O'Briens Wine Blog

One of the best-known names in wine is Châteauneuf-du-Pape; it is a byword for quality, class and frequently chosen as that special bottle for Birthday’s, anniversaries or simply meeting the future father-in-law for the first time. So what’s the appeal? Firstly there’s the name; understandably many people think Châteauneuf is one wine because of the word Château, many have heard that Châteauneuf-du-Pape is good and naturally follow that advice.

 Secondly there is the general style of the wine and its image, big heavily embossed bottles that usually start at €25 and deliver big jammy flavours, smooth rich mouthfeel and invariably high alcohol. Even the mainstream versions should give plenty of texture, big fruit and high alcohol.

What remains of the original Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Castle of the New Pope"

So is it all it’s cracked up to be? Well frankly yes; when it’s good, Châteauneuf is the best wine in Southern Rhone and truly world class but the problem is there are many Châteauneufs. It is not a single producer or Château it is a wine region. There are good producers and not so good producers within this vineyard zone and many of the less scrupulous producers will turn out masses of lesser quality wine from potentially good vineyards because they know that the name will sell the wine.

Warning bells should be beginning to ring for example if you see a “bargain” Châteauneuf; dipping below the €20 price point is not common practice for the good estates. Invariably the bad producers pass off bland, heady wines as the real thing and invariably they disappoint. Good producers know that well-made Châteauneuf commands a premium and will charge accordingly. 

So what is good Châteuneuf-du-Pape? What is the real deal, a wine that truly delivers on the promise of that much used name? Perhaps the wine-style that most fits the bill and satisfies the general expectation of Châteuneuf is the big, dark fruited, intelligently oaked “modern style”. Estates that pick ripe grapes that generally increase the percentage of Syrah and age the wine in smaller format oak barrels. 

From all our tastings in the last year the wine that has stood up and declared itself “The Real Deal” is Domaine des Sénéchaux 2007. It epitomizes everything that is great about Châteuneuf, even though it’s a big wine with masses of fruit and oak there is tremendous purity to the fruit and fine acidity holding everything in balance. It is one hell of a wine that is going to provide sublime drinking for a decade or two. 

So if anyone has ever felt cheated by blousy, alcoholic, dilute tasting Chateauneuf go out and try Sénéchaux and see what all the fuss is about; this is the real deal. 

We were fortunate to taste and select the wine just before it scooped two of the biggest awards in the wine world; Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards and a Gold Medal at the International Wine Challenge. 

      94 Points 

Cheval Blanc

Our final day in Bordeaux started off with a pretty poor excuse for a croissant and a cup coffee more suited to a roadside service station – just the thing to bring us down to earth after the d’Yquem launch.

Fortunately things climbed rapidly upwards from here and an unscheduled visit to Cheval Blanc was next. Here we tasted a trio of stunning St-Émilion’s; La Tour de Pin, Petit Cheval and Cheval Blanc itself, the wines were sublime and Cheval Blanc is going to top a lot of lists for wine of the decade! Dense but sumptuous fruit, multilayered, complex and very silken in texture – amazing wine. 

It was then over to Château Beau-Séjour Bécot for the main body of St-Émilion Grand Cru Classés. Here there was a similarity to the Margaux tasting in that the high quality of the vintage was not totally harmonious. Some wines failed to achieve balance but once again the wines that did get it right were quite remarkable. Indeed they were so rich and ripe they seemed almost drinkable then and there!

At opposite ends of the spectrum Pavie-Macquin was luscious, opulent and packed with layer upon layer of ripe fruit whereas Figeac was serious, structured and intense. Choose wisely and St-Émilion will seriously reward in 2009, they will be amazingly open early on but no-one doubts that theses are wines with years of evolution ahead of them. 

  The Star Wines? Cheval Blanc, Petit Cheval, Pavie-Macquin, Figeac, Beau-Séjour Bécot, Troplong Mondot, Canon. 

Staying on the right bank it was Pomerol next and the core tasting was at a Château that unfortunately took the timely decision to treat some part of the tasting room with chemical cleaner in the recent past! So once you struggled past this heady, bleachy aroma quite a bit of concentration was needed to get at the wines. As a counterbalance many of these Pomerols were very open and aromatic. 

