Jane MacQuitty of the Times has recommended our Cheverny as one of her top 50 wines for summer (under £12).
She says… “Any of you who want to branch out from Loire sauvignon to a more complex white wine should have a crack at this mouthwatering, zesty, lime peel-spiked white”.
We couldn’t agree more!
Click the image to enlarge
“This is a vintage of charm, not power” Robert Parker.
Much of the Wine Trade was quick to crucify the 2007 on release with utterings of “too expensive” and a lot of “poor wines.” Until fairly recently, I was almost inclined to agree with them which is why we bought such a modest and small amount of carefully picked wines.
I have changed my mind…………….:
I recently attended a vertical tasting of all of the major Châteaux (barring the first growths unfortunately!!) vintages 2006 through to 2009. The biggest surprise was not purely the quality of the 2009’s but more importantly the elegance and forward structure of some of the 2007’s.
Most of the wines we have on offer are drinking very nicely now and will continue to do so over the next decade. The winemakers who spent serious hours in the vineyard during the Summer are the people rewarded with the elegant forward style the best of 2007 typifies. Yes, there are some underripe, vegetal wines which we did steer well clear of, clearly these growers did not invest the time in the vineyard. I do concede also that these wines were relatively expensive on release, in fact more than the 2006 vintage. We have purposely priced these wines very favourably and all at lesser prices than the 2006 on release.
In summary, Bordeaux needs a vintage like 2007, we are all looking and waiting for 2006’s, 2008’s, 2005’s and now the blockbuster 2009’s which I hope my son will enjoy before he collects his bus pass!
The 2007 is ready to go and will drink with real elegance until these other vintages become more accessible.
Matthew Hennings
2007 Vintage Report:
In some respects, 2007 is the antithesis of 2006, the Summer of 2007 was miserable and wet with little to smile about. Most winemakers thought all was lost until a very late period of warm, sunny weather throughout early September ripened and rescued the vintage.
For the successful Châteaux, this was a vintage of intense graft throughout the Summer in the Vineyard followed by what was possibly one of the toughest selection processes at the harvest. Those who were vigilant were rewarded with seductive, early drinking wines with well balanced tannins.
Saint-Estephe
La Dame de Montrose 2nd Wine of Second Growth Château Montrose
“The soft, round, generously-endowed, delicious 2007 La Dame de Montrose is very much in keeping with its bigger sister. It should drink well over the next 5-8 years.“
88/100 Points, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #188, April 2010. Drink 2015-2018. (£24.99 per bottle – SPECIAL CASE PRICE £250)
Château Phélan Ségur Fourth Growth
“Firm and concentrated with real personality and density. Well done! Quite long. This has fruit all the way through without being simple and sweet and soft. Built like a classic red Bordeaux. Corpulent – and that’s a compliment in 2007!” 17/20 Points, Jancis Robinson. Drink 2012-2018. (£26.99 per bottle – SPECIAL CASE PRICE £275)
Saint-Julien
Château Branaire-Ducru Fourth Growth
“An outstanding effort, Branaire’s 2007 exhibits floral-infused black raspberry, boysenberry, and mulberry notes as well as a decidedly blue fruit character. Attractive, elegant, and medium to full-bodied with beautiful fruit, density, and texture, it should drink well for 10-12 years” 90/100 Points, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #188, April 2010. Drink 2010-2022. (39.50 per bottle – SPECIAL CASE PRICE £399)
Margaux
Château Kirwan Third Growth
“This big, robust, exuberant offering is excessively extracted with relatively hard, astringent tannins. Nevertheless, there is lots of flavor, and the wine is full, rich, and built for longer term cellaring than most 2007’s. It requires 3-4 years for everything to come into balance.” Wine Advocate #188. 89-92/100 Points, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #176, April 2008. Drink 2010-2014. (£37.50 per bottle – SPECIAL CASE PRICE £350)
Haut-Médoc
Château Cantemerle Fifth Growth
“A beautiful wine of elegance and intensity, this medium-bodied, dark plum/purple-hued 2007 possesses a floral-infused bouquet, sweet, plush, red and black fruit flavors, and an endearing, silky texture. Drink it over the next 10-12 years.” 90/100 Points, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #188, April 2010. Drink 2010-2022. (£24.99 per bottle – SPECIAL CASE PRICE £250)
Pessac-Léognan
Domaine de Chevalier Classified Growth
“One of the vintage’s top successes… exhibits a juicy, blackcurrant, forest floor, and soil-scented nose. Layered with brilliant precision, purity, and density, it is a medium to full-bodied, elegant, intensely flavored, soft, upfront blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It should drink well for 10-15 years.” 90/100 Points, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #188, April 2010. Drink 2010-2025. (£38.50 per bottle – SPECIAL CASE PRICE £375)
Château Smith Haut Lafitte Classified Growth
