Wine with Leslie: How to build a wine collection and what to add to it

Leslie's picks this week are all wines that drink well now but are contenders for laying down for a few years.

Last week I wrote about the (admittedly first-world) problem of missing out on my Autumn French holiday and the annual Foire Aux Vins sales. Thankfully there is some compensation with the bargains on offer in Dunnes Stores, O’Briens and SuperValu.

When I was starting a wine collection in the 1990s it was thanks to the sales at Leclerc, Géant and Intermarché that I was able to lay down some good Bordeaux and some interesting wines bought at cellar doors, mainly in the Loire and in Gascony.

This formed the basis of my early cellar which I then added to by buying regularly from Irish off-licences. This is the key to building a cellar — you must keep adding to it and always have lots of quaffing wine to protect the good bottles from being consumed with post-pub curry-chips.

I really recommend starting a collection. For me, fine wines only make up 25-30% of my cellar, with significantly more medium and medium-high quality wines from places like Spain, the Languedoc, Northern and Southern Italy, Argentina and Australia. 

I love the taste of mature wines but not everyone does — Bordeaux, Barbaresco, or Ribera del Duero that is 10-15 years old tastes quite different to its younger counterpart but you might not welcome the replacement of bright juicy fruits with cinnamon and leather so try some aged wines before you embark on such a project. 

As for where to put them — I recommend the cupboard under the stairs or a spare bedroom which is rarely heated, just avoid the garage, kitchen, and attic where temperature varies too much.

Wines this week are highlights from the September wine sales in Dunnes Stores and O’Briens. Picks are all wines that drink well now but are contenders for laying down for a few years. 

I myself bought extra bottles of Cazal Viel, Château Fourcas-Hosten, Château du Glana and l’Ostals Estibals as well as some (SuperValu) Louis Latour Meursault. Speaking of Burgundy Dunnes has their very fragrant Reine Pedauque Meursault at just €45 and Bouchard Aîné et Fils Pouilly Fuissé for €27 - both should age happily for five to seven years.

Wine under €15

Laurent Miquel Château Cazal Viel 2017, Saint-Chinian, France — €12.00

Stockist: Dunnes Stores

This is my bargain pick from the Dunnes Stores September sale. Normally €19 or more, this is Laurent Miquel’s top wine from the family estate and from their oldest vines. Normally sold in New York and LA restaurants — thanks to Covid-19, Dunnes have it now. Mainly syrah (plus grenache and mourvèdre) this is ripe and supremely juicy with big dollops of black and red berried fruits. Well worth ageing five to eight years.

Château Pierrail ‘Les Hauts de Naudon’ 2016 Bordeaux Supérieur — €15.00

Stockist: Dunnes Stores

This is the second wine of Château Pierrail which was once owned by the famed Ségur family (eg, Calon-Ségur, Phélan-Ségur, etc) and is reduced by a fiver. Located in the far east of the Bordeaux AOP, almost in Bergerac this has bright plum fruit aromas and flavours and good intensity, ripeness and grip — while drinking now this should soften and develop over the next five years.

L’Ostal Cazes Estibals Minervois, France — €11.95

Stockist: O’Briens

This is a bargain in my view as it normally costs €17. I adore Minervois and rank the best of it with Saint-Chinian (I often prefer its more lush tones). Owned by the Cazes family of Château Lynch-Bages this is mainly syrah (60%) plus grenache and carignan with spice and dark fruits on the nose, riper fresher fruits on the palate with peppery plums and berries.

Wine over €15

Château Fourcas-Hosten, Listrac-Médoc, France — €21.95

Stockist: O’Briens www.wine.ie

I’ve been buying Ch Fourcas-Hosten from O’Briens since 1992, it ages for up to 15 years and this is normally priced at €30. Dark garnet centre, fading at the rim, complex blackcurrant and wooden pencil box aromas, mature fruits with textured dark berry fruit flavours, chewy berry skins and a touch of tannin and characterful blackcurrant on the finish. Will last another three to five years.

Château Du Glana 2015, Saint-Julien, Bordeaux — €34.95

Stockist: O’Briens www.wine.ie

This is down from €41 and is classic Saint-Julien from a good year so worth ageing a decade or so. For drinking now it has typical blackcurrant, mint and pepper aromas, lovely purity with the warm year showing on the mid-palate and with pleasing length and freshness. Also recommended is Château Brown 2014 from Pessac-Léognan (at €45 down from €60) which has big smoky ripe fruits and a long life ahead.

Domaine de la Bressande Mercurey 2017, Burgundy, France — €21.95

Stockists: Dunnes Stores

With Burgundy getting more expensive every year it is good that the five villages of the Côte Chalonnais are still somewhat competitive. Mercurey is the longest-lived and this should mature nicely over the next five to seven years — bright red fruit aromas with a forest floor touch, textured and ripe with taut plum-skin fruits on the finish and a lingering black cherry.

Beer/spirit of the week

Wild Red Kinsale Mead 

 

• Limited edition
• 12% ABV; 70cl 
• €27.95 
• Stockists: Bradleys; 1601 Kinsale; Bubble Brothers; Urru Bandon; Celtic Whiskey Shop; Martins; SuperValu Castletroy.
• kinsalemeadco.ie 

 

Kinsale Mead has just released an excellent limited-edition iteration of its always interesting product.

This blackcurrant and cherry mead was fermented off-dry and then aged in Bordeaux merlot barrels for 12 months.

There are two more barrel-aged concepts due in the coming months so keep an eye out.

This pours like aged Saint-Émilion in the glass with a garnet centre and brick-coloured rim. Light dark cherry aromas with distinct honeyed notes in the background, sweet red and black fruits on the palate with a crisp (almost tart) cherry finish and lingering subtle soft honey and raspberry notes. Quite delicious and rather fascinating.