It is obvious that there are a few weaker links with the Right Bank Merlots but many Châteaux have produced stunning wines. At the top end of the scale La Conseillante stood out, a pillar of structure and reserved power, velvet texture but what richness, what concentration! This is a keeper that will evolve for decades.In its company and equally compelling was Chateau Clinet, pitch perfect Pomerol, very plush ripe fruit, a rounded feel but with great complexity in the everlasting finish. 

The danger area some producers fell into was over-extraction and heavy oak use – point chasing wines that rely more on texture than fruit purity. Having said that, I can see 2009 Pomerols being on many people’s wish lists for years to come. 

The Star Wines? La Conseillante, Clinet, Petit-Village, La Pointe, La Croix de Gay.

The ivy-clad Troplong Mondot

Finally we were able to wind-down with a light lunch at Troplong Mondot, typically St. Emilion in style with none of the Medoc’s formailty here, a very relaxed lunch. Seated at long benched tables with hearty pâtés, cold meats and salads alongside the family themselves. A  good lunch that showed off the superlative quality of Troplong itself in the guise of the ‘98 and ‘07 vintages, great wines but someway behind the level of their monumental ’09.

There was a warm postprandial feeling of job done (for now );300+ wines tasted, notes written and a plane to catch.

The En Primeur (early purchase) campaign begins now in earnest and anyone who has an interest in obtaining the wines mentioned or indeed any others En Primeur then please drop me an e-mail at dstewart@obrienswines.ie

 Wednesday morning started early (9am sharp!) with a broad tasting at the offices of blue chip Merchants Schröder & Schyler and led to several new listings two of which should hit the shops soon: Château Bernadotte 2002 and Château de Pasquet St. Emilion Grand Cru 2001

A quick dash over to Pessac-Leognan and we were once again tasting classed growth wines, this time in one of the finest settings in Bordeaux; the famed, ivy clad 18^th century Manor House of Château Smith Haut Lafitte.

Smith Haut Lafite (..and famous leaping lapin!)

The whites were in fine form, and promised to be approachable quite soon but there is a purity of fruit here and a level of acidity that heralds long ageing. Domaine de Chevalier is likely to be the white wine of the vintage but we were also very impressed by the sure to be more moderately priced Château La Louvière; a full palate with generous fruit, well-judged oak and a hint of sweet spice.

The reds were for the most part excellent, a few wines seemed to be just a little linear, but the star wines more than made up for these. These are wines that will hit their stride in 5 -7 years time. Chevalier again shone out in its sheer complexity and trademark elegance, followed by a dense blackcurranty, mineral driven Smith-Haut-Lafitte.

The Star Wines? Domaine de Chevalier (red & white), Smith Haut Lafitte (red & white), La Louvière (red & white), Larrivet-Haut-Brion(white), Latour-Martillac (red), Les Carmes Haut-Brion (red)

 Next stop St.Emilion, for a tasting of Right Bank, Merlot dominated wines from St.Emilion, Fronsac, Canon-Fronsac, Lalande de Pomerol and Côtes de Castillon. This marquee was mostly about dynamic young producers, lesser known appellations and up and coming Château. Many of these fringe estates have to try that little bit harder and very often make wines that punch well above their weight, outshining many a classified growth. We found some real gems in here. Look out for the wines of Canon-Fronsac in particular they have a velvety, truffley richness akin to top Pomerols and have clearly excelled in this warm vintage. Best of all they will not break the bank.

The Star Wines? Veyry, Joanin-Bécot, Haut-Ballet, de Gaby, Moulin Pey-Labrie,                                          Château Cassagne Haut-Canon (the last four are all Canon-Fronsacs) 

Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux

Final call of the day was to the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux for the launch of d’Yquem 2009. No other sweet wine in the world can match the reputation or ceremony surrounding the great Château d’Yquem and quality wise; well it was out of this world and quite impossible to spit out! It will no doubt be released at a very high price and be snapped up by investors and collectors.

The Bordeaux Châteaux and merchants are describing this as a “magical vintage”, “wines of a quality and richness never seen before” and last week wine buyers, merchants and critics from all round the world descended on Bordeaux to sample the wines from this much heralded vintage.

