Weird Wines, Strange Spirits, and Six Flights of Stairs
06-Nov-08 - There's a company which advertises cooking wines and spirits in YES CHEF!, and I visited their stand at the Restaurant Show. It's called Gourmet Classic, based in Dorset, and they were showing an astonishing array of products - Port, Madeira, Marsala, red and white wines, liqueurs and spirits, all of which apparently pay no excise duty or VAT because they're classified as condiments. The products are, according to the company, made in the same way as the traditional product, but at a lower strength and with additions which render them undrinkable but still perfectly usable for cooking. Their representative, Angus I'Anson didn't go into detail about the process but he did seem to be causing considerable interest. Later in the day I was in the Jacquart Champagne lounge and bumped into fellow wine-writer Caspar Auchterlonie, who'd found something similar: wines and spirits for cooking but in this case the spirits were in the form of a gel, made by a company called Cuisinewine. This was a sector of the catering trade I hadn't encountered before. When I was in the wine trade there were generic wines and spirits for cooking, of course, and we supplied them to our restaurant customers, but they were always full strength and paid all the taxes. I was quite fascinated to find out more and, shortly afterwards, I was invited by Cuisinewine to a lunch in London to try them out.
As it happened, the invitation to lunch was on the same day as a Hungarian Wine masterclass hosted by the lovely Caroline Gilby, which started at 3:30 pm, so I had the opportunity to do both.
The lunch was at Deep restaurant, which is on the Boulevard at Imperial Wharf ("Where's that, guv? Never 'eard of it") just the other side of Chelsea Harbour. This is a smart development with some up-market shops and apartments which (according to Caspar, who lives nearby) are still fetching £500,000 apiece. It's one of those minimalist yuppie places with pale colours, huge windows and a rather pleasant terrace overlooking the Thames (but a bit too cold for sitting out in November). The chef-patron, Christian Sandefeldt, showed us how he used the products in various ways - a moules marinière (my colleague Sue Prain told me that it was delicious but, of course, I can't eat molluscs), a slice of belly-pork in red wine and a crèpe-suzette flambéed in Calvados, both of which worked extremely well. The Calvados gel simply melted in the pan and then burst into flames on cue. Johan Allert from Cuisinewine explained that the wines are made in the normal way at a winery in Extremadura (in fact Bodegas San Marcos in Almendralejo - they served the red Campobarro with lunch), and then it's sent to Sweden (the company's head office) where it goes through a special filtering process to reduce the alcohol to about 5% abv. Again, they didn't go into detail about how it's done, but they did say that after filtration they add salt to the wine (a very small amount) to 'denature' it, presumably on the basis that most cookery involves a certain amount of salt anyway. We were invited to taste the wines as an experiment and they were rather viscous and noticeably salty: not much chance of the KP slipping a bottle in his bag on the way home. The spirits were, we were assured, the full 40% abv but 'jellified' and very viscous indeed. Once again, they weren't too keen to tell us how they did it without changing the strength, but it seemed to work.
Onward to lunch and an interesting tasting menu. First course was an assiette of foie-gras - four tasting samples done in different ways with four different products, including an astonishing 'tiramisù' (yes, with foie-gras) with the Calvados. I have to say that I could not tell the difference between the various sauces and those I've had before made with the 'regular' wines and spirits. Next up was a skate wing 'bourgignon' done with the red wine, and this was the one dish that didn't work for me - the skate wing was beautifully done but the sauce (or the combination of the sauce and the cooking process) was just too salty, and I couldn't eat it. Osso bucco (with a delicious risotto) came next, and this was perfectly tender and the sauce suitably rich and I wouldn't have known that it wasn't made with a 'regular' wine. With this we drank the very respectable Campobarro Tempranillo Ribera del Guadiana, having previously enjoyed an excellent Alsace Gewurztraminer followed by a red Cheverny (Pinot Noir and Gamay) which, I had to confess, I'd never had before. I've had white Cheverny, perhaps most notably at À La Marmite Dieppoise in Dieppe, but this was my first taste of the red. And I thought I'd been around.