“The outstanding 2007 Smith Haut Lafitte offers up notes of charcoal, sweet blackcurrants, licorice, and spice box. This delicious, medium to full-bodied, pure, deep, rich effort with silky tannins builds incrementally across the palate. It can be drunk now or cellared for 15+ years. Bravo!” 91/100 Points, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #188, April 2010. Drink 2010-2025+. (£45.50 per bottle – SPECIAL CASE PRICE £465)
Saint-Emilion
Le Carillon de l’Angelus Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
The second wine of the Château Angelus. The Grand Vin, which scores an impressive 92 Parker Points, exhibits sweet notes of chocolate, charcoal, blackberries, and jammy cherries in its round, opulent, fleshy personality. The second wine, Le Carillon de l’Angelus, is more fruity in flavour. It can be enjoyed five to ten years after bottling, while waiting for the great wine to reach full maturity. Drink 2010-2020. (£39.95 per bottle – SPECIAL CASE PRICE £399)
Sauternes
Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey Premier Cru
“The 2007 Lafaurie-Peyraguey has fulfilled all my expectations since its impressive primeur showing. It has a light, succinct nose with white peach, pear, apple-blossom and a touch of chalk dust. Good definition, although it needs a little more vitality. The palate is superb: very vibrant on the entry, marmalade, quince, mandarin and a touch of ginger.” 93/100 Points, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #188, April 2010. Drink 2014-2030. (£42.50 per bottle – SPECIAL CASE PRICE £425)
Château Guiraud Premier Cru
“The Guiraud 2007 has a typically unabashed, exuberant bouquet with tangerine, pear, white peach and honeysuckle. The palate is medium-bodied with a lovely viscous entry, very good weight of fruit, and a lot of botrytis”. 93/100 Points, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #188, April 2010. Drink 2012-2035 (£49.50 per bottle – SPECIAL CASE PRICE £499)
If you wish to discuss the wines or place an order call Nathan on 01798 872485 or email finewine@henningswine.co.uk.
Subject to availability and price changes. E&OE
The press are like buses, you wait long enough for one to come along and suddenly two to turn up!
We have been raving about the Chateau Miraval Pink Floyd Rose for months now. It is the quintessential provence rosé made from old vines with bags of character.
The press should be all over a wine like this, it’s tasty, a great food partner and has a very cool story behind it.
Well hurrah! Not only did Joanna Simon write a fantastic article but so did Neil Cammies… all in one week, not bad!
2009 Château Miraval Pink Floyd Rôsé, Côtes de Provence
Benchmark Provence rosé – pale pink with a perfumy, powdery nose, silky textured strawberry and cassis fruit, a touch of spice and a long, refined finish. It’s made largely from old cinsault vines, which give the perfume and the silkiness, with 20% grenache to add a bit of extra red fruit and spice. And in case you hadn’t guessed or are too young to know, it’s made on the Miraval estate where, in 1977, Pink Floyd recorded The Wall. 13.5% abv. Serve with sunshine.Joanna Simon, Wines of the Week 18th June 2010
Lots of care and attention in the selection of the old vine cinsault and grenache that make up the wine. A light pink hue with floral and delicate raspberry aromas. On the palate the tart fruit still carries those rose petal tones, with some orange citrus notes in there as well. The acidity is there in a supporting role for the elegant summer fruits. On the finish a touch of green leaf keeps everything fresh and frisky.
Neil Cammies, Western Mail, June 19th 2010
Sauvignon Blanc has very quickly become the grape of preference for the more discerning white wine drinker.
Whether it be the smoky, mineral Sancerre of the Loire, or the gooseberry flavours of New Zealand, everyone has their Sauvignon of choice.
As the home of Sauvignon, the Loire produces the renowned Sancerre and Pouilly Fume wines, with their characteristic grassy, smoky, flinty notes with an edge of minerality.
However, the new kid on the block, New Zealand (they only started planting in the 1970’s, believe it or not), has quickly established itself, with its soft acidity, aromas of gooseberry and tomato leaf, and luscious flavours of grapefruit, passionfruit and citrus.
So, if this has whetted your appetite for a crisp glass of Sauvignon, you could fly to New Zealand to try the Waipara Springs or drive down to the Loire for the Sancerre La Gemière. Alternatively, just nip down to the new Hennings store in Goring to find these and many, many more! DW
Le Martinaud Sauvignon Blanc 2009
Côtes de Duras, France | £6.99……….£5.99
This elegant Sauvignon Blanc shows you just what is possible without costing an arm and a leg. It has classic herbaceous notes on the nose, with layers of ripe fruit on the palate and an underlying minerality.
Nostros Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2007
Casablanca, Chile | £6.99………………£5.99
Sourced from Chile’s premium Sauvignon Blanc region, Casablanca, this is a pure, exuberantly fruity Sauvignon packed full of grassy, tropical fruit. Instantly refreshing and moreish with a lovely tangy finish.