Kirwan's cellar

The O’Briens team arrived on Monday evening to be greeted by the 2009 Château Kirwan (Margaux). We were surrounded by a group who had obviously been sampling for most of the day; adorned with blackened teeth and stained grins that resembled the Joker from batman. Our first taste of 2009 was memorable, this Grand Cru Classé is on fire at the moment and in the commune Margaux is now firmly amongst the elite. An extremely impressive Kirwan and even in this very youngest of  guises there is tremendous opulence of fruit yet it remains seriously structured and built to last.

Châteaux Batailley

Next day brought us to Duhart-Milon, Mouton and Batailley and amongst throngs of gurgling, spitting, tasters we managed to make our way through most of the Grand Cru Classés of Pauillac, St. Julien and Saint-Estèphe. Each of these three famous communes demonstrated the immense potential of this vintage. The Pichons are superb with incredible density of rich cassis fruit and Lafite is a mass of power and black fruit but perhaps Mouton is the most open, fragrant and charming of all these great wines. We were left in high hopes for the rest of Bordeaux.

The Star Wines? Lafite, Mouton, Petit-Mouton, Pichon Baron, Pichon Lalande, Lynch- Bages, Léoville Barton, Léoville-Poyferré, Gruaud-Larose, Lafon-Rochet and the Cru Bourgeois of  Phélan Ségur & de Pez

 Next stop was Château Desmirail for the Margaux Cru Classés and here we clearly saw that this brilliant vintage was not completely uniform there were some unbalanced wines amongst some seriously good ones. As renowned Journalist and MW Jancis Robinson has pointed out “by no means all wines were a success, even if the best were probably the best I have ever tasted this young”. Here we re-tasted the Kirwan and used it as a benchmark, a benchmark that proved quite high for many of the Châteaux. Irregularities aside, the good wines have fantastic depth and richness of fruit and should prove to be some of the finest Margaux wines in decades.

 The Star Wines? Rauzan-Ségla, Kirwan, Brane-Cantenac, Lascombes, Dauzac

 The next tasting at Château de Camensac showed off the quality of rest of the Medoc; some great wines here with Chasse-Spleen taking top honours and huge improvements in many of the smaller Château. Everywhere there was a ripe fruitiness balanced by fine acidity and more often than not fine silky tannin.

 The Star Wines? La Lagune, Chasse-Spleen, Cantemerle, Clarke, Poujeaux

 One of the highlights of the day was a quick stop at Château Cambon La Pelouse to taste through a collective of modern, forward-looking Cru Bourgeois under the umbrella name Biturica. The rewards were truly surprising; some of these wines outclassed many more famous names we had tried earlier. Winemakers here got fruit-ripeness spot-on and there was intelligent use of oak. These are wines that will be approachable early but will still age and develop complexity over the next decade.

 The Star Wines? Cambon La Pelouse, Sénéjac, Gironville, Belle-Vue, Clément-Pichon.

There are very few wine professionals, journalists or indeed enthusiastic wine students who don’t rank Riesling very high up in their “Greatest Grapes” lists. It is the favourite grape to champion for so many wine lovers across the world ……and rightly so!

When it is on form no other wine sings with quite the same level of thrilling minerality, piercingly clear fruit and exquisite balance as good Riesling. Nowhere does it sing clearer and more enticing than in Germany’s famous river valleys; the Mosel and Rheingau.

It was in the latter of these historic regions that the O’Brien’s wine buying team landed for the annual tasting of Schloss Schönborn wines.  Here in the Rheingau the river Rhine veers suddenly west as its northbound pathway is barred by the Taunus Mountains. This means that for several miles along its course the river has gradually carved a series of gentle south-facing slopes. On these slopes a huge swathe of vines take full advantage of this southern exposure and their grapes ripen superbly in a very complimentary mini-climate. We drove downstream past these celebrated vineyards, some of the finest Riesling vines in the world before pulling into our tasting destination.

The setting itself was most fitting for a Riesling centered tasting; a restored 15^th century hunting lodge surrounded by snow covered vineyards in bright late winter sun; a perfect compliment to young Riesling’s crisp, cool refreshing character.

Before the Rieslings, we kicked off with a very promising fruity Spätburgunder rosé (Pinot Noir) and an off-dry Pinot Blanc that was packed with delicious peachy/pear fruit. Well-made wines and a good platform to launch into Schonbörn’s specialty: outstanding single-vineyard Rieslings. Tasting our way through the trocken (dry) Kabinetts* the vineyards of Nussbrunnen and Pfaffenberg stood out above the rest. Their limestone dominant soils possibly the reason behind both these wines intense “fresh as a mountain stream” minerality. Both wines had terrific clear apple fruit and long complex finishes.

