Jos Straub Fis VT Gewurztraminer

Another day, another blog about wine. The picture shows the empty bottle from a recent evening’s wine-drinking with my fiancée. This time, we’d shared a small (50cl) bottle of one of Alsace’s more unusual wines, a gewurtztraminer vendanges tardives. This is a dessert-style wine, rather sweeter than a standard gewurtztraminer.

Vendanges tardives (late harvest) wines are a relatively (in the grand scheme of things) recent introduction to the Alsace, with the first wine with this description being bottled in 1976 after that long hot summer. The increased sugar levels which are part of the requirement for these wines give them their more syrupy character. Traditionally in the Alsace they would be drunk alongside foie gras or a tarte tatin.

The vintage in question is a 2005, which was one of the best Alsace vintages in recent years, with low yields, but sound grapes with ripe acidities.

This bottle was picked up during a trip to the Alsace in June/July 2010. This grower, Jos Straub et fils, is one of my personal favourites. He is tucked away in Blienschwiller on the Alsace wine-route, and doesn’t have anything in the way of a website. I’ve been visiting him every couple of years since about 2002. His small-scale business and the fact he doesn’t have an enormous sales operation mean that you get very personal service (a working knowledge of French/German really helps), and decent wines and very reasonable prices.

Gewurtztraminer wines are a particular speciality in Alsace, although they are also available in many other countries, particularly Germany. In German speaking countries, there is an umlaut on the “u”, although this is dropped on French bottles. The name means “spiced” traminer, and these wines are highly aromatic. Interestingly, the grape has a pink skin, but is a white-wine grape. The aromatic flavour of regular Gewurztraminer (as opposed to Vendanges tardives) means that they are one of the very few white wines suitable to accompany eastern cuisines.

Wine and Cheese

Time to actually blog again, and hopefully in a more interesting way! The other day I, my fiancée, and four very good friends decided to have a wine and cheese evening. It had been brewing for some time, as we had somewhat evolved into a dining (and singing) club over the previous few months. For a bit of variety we decided to replace dinner with canapés, and focus more on the wines.

I therefore, armed with a reasonable budget, went to the excellent and highly recommended Oxford Wine Company. We had decided to use this opportunity to learn a bit more about French red wine, and to also see if we could actually tell the difference between reasonably cheap wine (£20 per bottle), and more expensive wine (£45 per bottle). In the end, we purchase 3.5 bottles of wine, as follows:

1. Saint-Aubin 1er Cru ‘Le Charmois’, Château de Chassagne Montrachet (2006)

This wine is a Burgundy (a Pinot Noir from the Burgundy region), and was the lightest in colour and depth of the three red wines purchased. We all agreed that this wine was an excellent way to start the evening.

2. Château Jean Voisin, St. Émilion Grand Cru (2002)

This wine was a real treat. The tannins were first very noticeable, but after about 20 minutes of sitting in the glass and warming slightly, they dropped off revealing an exquisitely smooth wine, which went excellently with our varieties of cheese (see picture) and the end of the canapés. The primary grape here is merlot, with some cabernet sauvignon in the blend, typical of “Right Bank” Bordeaux appellations.

3. Château Dufort Vivens, 2ème Grand Cru Classé, Margaux

This wine was the most expensive of the three, and the oldest, being a 1995 vintage. This is a left-bank wine being a mixture of the same two grape varieties as the St émilion above, but this time with a higher proportion of cabernet sauvignon. This wine was really very very good, with a huge complexity of flavours throughout. The problem we found was that this actually made it harder to drink than the less complex St émilion. This is a wine I’d definitely want to try again, but this time with some tasting guidance and the ability to take some tasting notes. Wines of this style typically age very well (some only reach their best after several decades) and this was evident here.

4. 37.5cl Château Coutet, 1er Cru Classé, Barsac (1998)

A dessert wine to finish with, and only a mouthful each. This was a typical dessert wine with a thick syrupy colour and taste, but surprisingly refreshing. For a dessert wine, this is actually quite an early drinker (only 13 years old) and proved this by being very drinkable on the day!

The Cheeses

Just for the record, the cheeses consumed were a mature cheddar, some gruyère, manchego and some particularly excellent stilton.

I’d drink all the wines again, but the one I’ve bought another bottle of so far was wine no. 2, which will be excellent on its own, or with some Easter lamb!

Second Test

The Second test starts today. England name an unchanged team and it is hard to argue with that. It would have been interesting to give Tremlett a go on what is likely to be a very pacy pitch, but which of the bowlers would you cut? They all bowled fairly well (if not brilliantly) at Lords. Sidebottom’s place is rightfully secure as he continues to enjoy the form of his life; Anderson produced some magic deliveries, and Broad is a vital cog at number 8 in the batting line up. Panesar has an excellent record at this ground and is indispensible in the current set up, although perhaps batting at 10 is a little lofty for him!

If England were to make any changes, perhaps a little shuffle in the batting line up, but it is also hard to see who to drop. Collingwood is terribly out of form at the moment, but his bowling and fielding more than support his place in the side, and with his temperament, the runs will surely come.

What England really miss in the absence of Trescothick and Flintoff is a top quality slip catcher; if this is not rectified soon, then it will continue to cost England. Strauss looked very fumble-fingered at slip in the first test, and England will not want to throw away chances.

New Zealand make only one change – with Southee dropping out after his illness this week and Iain O’Brien slotting in in his stead.

Latest News – New Zealand win the toss and opt to bat. An interesting decision on this pitch. England’s bowlers will look to make early inroads, whereas New Zealand will hope to bat long enough that the spin of their captain, Daniel Vettori, will become very testing on a quick, bouncy track.