There was a dessert - plum financier with white chocolate and Amaretto ice cream - but, as always seems to happen to me when I'm eating in London, I had to leave before it arrived. They did, however, very generously give me samples of small bottles of three of the spirits - I'll let you know how we get on with them - as well as a full-size bottle of the white and the red Campobarro.
Onward, then to Mosimann's Club on West Halkin Street for the Hungarian tasting. I'd been there before but remember it rather differently from how it is now. One thing I certainly didn't remember was SIX flights of stairs to get up to the 'belfry' at the top. It's a very attractive room, sponsored by Mappin and Web, but without oxygen I was gasping for the first few minutes. The event was hosted by a new outfit called Mephisto Wine Merchants, based in Golders Green, and I found myself sitting between the feisty Lilyane Weston, a fellow wine writer, and the enigmatically beautiful and exotically named Solangela Tangarife from Mephisto. I was, of course, late and the presentations had started.
I was particularly interested in this tasting as I went to Hungary (albeit eight or nine years ago) and was very impressed with the wines, which seemed to have great potential, and I wanted to see what had happened since. I had done a couple of consultancy tastings of Hungarian wines in the meantime, but availability in the UK still seemed to be at supermarket levels. It seems that this new company aims to change this.
There were three wineries represented: Takler in Szekszárd and Bock and Malatinszky in Villány-Siklós. Each one was introduced by a representative of the winery, and we tasted five wines from each. The general standard was very high, and the style very Hungarian: big, austere wines with plenty of structure and dark notes of Hungarian oak. They are essentially 'food wines' and, indeed, canapés were provided but, having just come from a three-course lunch, I didn't indulge. My 17/20 and 18/20 picks are these:
TAKLER
Kékfrankos Reserve 2007, 16 months in oak, £12 - spicy, soft-fruit nose//big structure with firm tannins and a long, austere but elegant finish. 17/20
Cabernet Franc Reserve 2006, up to 24 months in oak, £18 - some almost strawberry richness//richness, structure, power and that characteristic austere length. 17/20. Takler says he thinks that the Cabernet-Franc "has a great future in Hungary", and on this (and later) showing(s) he's not wrong.
BOCK
Portugieser 2007, no oak, £7.50 - 'inky' tannins and damsony fruit//lovely, bright fruit, nice balance of fruit and tannins, delicious. 17/20
Syrah 2006, 18 months in oak, £18 - dark peppery spice, some richness//more spice, distinct tannins but the fruit is there, long. 17/20
Bock Cuvée 2000 (Bordeaux mix), 18 months in oak, £17.50 - big aromatics, some hi-end fruit//big structure, big tannins, big fruit but it all comes together, long. 18/20
Cabernet-Franc Selection 2006, 24 months in oak, £18 - deep, dark fruit, strawberry character but still austere//good, big, powerful fruit, long and elegant, but still austere. 18/20
MALATINSZKY
Kúria Kövesföld 2006 (Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon), 16 months in oak, £34 - subtle, spicy, rich fruit//musky-dusky fruit, clean, nicely balanced but very austere - needs five years. 17½/20
Kúria Cabernet Franc 2006, 15 months in oak, £18 - lovely clean, fresh fruit//lovely fruit with crisp tannins finely balanced, long, still austere but this will be a winner - excellent. 18/20
I seem to have used the word 'austere' quite a lot and, given that most of the wines are from the 2006 and 2007 vintages it might just be a question of time, although I've tasted similar characteristics in many Hungarian wines in the past. These are mainly wines from low-yielding vineyards (apparently Takler's Cabernet Franc Reserve yields 600 g per vine, which would seem to indicate just one bunch of grapes) which explains their complexity and extract but also impacts on the prices which may be just a little ambitious given the present state of the market.