Next up were the Erstes Gewach or “First Growths”; four wines from classified vineyards that are made in a dry, full-bodied style and here again Pfaffenberg was very good only just eclipsed by a sublime, concentrated, richly textured wine from the Berg Schlossberg vineyard. The next milestone in our tasting was an inexpensive but very well-made Rheingau Riesling Qba, medium sweet but with excellent acidity to balance, a very stylish little wine that demonstrates that the Rheingau can excel in value too.

Nussbrunen

Classic styles followed with the medium sweet Kabinetts from the famed vineyards of Nussbrunnen, Marcobrunn and Pfaffenberg, with the last taking the honours for best in class. Indeed this wine stood out as probably the finest of the whole tasting, outshining even the two classic Spätleses* that followed it. This Pfaffenberg was quite simply a stunning example of quintessential Riesling; balancing purity of fruit, mineral depths and razor sharp acidity. Terrific wine and one we will certainly be bringing back to Ireland on the next shipment!

Overall the quality of this 2009 vintage was very high and showed clearly the varying merits and styles of these famed single vineyards. Above all however it made a strong argument for Riesling to crowned king when it comes to the great white grapes of the world.

* Kabinett – Kabinett is the 1^st level of Germany’s Prädikatswein (high quality Wines) and is dictated by the level of sugar ripeness in the grapes

* Spätlese – the next level up from Kabinett and denotes a riper style which may be vinified from dry to medium sweet

Until the 2009 s arrive we currently have in stock:

Schonbörn Pfaffenberger Traditional (medium sweet)            2007       €27.45

Schonbörn Riesling Trocken 2008       €14.45

Schonbörn Berg Schlossberg Trocken 2007       €16.95

Schonbörn Hollenberg Spatburgunder 2007       €32.45

Schonbörn Marcobrunn 1^st Growth 2007       €28.45

Schonbörn Nussbrunen Trocken 2008       €15.45

Schonbörn Pfaffenberg Trocken 2007       €16.95

Schonbörn Pfaffenberg 1st Growth 2006       €28.45

We were delighted to see 2 of our wines featured on TV3′s Ireland AM this morning as ideal wines this Mothers Day (Sunday March 14th!). You’re cutting it a liiitle too fine to order these online if you want them for Sunday but they’re both widely available in all our stores and we agree that both would be ideal on the day.

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The Wines Featured are two of our favourites: Gavi ‘la Battistina’ (on offer at the moment at €9.95) and Taltarni Brut Tache (a Tasmanian sparkler at €18.45). If you do try them – please let us know.

Jean-René Matignon, Technical Director, and Alexandra Lebosseé, Assistant Technical Director, were our hosts at Château Pichon – Longueville in Pauillac.

AXA purchased Château Pichon – Longueville in 1987 and have invested heavily in both the vineyards and the rebuilding of the cellars. There are seventy three hectares at Château Pichon – Longueville planted as 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Jean-René shared with our group his experience and insight into the history and the current day viticultural considerations of the Château’s vineyards.

Vineyard renovation has been a major task for the Chậteau as the vines had previously been machine harvested with extensive use of herbicides and pesticides. There were several focus areas including improvement of water management and drainage, new plantings and the minimizing of the use of sprays to control diseases. While we were in Bordeaux at the beginning of November it rained every single day almost from dawn to dusk and a walk in the vineyards showed not only the need for these new drains, but also how quickly and efficiently the water ran off the vineyards and their paths avoiding water logging of the vines.

Control of mildew is a challenge in a maritime region such as Bordeaux and the property have focused on natural methods of vineyard management since 1990. Control of insect pests is by pheromone confusion and, as a result, Jean-René believes that they have achieved a better natural balance in the vineyards – as an example the introduction of ladybirds have reduced the red spider population.  

In addition there are simple measures that follow the sustainable philosophy, such as leaving the vineyards grass covered in winter to keep the soil alive, as the grass roots support the soil bacteria. In addition the grass keeps the soil in place for spring rains. According to Jean-René red leaves on grape vines indicates that the vines are accessing too much water and the property drills holes in the soil to siphon the water off between these vines.

