Islay: Whisky Wilderness

For my next post I am going to write up a trip I took last week with a couple of friends to Islay, an island off the West Coast of Scotland. Islay is right next to Jura, which is known for its hunting, and the main attraction on this more fertile island is its whiskies. There are eight distilleries on Islay and the distinguishing characteristic that most people will recognise even if they haven't visited is the peated nature of the spirit. This trip was to appreciate smoked malting and peated whisky - something not found normally with other whiskies I've been used to on the East Coast, such as those from Speyside.

On our first day we woke up early and drove to the ferry at Kennacraig in Argyll. The journey across to Port Askaig took about 2 hours and was stunning - we had perfect weather for the crossing and anyone can appreciate the natural beauty of sailing up the tidal channel between Islay and Jura. Immediately after our arrival we drove down a tiny single track road to our first port of call, Caol Ila Distillery, which turned out to be closed for renovation. A mile or two north however, Bunnahabhain was open. The first thing we noticed when we arrived was that the whole area smelled deeply of malting - a welcome smell at 11 in the morning! After a brief tasting we moved on to Bruichladdich on the other side of the north part of the island, a mere 8 or so miles. With a view across the sun-soaked Loch Indaal towards Bowmore we settled down to a tasting from an incredibly friendly staff. Bruichladdich is, unlike many distilleries, privately owned and run still. Although this naturally doesn't make its whisky better or worse, it appealed to me in some sort of sentimental way. The enormous selection of whisky, and even gin and rum, was impressive and certainly eye-opening for someone who knows very little about detailed whisky tasting. Stand-out drams turned out to be their 16 year old Bordeaux cask selection and their 'Octomore'. For the 16s they have casked them in 5 different types of wood, from Pauillac, Margaux, Sauternes, Pomerol and Medoc - the difference in sweetness and depth of flavour purely from the wood ageing was amazing and certainly reflected the characteristics of the wine the regions produce. Definitely one to try for you wine enthusiasts out there! The Octomore we learned is the world's most heavily peated whisky. I was certainly a bit apprehensive about trying this because my only previous experience of peat has been Laphroaig which has never sat that well. Laphroaig and other peated whiskies have a classification of about 30-40parts per million, while this Octomore the lady proudly let us know was 167. With a alcohol percentage of about 60% Cask Strength it was a formidable whisky and worth trying for the experience - it is incredibly intense and quite incredible how they manage to produce something so balanced and so strong.

Following Bruichladdich we saw a bit of the incredible island itself, visiting the remote Machrie Bay on the Western shoreline, with the newest distillery on the island nestled on a farm nearby, Kilchoman. The setting was incredibly serene. Probably due to the time of year it was deserted, but we got the sense that even in the height of summer it would still retain its rugged, remote wilderness. To finish off the day we enjoyed a dram of Bowmore 15 Year Old in the Bowmore Distillery tasting room overlooking the Loch from the other side as Bruichladdich.

Our second and final day on Islay was more blustery and overcast - what we had been expecting from a Scottish Island! We started by driving out to the Mull of Oa, the south western tip of the island which is the most remote part with little more than a scattering of farm houses over ten square miles. On the edge of the cliff there is an American monument to a sunken troop ship lost in 1918 and in the wind it provided a surreal backdrop which seemed to typify the island: its rugged nature and sheer remoteness.

After our dose of culture and exercise we walked from our hotel in Port Ellen eastwards with a view to tasting as the 'big three' of Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg. Lagavulin turned out to be closed, but we managed to get our fill of smokey peated whisky at the other two. Laphroaig provided us with a great museum of the distillery and generous tasting drams, but with less of the passion that was evident at Bruichladdich. We had heard that Ardbeg was the best for visitors, however, and we were not disappointed when we trekked the 3 miles out to it. After lunch in the cafe we took a tour of the distillery itself which was extremely informative and detailed the 5 main whiskies they sell today. The most interesting of these is the Alligator which uses charred casks to provide depth of flavour and smokiness to it. The inside of the barrels are burned to about an inch deep to the point where they crack like an alligator skin. The difference is marked from the rest of their whiskies which are all based on the same 10 Year Old - there is a much more complex and developed flavour which isn't harsh or aggressive like other peated whisky I have tried, such as the Laphroaig.

Overall the trip taught me about both whisky and the Western Isles: I learned about the distillation process and about how much peat can affect taste, depending on how smoked it is, and about the differences in each distillery's styles. But more amazing was the island itself: it was simply stunning. The southern coast was rocky and rugged, with enormous cliffs on one end, bays on the other. The north was lush and covered in hidden beaches and beautiful sheer drops to the sea. In terms of it being a visitor 'attraction', I would recommend it as a destination to anyone. The people were extremely friendly, especially at the distilleries. They seem to love being there and working with something so historically rooted there. It was also cheap and easy to get to - the only problem was the issue of the designated driver when heading to the distilleries!