Woolshed Sauvignon Blanc 2009
Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand | £8.99…£6.99
Made by Mount George, a subsidiary of the high-flying Paritua winery, this sharply priced, classically styled Sauvignon delivers layers of tangy passionfruit and citrus – in a lush vibrant palate that is dangerously drinkable.
Waipara Springs Sauvignon Blanc 2008
Waipara, New Zealand | £11.99……..£9.99
“… a cracking Sauvignon with some Loire-like minerality as well as focused grassy, fruity, blackcurrant bud aromatics. The palate is concentrated with lovely bright grassy, herby fruit…” 92/100 Jamie Goode’s Wine Blog.
Sancerre La Gemière 2008
Loire, France |£12.99…………………….£10.99
A delightful Sancerre with aromas of apricot and peach. The palate is rich and satisfying with tropical fruit balanced harmoniously with the more typical gooseberry and citrus flavours and a tight acidity.
During a recent tasting at our wine cellars I was incredibly impressed by the quality of rosé from Provence. Like the region itself, the wines were chic, charming and elegant.
Made from the grape varieties Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache and small amounts of Syrah and Mourvèdre, rosé wine accounts for over 75% of all wine produced in Provence. I can’t think of any other wine region in the world where rosé is more prominent.
The wines themselves are virtually always dry, very light in colour and typically have wonderful fruit flavours of peach, pink grapefruit and citrus notes along with floral character and thirst quenching acidity that awakens the palate. They can be enjoyed on their own, as an aperitif or with typical Provencal style cuisine such as baked sea bass with fennel. Always make sure that the rosé is chilled but not over-chilled as this will nullify all the magnificent fruit character of the wine.
One thing I love about wine is how it can transport you to the place in which it was made. This is certainly true of our selection of Provence rosé, evoking images of enjoying food with friends whilst looking out across endless lavender fields with the Mediterranean sun beating down. Mmmm… Time to get a glass I think!
At this point it may be worth mentioning that I tend not to be much of a rosé fan, however the subtlety of flavours, refreshing acidity and versatility for food-matching make these Provence pinks well-suited for red, white and rosé drinkers alike.
Château Saint-Pierre Rosé Cuvée Tradition 2009
Côtes de Provence, France|£8.99…………………….£6.99
This elegant pink beauty offers a powerful nose of white peach with spicy notes, evolving towards candied apricots, guava and exotic fruit. It has great fullness in the mouth, dry, refreshing, with great character and excellent aromatic length typical to this Chateau’s unique terroir. 40% Grenache and 60% Cinsault
Pierres de Moulin Rosé Domaine de la Fouquette 2009
Côtes de Provence, France|£10.99…………………..£8.99
This gorgeous salmon pink rosé entices you with lots of delicate wild strawberry on the nose accompanied by pineapple, guava and grapefruit notes alongside an almost Sauvignon-like greeness. Dry and mineral laden on the palate with a crisp snappy finish and balanced acidity.
Château Miraval ‘Pink Floyd’ Rosé 2009
Côtes de Provence, France|£13.99…………………£10.99
Named after the world renowned band that recorded at Studio Miraval. “The best Provence rosé we’ve ever tasted! Intense fruity, yeasty nose. The palate is full, packed with lively fruit- pear, green apple. Ending with more lip-smacking fruit and clean-cut acidity. A deliciously fresh, appetising rosé. One to relish with salads.” MARY DOWEY, Irish Times.
Thank goodness for the summer! Plenty of sunshine (it will happen this year) means we can all start enjoying the outdoors a little more. Alfresco dining is probably my favourite benefit of sunny days; dinner outside in the evenings, picnics on Sundays and my lunch break on the grass in the park.
So, picture the scene: you’re sitting outside with some family or friends, the sun is beaming down, you can smell freshly cut grass and you reach out to top up everyone’s glasses of wine. What sort of wine is it? A nice chilled bottle of Albariño or perhaps a bottle of rosé? It’s going to be white or rosé isn’t it? It needn’t be. I’d like to throw the Cru wines from Beaujolais into the ring. They’re massively overlooked – a travesty, as these wines work so well in the hotter months thanks to their lighter, fruity style as well as offering enough variety between them to pair up really well with food.
Beaujolais as a region can be divided into two parts – north and south. The south produces generic wines that can be pretty one dimensional, whereas the wines from the ten Cru villages of the north have much greater complexity and elegance.
Chiroubles is one of the smallest Cru villages – its neighbour is the well known Fleurie – and the old vine offering from Domaine de la Cour Profonde (£9.50) is silken, full of fresh fruit, beautiful aromatics and with a pure finish. Similar to Chiroubles in terms of its lighter style, Brouilly is the largest Cru in Beaujolais and can be found at the south of the appellation. The wines produced are full of cherry, blueberry and raspberry aromas – perfect with lighter dishes and picnics (you can even chill it a bit). Brouilly Les Thibaults (£7.99) is a great example of this ‘summer pudding’ style Beaujolais.