As we tasted through the parcels and grape varieties Jean-René pointed out the physical attributes of the different sites and what he found in the wines coming from those sites over the years. As examples the  Saint Anne plot quality has improved since the installation of drainage. Another parcel that does not suffer water stress which contains clay pockets was rounder and more forward in most vintages.

The visit concluded with a vertical tasting of the wines from 1998 to 2008 and the major climatic influences during each year – particularly at vintage time – and the characters of the property’s specific vineyards locations and how important this is in the final wines. In the stores are the 2002, 2003 and 2005 vintages as well as Rose de Tourelles Longueville and Les Tourelles de Longueville 2005.

10 years ago it was a rare thing to see a wine on the shelves at 14% or above excluding fortified wines and Amarones. Nowadays a huge proportion of our wines are coming from the warmer climes of South America, South Africa and Australia and in these warm climates sugar levels go up and therefore the final alcohol levels in the wine. In Europe too, in order to compete, there is a general desire to make richer, fruitier “International Style Wines”. Facilitated by improved vineyard management and better understanding of wine science grapes are very often picked at super-ripeness meaning rich wines but naturally higher alcohol.

With many of the nation’s most popular wines comfortably pushing the 14% alcohol mark there is now a rapidly growing backlash towards lower percentages. An increasingly large sector of the wine drinking populous are now actively seeking out these wines, with the alcohol level becoming just as important as price and style when choosing a wine.

The good news is there are plenty of decent choices out there especially if you use 12.5% as your high watermark thus including many esteemed Bordeaux and fine Italian wines. Indeed Bordeaux is a good place to begin with, there are a lot of good value, mid-weight reds coming in around 12.5% and most dry whites being reliably 12 or 12.5%. If you want to splash out without creeping up the alcohol ladder the likes of Château Leoville Barton and Château Chasse-Spleen rarely exceed 12.5%. Most dry white Bordeaux is also rarely above 12.5% and these can excellent food-friendly, Sauvignon dominated wines.

Elsewhere in France there are a multitude of Sauvignon/Sauvignon style and Cabernet Franc wines coming in at 12 % or less and  from the central Loire Chinon and Saumur offers classic dry reds under 12.5% and often very good value for money.

Italy too offers plenty of choice with quite a few very decent Valpolicellas sitting at 12-12.5%, the same goes for Bardolino. As for the whites, many Luganas, Soaves and some Pinot Grigios sit around the 12 mark but can be as low as 11%. However if you want to go very low then try a Moscato d’Asti (5%), essentially a dessert wine but extremely delicious at that, match with fruit sorbet or lemon meringue and serve well chilled

Lastly Germany, due to its cool climate and fondness for sweeter styles is a great source for lower alcohol wines; the classic off-dry styles come in at only 8.5% and many of the dry Rieslings (trockens) are around the 12 mark. So don’t despair if you live in fear of high alcohol wines, seek out cool-climate wines and you will be rewarded with classic styles and sensible alcohol levels.

On the second morning of our scholarship trip we visited Château Petit-Villages which is located in the commune of Pomerol close to Château La Conseillante, Vieux Château Certan and Château Beauregard.  On this occasion we were hosted by Christian Seely Managing Director of  AXA, Daniel Llose the Technical Director for all of the AXA Millésimes properties and Serge Ley, Technical Director for Château Petit-Villages itself.

The Château is surrounded by ten hectares of vineyards in a triangular shape around the property. The composition of the vineyards are : 75% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc. Individual parcel sizes start at one hectare and the annual production is on average 3,500 cases of Château Petit-Villages and 1,300 cases of the second wine Le Jardin de Petit-Village available in the stores

The fermentation facility, adjoining the Château is a point of difference for Château Petit-Villages. It is a purpose built compact, efficient innovative winery with the focus being on quality and the ability to select, sort and individually vinify the small parcels that make up the total vineyard area. Many Bordeaux property such as Cheval Blanc have kept their concrete fermentation tanks but at Château Petit-Villages they have installed new epoxy resin lined concrete tanks. Daniel Llose explained that these allow for better temperature control during fermentation therefore retaining freshness in the aromatics of the wines.