Stand-out Islay whiskies from the trip that are worth ordering when you are next stuck in a bar for what to order would be Ardbeg's Alligator, Bruichladdich's 16YO Bordeaux Casks, The Octomore or Bruichladdich's 'Peat'. Happy drinking and do visit for yourselves.

'Grand Vin de Bordeaux': Worth the prestige and expense?

I've had a lot of people come up to me over the past few weeks at wine events saying that they can only tell if what they are drinking is wine or not when given a taste. To someone who loves wine and knows about production, geography and varietals this seems a bit ridiculous, but it is something I understand. Until a couple of years ago I too could certainly not tell whether a wine was Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc, or whether it was corked. Because of this paying more than the standard bottle shop/supermarket price for wine seems like an alien concept to many. Should it be? Recently I have had the pleasure of being able to try a 1990 Chateau Margaux and a 1995 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild (both between 600 and 800 pounds) and it made me think about what is worth paying for.
Obviously as a student I do not have the money to be splashing on 800 pound bottles of wine, but hypothetically would it be worth it?
The Margaux was brought in to the restaurant I work at by a group of American businessmen. The bottle was an Imperial (6 litres) and features in the display picture for this blog. It was decanted into 8 decanters on the table with about a decanter's worth of thick sediment left in the bottle. It made quite an impression and was simply a stunning addition to the evening. The group left the waiters about a full decanter for us to enjoy after the shift which worked out at about 1100-1200 pounds of wine - not a bad tip at all! It turned out to be one of the most mind-blowing wines that I have ever tried. As soon as the bottle was opened intense and deep aromatics were noticeable all around. When tried after opening, the palate is tight and concentrated following a perfect blend of smells from all over the world - notes of delicate spices mix seamlessly with truffles, ripe fruits and dark licorice. The taste is intense and lengthy, lasting for two full minutes and recurring for the next ten. Once left for a couple of hours the development is marked. The nose becomes dominated by deep dark fruits, particularly cherry. The spices and other flavours hover in the background adding complexity and depth. On the palate the wine is full and creamy, with a viscous thickness to add to the sweet tannic grip. The length of the taste is just as long 3 or 4 hours after opening as it was immediately afterwards.
This Chateau is regarded as one of the premiers chateaux in all of Bordeaux and I can see why - this year is just reaching its mature drinking age at 21/22 years old and the composure it holds suggests many more years of drinking ahead. This vintage has consistently scored between 95 and 100 points and that is certainly what I would rate it.
The Lafite-Rothschild I tasted 10 hours after it had been opened and although there was a hint of it turning from over-exposure to air, there certainly was a lot left in the tank. As one would expect from a wine so geared towards ageing this vintage was young: noticeably so. There was a tightness that left a few flavours hidden within the wine, that will open with age. Having said that, the complexity and balance is remarkable. It was not as smooth and sweet as the Margaux, and had a great deal of smokey, tobacco meatiness to it. This matched well with its truffled earthiness and dark fruit spice. The length of the wine on the palate was again extraordinary, lasting a good minute despite the length of time after it had been opened. The Chateau is situated in Pauillac in Bordeaux and is generally regarded as one of the top 5, along with Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Latour and Chateau Lynches-Bages. It is near impossible to fault in any way and also scores into the high 90s at tastings.
For both of these wines once they are tasted it is very difficult to find a reason why one would not buy them in a hypothetical situation. Because of the complexity of the flavours, the depth and length of the taste on the palate and history behind them there really is no way anyone could turn them down in favour any others. It seems then that 'Grand Vin' is worth the price - it still has its place.

Dinner at The Seafood Restaurant St Andrews

          For my second post I will write up a dinner I had last week at the Seafood Restaurant St Andrews, a 3 Rosette restaurant overlooking the stunning West Sands beach, next door to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the 18th green of the Old Course. I was with three of my best friends, Graylyn Loomis, Matt Birchall and Jamie Forlan, who all share a passion for fine dining experiences, wine and whisky. The meal was a sort of welcome back to university event for us and for that reason we decided to go all out, within reason. 

          The wine I had chosen for the evening was a combination from their list and my own collection. We started with a glass of the house Delamotte Brut Champagne and followed it up with a 2010 Joseph Drouhin Saint-Véran with our starters. With the intermediate course I brought along a 2007 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener-Sonnenuhr Spätlese, to be followed by a 2008 Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir from Oregon's Williamette Valley. With dessert we had the house Tokaji, and finished the dinner with cheese accompanied by a 2008 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel from Sonoma County, California. Afterwards one of my friends Graylyn (some of whose pictures are in this post) provided us with the Royal and Ancient's No.1 Blend Scotch Whisky to enjoy with a cigar.