I was also able to have a brief chat with the delicious Caroline, who is becoming the 'leading authority' on Eastern Europe, about reports from Kingston University of 'heavy metals' being found in Hungarian wines. I'm not sure of the science behind it and it seems that almost every wine producing country has the same problem, and the researchers admit that it's unlikely that it could be anything to do with the grapes or the soil. Caroline hadn't seen the details of the research but felt that it was probably along the lines of the usual medical scares which seem to surface every few weeks. I saw a cartoon in one of the papers recently in which a doctor is handing some pills to his patient, saying "take one of these three times a day until you read in the newspapers that they're poisonous."
Then it was those six flights of stairs again. Maybe I should get some WD-40 for my creaking joints.
As it happened, the invitation to lunch was on the same day as a Hungarian Wine masterclass hosted by the lovely Caroline Gilby, which started at 3:30 pm, so I had the opportunity to do both.
The lunch was at Deep restaurant, which is on the Boulevard at Imperial Wharf ("Where's that, guv? Never 'eard of it") just the other side of Chelsea Harbour. This is a smart development with some up-market shops and apartments which (according to Caspar, who lives nearby) are still fetching £500,000 apiece. It's one of those minimalist yuppie places with pale colours, huge windows and a rather pleasant terrace overlooking the Thames (but a bit too cold for sitting out in November). The chef-patron, Christian Sandefeldt, showed us how he used the products in various ways - a moules marinière (my colleague Sue Prain told me that it was delicious but, of course, I can't eat molluscs), a slice of belly-pork in red wine and a crèpe-suzette flambéed in Calvados, both of which worked extremely well. The Calvados gel simply melted in the pan and then burst into flames on cue. Johan Allert from Cuisinewine explained that the wines are made in the normal way at a winery in Extremadura (in fact Bodegas San Marcos in Almendralejo - they served the red Campobarro with lunch), and then it's sent to Sweden (the company's head office) where it goes through a special filtering process to reduce the alcohol to about 5% abv. Again, they didn't go into detail about how it's done, but they did say that after filtration they add salt to the wine (a very small amount) to 'denature' it, presumably on the basis that most cookery involves a certain amount of salt anyway. We were invited to taste the wines as an experiment and they were rather viscous and noticeably salty: not much chance of the KP slipping a bottle in his bag on the way home. The spirits were, we were assured, the full 40% abv but 'jellified' and very viscous indeed. Once again, they weren't too keen to tell us how they did it without changing the strength, but it seemed to work.
Onward to lunch and an interesting tasting menu. First course was an assiette of foie-gras - four tasting samples done in different ways with four different products, including an astonishing 'tiramisù' (yes, with foie-gras) with the Calvados. I have to say that I could not tell the difference between the various sauces and those I've had before made with the 'regular' wines and spirits. Next up was a skate wing 'bourgignon' done with the red wine, and this was the one dish that didn't work for me - the skate wing was beautifully done but the sauce (or the combination of the sauce and the cooking process) was just too salty, and I couldn't eat it. Osso bucco (with a delicious risotto) came next, and this was perfectly tender and the sauce suitably rich and I wouldn't have known that it wasn't made with a 'regular' wine. With this we drank the very respectable Campobarro Tempranillo Ribera del Guadiana, having previously enjoyed an excellent Alsace Gewurztraminer followed by a red Cheverny (Pinot Noir and Gamay) which, I had to confess, I'd never had before. I've had white Cheverny, perhaps most notably at À La Marmite Dieppoise in Dieppe, but this was my first taste of the red. And I thought I'd been around.
There was a dessert - plum financier with white chocolate and Amaretto ice cream - but, as always seems to happen to me when I'm eating in London, I had to leave before it arrived. They did, however, very generously give me samples of small bottles of three of the spirits - I'll let you know how we get on with them - as well as a full-size bottle of the white and the red Campobarro.