At Château Petit-Villages we were involved in the blending of the 2009 Grand Vin. Using the 2008 Château Petit-Villages as a benchmark and following specific quality, volume and economic criteria we created blends to be assessed in a blind tasting. Initially we needed to access the quality of the eight different lots of wine available to make up the final blend. Then to decide the character that these wines could or would add to a blend and how that character might develop over time. This being a critical point as the final wine would be expected to be drunk ten, twenty, twenty five years from 2009. Each of the individual grape varieties contribute different characters at different stages of their lives so an understanding of what they contribute and when is a vital consideration.

This unique opportunity to blend at Château Petit-Villages shows the challenge that faces winemakers every year in putting together their final blends. It is physically and mentally tiring to taste the very ripe concentrated young 2009 varieties at this stage of their development and make a decision as to how they would develop as individual wines and as part of a blend developing together. The previous style of the wines of the property must play an important part in the decision making process and naturally the reputation of the Château is at stake if the blend is wrong. There is also a notable difference between the individual wines available in the blend, evidence of the influence of terroir. Daniel Llose went into detail of the various plots and their influence on the wines.

That this is a team decision with many viewpoints and inputs to be considered and discussed was very evident but the wines and possible blends will be revisited several times before the final decision is made.

Technical Directors, Daniel and Serge know their vineyards, grapes and the ageing potential of their wines intimately but the blending is still much more art than science.

Having just joined O’Briens as Head Of Wine Buying I wanted to share current wine calendar events in the news section of our new blog. My recent trip to Bordeaux feels like the perfect place to begin as the 2009 vintage in Bordeaux has captured the attention of many properties who are comparing it to the 2005’s. This trip which was sponsored by the properties as a scholarship visited the communes of Sauternes, Pauillac, Barsac, Pomerol, Saint Emilion, Saint Estephe, Saint Julien and Margaux where we had the opportunity to see for ourselves and for our customers how the wines are progressing and if the vintage is turning out to be as good everyone had been hoping for.

Château Suduiraut

Our first stop was the Premier Cru Classé property Château Suduiraut in Sauternes where we were looked after by Pierre Montègut the properties Technical Director. Pierre explained that the weather had been perfect this year to make Sauternes : mist in the mornings, clear sunny days and a good wind to keep the grapes dry, this allowed for the growth of the fungus Botrytis Cinerea (Nobel Rot) that shrivels the grapes and concentrates the sugars allowing the wine makers to create the world famous dessert wine.The Château Suduiraut vineyards consist of gravel, sand and clay and the property grows mainly Semillon with a small parcel of Sauvignon Blanc.

Pierre pointed out that once Botrytis has begun it takes around one week for the rot to fully develop on the grapes. After which a consistent noble rot spread across the vineyard is desired to ensure that as much wine as possible can be made, yields however are typically tiny at between fifteen and twenty hectolitres per hectare.
In the early stages of botrytis when the grapes are going from ripeness to botrytis affected the sugar content actually drops and the shrivelling that follows concentrates the sweetness in the berries. The grapes may not look very appetizing but when tasted directly from the vine these mouldy shrivelled grapes are sweet and rich.
Once shrivelled, individual grapes are hand picked from bunches and any not fully affected by Botrytis Cinerea are discarded either in the vineyard or at sorting tables in the winery. If too many non botrytis grapes are included in the pressing the wines will not reach the levels of sweetness required for Sauternes nor have the characteristic Botrytis aromas and flavours in the final wine.

According to Pierre the actual wines don’t start to show their true personality until they are ten years in bottle. That said the 2009s we tasted had big personalities with floral aromas and a honeyed tangerine character on the palate and whilst sweet they all had fresh balancing acidity. With age Sauternes takes turn deep golden in colour with nutty marmalade aromas and defining saffron character. Château d’Yquem is the most famous and one of the most expensive wines in the world but Château Rieussec 2004 which is currently available on our website was scored a very respectable 92 – 94 by Wine Spectator.

Classic food and wine matches for Sauternes would include Roquefort Cheese and Foie Gras – but after our morning in the vineyards and the cellar our lunch was a revelation and well worth trying. Szechuan cookery with Sauternes – a really unique way to enjoy these incredible wines, the rich spice based sauces were perfectly balanced by the sweetness and the acidity of the wines.

Over the next few weeks I’ll post some updates from the rest of our trip and would welcome any feedback and questions you might have.