night 1: Smells and tastes of leather, black cherry
• Night 2: Leather has mellowed out, more vanilla with black cherry and blackcurrant
• Overall: really delicious, highly recommended

Details on the Lo Piot 2002

• Made by Francesca Vicent Robert
• Interesting factoid: on the label it’s DOQ, or Denominació d’Origen Qualificada – Catalan rather than the Spanish Denominación de Origen Calificada)
• 90% Garnacha (Grenache), 10% Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1500 cases made (18,000 bottles)
• 12 Months in French Oak Barrels
• 14.5% ABV
• Price: about €22

Priorat, the area

Priorat is located in Catalonia. The “Lo Piot” is made in Gratallops (see on a Google map).

Plenty more to read about Priorat on doqpriorat.org

Availability

• The “Lo Piot” from Priorat is available from Spanishwines.ie
• Lilliput Stores, Stoneybatter

Maple Syrup

Price & Availability

€16.99 from Enowine, IFSC

The label

Pear

Peach

Pineapple

Highly recommended

Availability & price

€16.99 from Enowine.

More on Marsanne?

From the wineaustralia website,

Tahbilk’s history with Marsanne can be traced back to the 1860s with the sourcing of White Hermitage cuttings from the St Hubert vineyard. The grape in fact was Marsanne and although none of these plantings have survived, Tahbilk still produces Marsanne from plantings dating back to 1927, some of the oldest in the world. Marsanne has immense individuality of flavour, good body and well worth trying if you want something different. A long and distinguished pedigree for this wine throughout the vintages, having claimed four trophies and twenty-five gold.

Having barely scraped through the ravages of phylloxera, and trying times for the industry, the fortunes of the Tahbilk estate were turned around by Eric Purbrick who was the first to market bottled Australian wine under its varietal name. One of the world’s rarest grape varieties with its origins in the Northern Rhone and Hermitage regions of France, it is grown in only three other countries with Tahbilk having the largest, single holding of Marsanne in the world. Tahbilk Marsanne enjoys a dedicated worldwide following due to its marvellous character and complexity and ability to team wonderfully with foods at all stages of the wine’s development

Now some background for the wine nerds

Grapes: Made from Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Moristel (a local grape, see below).

According to the winery’s website, bodegapirineos.com

Fermentation takes place at controlled temperature( 28ºC) during one week followed by a maceration on the skins for a further 2 weeks. This wine is aged in American oak casks for 12 months and the maturation is completed by a one year period rest in bottle at suitable temperature and humidity.

On the Moristel grape..

This is a grape native to the Somontano region and along with the Parraleta, forms part of the valuable cultural heritage of the area. Until now this grape had only been used in blends with other grapes to give it more body, colour and life in the bottle. Firstly with Parraleta and fundamentally with Tempranillo, these grapes have participated in the elaboration of some of the best Somontano Reds such as Señorio de Lazán or The Montesierra range.Up until now no wines have been commercialised using only the Moristel grape, but now after a profound working study of this variety and a careful selection of only the best Somontano vines of the variety, those which were over 15 years of age, are we able to offer a personalised varietal, unique in the world.

Where can you get it?

I bought it in Lilliput Stores, Arbour Hill, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7 for €13, though it’s available on spanishwines.ie for €11.99

Smell…

Taste…

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