If you like your reds a little fuller, then Beaujolais can help you out – look for wines from the Cru of Juliénas and Morgon. Both these villages produce more richly flavoured Beaujolais, and Domaine de la Creuze Noir’s Juliénas (£11.99) is a great example: intense red colour with great floral aromatics as well as classic strawberry and raspberry flavours. For something a touch earthier, Les Vieux Cèdres Morgon (£7.99) is the one for you with its big fruit finish.
Beaujolais’ Cru villages produce some really terrific wines, each one offering something different. I’ll admit I’ve overlooked it in the past but am delighted to have rediscovered this ruby red gem of a wine region. Put down the rosé, get out your Filofax, put on your red braces and give one of these lovely wines a try. MP
“Nature has been exceptionally kind to us… the conditions have been so sumptuous that it is difficult to find a parallel. You have perhaps to go back to the 1940s to find a comparable year.”
Denis Dubourdieu, Director of the Bordeaux l’Institut des Sciences de la Vigne.
Robert Parker’s ringing endorsement of Bordeaux 2009 shows the vintage has brought together American and European palates as never before. In his assessment of the vintage, the influential American critic says 2009
“… may turn out to be the finest vintage I have tasted in 32 years of covering Bordeaux.”
We are launching our Bordeaux 2009 En Primeur offer with a pair of wines that give a great insight in to this superb vintage whilst delivering exceptional value for money.
Please Note: As our stocks are limited, all Bordeaux 2009 will be sold on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
Château Lanessan, Haut-Médoc 2009
“…boasts a dense purple color as well as copious creme de cassis, cedar wood, underbrush, and spice notes. Beautiful opulence, silky tannins, and a long finish suggest this sleeper of the vintage will drink well for 2-3 decades.” 90-92 Points, Robert Parker. “Dark crimson. Toasty and appetising on the nose. Thick and dense and succulent, too. Good balance! Drink 2013 – 2018″. Jancis Robinson. £120 per dozen
Chevalier de Lascombes, Margaux 2009
2nd Wine of Chateau Lascombes. Lascombes Grand Vin, which scores an impressive 91-93+ Parker Points, is concentrated, powerful and tannic, with all the elegance and finesse of a great Margaux. The second wine, Chevalier de Lascombes, is more fruity in flavour and more supple. It can be enjoyed five to ten years after bottling, while waiting for the great wine to reach full maturity in the cellar. £195 per dozen
What is En Primeur? Buying ‘En Primeur’ is the purchase of wines that are yet to be bottled and released onto the market. The 2009 Bordeaux will be bottled at the end of 2011, shipped and delivered in the Summer of 2012. There are many benefits to buying your wine En Primeur. Principally, the wines are almost always considerably cheaper than secondary open market prices, it also can be the only way to secure the purchase of certain wines.
How does it work? The price that you pay excludes UK Duty (currently £20.25 per 9 litre case or equivalent) and shipping costs (approximately £2.50 per 9 litre case). Unlike many merchants, Hennings charge the VAT on the wine at the point of order, if you were to pay this in 2012 the rate would likely be higher than the current 17.5%. Once the wine is delivered to the UK, the Duty and shipping costs (including VAT on these amounts) become payable.
We will keep you informed about other wines in our Bordeaux 2009 En Primeur offer as supply is confirmed.
Please contact me in the office on 01798 872485 if you would like to discuss any of the wines or place an order.
Kind regards,
Nathan Fynes
There’s a commonly held misconception that if something looks cheap it will taste cheap.
Take Alsace for example, this French wine region, tucked away in the North East corner of France on the German border, has a permanent hurdle to cross. To look at, its wines in their fluted bottle resemble to closely that of say Liebfraumilch or any other medium sweet German wine.
But that I’m glad to say is where the similarity ends.
Anybody who knows me will tell you that I am a real fan of Alsace’s dry aromatic white wines. But you have to work so hard to sell them, and that is a real shame because they are probably the worlds finest “food wines”.
Once tasted its wines will leave you asking, “why have I never tried this before?”
Alsace is a wine region that over the centuries has been in both French and German territory, but ask the locals and they will tell you they are definitely French.
Our range from Alsace Willm starts with the Pinot Blanc a good quaffer, and the wine the locals drink.
Just try an Alsace Gewurztraminer or Pinot Gris with any spicy or rich food, like Chinese for example trust me it really works.
But I consider Riesling to be Alsace’s finest grape variety characterised by its distinctive dry style and elegant structure.
Sorry to keep waxing lyrical about Riesling again, but we all love it!
CN