Onward, then to Mosimann's Club on West Halkin Street for the Hungarian tasting. I'd been there before but remember it rather differently from how it is now. One thing I certainly didn't remember was SIX flights of stairs to get up to the 'belfry' at the top. It's a very attractive room, sponsored by Mappin and Web, but without oxygen I was gasping for the first few minutes. The event was hosted by a new outfit called Mephisto Wine Merchants, based in Golders Green, and I found myself sitting between the feisty Lilyane Weston, a fellow wine writer, and the enigmatically beautiful and exotically named Solangela Tangarife from Mephisto. I was, of course, late and the presentations had started.
I was particularly interested in this tasting as I went to Hungary (albeit eight or nine years ago) and was very impressed with the wines, which seemed to have great potential, and I wanted to see what had happened since. I had done a couple of consultancy tastings of Hungarian wines in the meantime, but availability in the UK still seemed to be at supermarket levels. It seems that this new company aims to change this.
There were three wineries represented: Takler in Szekszárd and Bock and Malatinszky in Villány-Siklós. Each one was introduced by a representative of the winery, and we tasted five wines from each. The general standard was very high, and the style very Hungarian: big, austere wines with plenty of structure and dark notes of Hungarian oak. They are essentially 'food wines' and, indeed, canapés were provided but, having just come from a three-course lunch, I didn't indulge. My 17/20 and 18/20 picks are these:
TAKLER
Kékfrankos Reserve 2007, 16 months in oak, £12 - spicy, soft-fruit nose//big structure with firm tannins and a long, austere but elegant finish. 17/20
Cabernet Franc Reserve 2006, up to 24 months in oak, £18 - some almost strawberry richness//richness, structure, power and that characteristic austere length. 17/20. Takler says he thinks that the Cabernet-Franc "has a great future in Hungary", and on this (and later) showing(s) he's not wrong.
BOCK
Portugieser 2007, no oak, £7.50 - 'inky' tannins and damsony fruit//lovely, bright fruit, nice balance of fruit and tannins, delicious. 17/20
Syrah 2006, 18 months in oak, £18 - dark peppery spice, some richness//more spice, distinct tannins but the fruit is there, long. 17/20
Bock Cuvée 2000 (Bordeaux mix), 18 months in oak, £17.50 - big aromatics, some hi-end fruit//big structure, big tannins, big fruit but it all comes together, long. 18/20
Cabernet-Franc Selection 2006, 24 months in oak, £18 - deep, dark fruit, strawberry character but still austere//good, big, powerful fruit, long and elegant, but still austere. 18/20
MALATINSZKY
Kúria Kövesföld 2006 (Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon), 16 months in oak, £34 - subtle, spicy, rich fruit//musky-dusky fruit, clean, nicely balanced but very austere - needs five years. 17½/20
Kúria Cabernet Franc 2006, 15 months in oak, £18 - lovely clean, fresh fruit//lovely fruit with crisp tannins finely balanced, long, still austere but this will be a winner - excellent. 18/20
I seem to have used the word 'austere' quite a lot and, given that most of the wines are from the 2006 and 2007 vintages it might just be a question of time, although I've tasted similar characteristics in many Hungarian wines in the past. These are mainly wines from low-yielding vineyards (apparently Takler's Cabernet Franc Reserve yields 600 g per vine, which would seem to indicate just one bunch of grapes) which explains their complexity and extract but also impacts on the prices which may be just a little ambitious given the present state of the market.
I was also able to have a brief chat with the delicious Caroline, who is becoming the 'leading authority' on Eastern Europe, about reports from Kingston University of 'heavy metals' being found in Hungarian wines. I'm not sure of the science behind it and it seems that almost every wine producing country has the same problem, and the researchers admit that it's unlikely that it could be anything to do with the grapes or the soil. Caroline hadn't seen the details of the research but felt that it was probably along the lines of the usual medical scares which seem to surface every few weeks. I saw a cartoon in one of the papers recently in which a doctor is handing some pills to his patient, saying "take one of these three times a day until you read in the newspapers that they're poisonous."
Then it was those six flights of stairs again. Maybe I should get some WD-40 for my creaking joints.
posted by John Radford at
06:48
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