          Now I should mention that I work at the Seafood Restaurant and this helped a great deal. I had been before, but never for a late dinner with wines such as these. I believe dining out has everything to do with the experience and this restaurant certainly provides that - the link to their website is on the left hand side of this page and they have a facebook page also, search for 'The Seafood Restaurants'.

First Course

          After enjoying bread and an amuse bouche of salmon tartare with the champagne, we moved on the the Joseph Drouhin. The Saint-Véran is a great entry level wine for the taster trying to get to grips with Burgundy and the different styles of Chardonnay it produces. It is a very recent appellation and is generally regarded as being between Pouilly-Fuissé and Macon-Villages in terms of quality. The Drouhin is not expensive either - priced at around 13-17 pounds per bottle (restaurant around 30-40). As ours was young it was showing a very floral nose without too much oakiness to it. On tasting it is immediately recognisable as a wine with a great deal of complexity and structure to it, unusually so for its price. There was a hint of nutty oaky depth and sweetness to it by the back of the palate which was beautifully curtailed with subtle acidity on the finish and the citrus notes still evident because of its youth. I was accompanying a shellfish ravioli with crispy leeks and a fennel foam and it matched the strength of the heat in the sauce beautifully. Others were eating a smoked salmon starter and enjoyed the mixture of the complexity wrapping the saltiness of the capers on the dish. 

Picture from http://www.drouhin.com/fr/vins/saint-veran-2010.php#/FicheVin/88/2010

Second Course

           For our second course we shared a cold seafood platter. This is one of the Seafood Restaurant's main showpieces. In it we had a healthy portion of mussels, twelve crevettes, a lobster, a crab and six oysters, all locally sourced and delivered daily. In my opinion the perfect match for sweet meats such as lobster and crab (as detailed below!) is a semi-sweet German Riesling. While Maximin Grünhaus is my favourite vineyard in the region, Joh. Jos. Prüm is a very close second, merely for cost reasons. The Wehlener-Sonnenuhr Spätlese can be bought for around 25-30 pounds and is definitely worth it. As the name suggests it is from the Wehlener-Sonnenuhr vineyards in the Mittelmosel where they enjoy the most sun of the Mosel region. This means that the grapes ripen easier and the wines are often more full-bodied. This wine proved to be a hit with everyone at the table - the chilled seafood matched the sweetness of the wine and allowed the fruity flavours to develop in ways one can only experience. Although it is a little too early to be opening a wine of this calibre only four years after it was made, the flavours had sufficiently developed to provide a truly stunning combination of ripe pear, peach and balancing acidity.  

Third Course

Picture courtesy of Graylyn Loomis

For our third course we returned to the menu proper and ordered a main. I had sea bass with moules marinieres, samphire and sauteed potatoes with pancetta, as did two of the others. Matt had pan-fried scallops with a apple puree and pork belly. For this combination of seafood and meat with thick sauces and purees we needed something with more body than a white can offer without it being a 200 pound oaked Burgundy Chardonnay. I chose an Oregon Pinot Noir which continues to be one of my favourite wines I've ever tried. As soon as the cork is popped the nearby area immediately is hit by the aroma - an deeply fruity sweetness with hints of blossom. This is only intensified once poured into the glass. It has the complexity and finesse of a Burgundian Pinot Noir, but of one that is a far higher price bracket. This can be purchased for around 30 pounds. It is very light in colour yet packs a classically american punch. There are hints of vanilla, dark fruits and strawberries with a lasting taste that tapers into a smooth yet lengthy, gripping finish. The tannins more than adequately paired with the salty fatty pancetta, pork and scallop meat, while the light blossomy fruit matched the fish and apple puree. This turned out to be one of the best matches I have ever experienced.   

Fourth and Fifth Courses

Picture courtesy of Graylyn Loomis

          Course number four was relatively standard fare - the desserts were exquisitely made and the Tokaji was fitting. There was nothing tremendously outstanding about it, however. It matched well but was too sticky and sweet for my taste - that seems to be a recurring theme for me and Tokaji, so I shall move on to the cheese and the sixth wine. This is perhaps becoming somewhat of a highlight real of my favourite vineyards and wines and this one is no different: my favourite producer in California. It is Ridge whose Monte Bello Cabernets have been stunning for the last twenty years and more. We enjoyed a Lytton Springs Zinfandel which is from a little further north than the Santa Cruz mountains, in Sonoma County. A great deal of the time Californian Zinfandel can be way over the top to the point were it is no longer enjoyable and it is hard to find a match for it in terms of food. Ridge seem to have found a formula at Lytton Springs. It is a big wine for sure, but one that is subtle, one that develops once decanted, and one that I have chosen a few times over Cabernet blends. It provides everything a Zinfandel should: peppery spice, deep black fruits, hints of a cherry-like sweetness. On top of that, despite being extremely young (this vintage will last for quite a few years in the cellar) it shows great complexity and a lingering full-bodied and well-balanced finish. With it we ate a strong scottish blue cheese, a pungent Morangie brie and a Kintyre cheddar. Personally I thought it matched best with the cheddar, as a Cabernet would. It brought out the taste of crunchy fresh apples a crisp fruit juiciness on the palate before taking over the finish and leaving the mouth with a tannic grip that wasn't overpowering and lasted a good 30 seconds. 

Picture courtesy of Graylyn Loomis

All in all it turned out to be one of the best dining experiences I have had - due to a combination of excellent company, stunning food, exquisite wine and incredible whisky (which will be detailed in a later post). Do get in touch if you'd like to know more about them, or where to find them! I hope you get the chance to try them at some point.

German Riesling: An Overlooked Gem

I have chosen here to write not about one single bottle to start, but about a vineyard and what I have had the pleasure of trying from them. These are not your typical wines nowadays and I would be willing to bet that more than a few of you at a restaurant would turn your nose up at the suggestion of one, or would completely overlook the section of the wine list without a second glance. This in my opinion is a tragedy!

The country is Germany, the region Mosel and the grape Riesling. The vineyard is Maximin Grünhaus, situated in the picturesque village of Mertesdorf a couple of miles up a feeding stream of the Mosel river. Nowadays the Riesling grape is undergoing somewhat of a revival in the New World, especially in New Zealand and Australia. Alsace is an Old World location where the grape is very popular and it produces a decent, and at times extremely good, complex, dry wine. These are very nice wines and go very well as a replacement for the regular white suspects from the Loire and Marlborough, especially if they originate from Domaine Ostertag.

At Maximin Grünhaus they have been making wine in the old style for hundreds of years and continue a tried and tested method that produces the best Riesling available, in my opinion, in the whole world of wine.

The site has been producing wine for over 1000 years and a significant proportion of the vines are that age. This, coupled with the intense minerality of the soil from the incredibly fertile Mosel river region, lends the makers an unrivaled advantage built into the very fabric of the terroir they are tending. For the last 100 years or so the same family has been in charge of it, the von Schuberts, and they all have been incredibly passionate about what they produce.

On the estate there are three vineyards: the Abtsberg (which originally supplied wine to the nearby monastery's Abbot), the Herrenberg (which supplied to the choirmasters) and the Bruderberg (which supplied the monks). The first two produce the most significant and award-winning wines today, the Abtsberg especially. Each of these produce wines of different levels of sweetness, classified by German wine regulations as Kabinett (least sweet), Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese (most sweet). I shall detail the Abtsberg Kabinett, and briefly the Auslese below.

The Kabinett can be bought for between 20 and 25 pounds and should be the first German Riesling anyone tries – it is the perfect entry level wine with the right food pairing. The general rule is that the more sweet, the more expensive. The Auslese can be bought for around 30, while the Trockenbeerenauslese (which is extremely rare) cannot be found for less than about 400 per bottle.

The first thing anyone can notice when the Kabinett is poured is the straw colour of the wine. There may even be a slightest hint of fizzy air bubbles clinging to the side of the glass if left for a couple of minutes. On the nose there are rich and ripe apples, pears with a hint of pineapple also. Always in the background there is a hint of acidity which would let a taster know that it was the driest of the classified Rieslings. On the palate the initial taste is sugary fruitiness. There is a hint of effervescence on the tongue followed by an extremely flowery, delicate and appley taste. As soon as it is swallowed, the finish begins. It is very long-lasting and the wine continues to develop, showing its dry acidity which cuts the residual sugar and sweetness and gives the taster hints of lime and minerality. It is incredibly well-developed, well-rounded and complex and the combination of flavours mix subtly throughout the process. Recently I have drunk the 2007 with various dishes. Scallops with an apple purée worked very well, as did oysters and lobster. The stand-out dish however was boiled crab with a chilled orange consommé. The sweetness of the crab meat matched perfectly in the mouth with the residual sugar in the Riesling, while the tart consommé at the back of the palate was equaled by the acidity and lengthy finish of the wine.

The Auslese is more of a dessert wine and the restaurant I worked in over the summer served it by the glass in accompaniment to their cheese list. I've had the chance to try the 2005 as well as the 2007 and 2008. The 2005 is much more developed, but won't last much more than the next few years – drink it while you can! It is exquisite with blue cheese of any kind, the saltier the better – the effervescence wraps the blue well enough to then let the residual sugar give that dessert wine feel afterwards. It isn't quite full or sweet enough to be a replacement for dessert wines with sweet dishes, but is unrivaled with cheese.