Wine with Leslie: a good year for wine - or the onset of climate change?
Pic: iStock
All the warm weather this past May-June has been welcome - but I can’t help wondering is this a lucky year or is it climate change?
I’ve featured this Pet-Nat before but not in its natty new cans which arrived in Ireland recently. There is also an excellent floral blanco Xarel-lo & Muscat version. Dusky pink-orange colour, strawberry and pink grapefruit aromas, crisp and deliciously fruity with a chewy-citrus kick on the finish. Summer in a glass.
Picpoul de Pinet comes into its own in the summer, especially with dishes like moules-frites and fresh crab on brown bread. This organic wine was the best Picpoul I tasted last year — salty lemon aromas with a touch of kiwi and cooked pear - textured and fruity with crisp lemon acidity.
La Maldición means ‘The Curse’, a reference to the difficulty accessing this high altitude organic vineyard and tending its ancient vines. A blend of Tempranillo and local Malvar, this has floral berry fruit aromas, bright juicy flavours, and oodles of character.
Made by Irish winemakers Caro and Sean Feely on their Organic Biodynamic Estate in Bergerac. Fermented on wild yeasts, unfined with just a light filtration and is of course vegan and natural. Packed with red fruit aromas and flavours, savoury and rounded with a delightful balance of red fruit, texture and acidity. Warmly recommended, as is Caro’s book.
From the same organic winemaker as the OnÃric Pet-Nat above but this time from Navarra. A blend of fragrant spicy Garnacha and dark powerful Graciano - aromas of dark cherry and blackberry, supple and juicy on the palate with low sulphur and big gobs of sweet fruit balanced by acidity.
Originally the ‘house wine’ of the family as it came from grapes picked at the end of the harvest from the cooler slopes. A co-fermented field blend with bright juicy berry fruits — supple and fruit-focused with a pleasing glou-glou freshness suited to warm days — feel free to serve chilled.
I’ve featured Fercullen here before but this is their first whiskey release entirely from their own distillery and made from local barley — Fercullen believe this release is the first Wicklow distilled whiskey in over 100 years. Distilled in 2018 and aged in Bourbon casks, just 6000 bottles have been released
This pours a light gold with aromas of caramel and honey, vanilla and allspice — smooth on the palate for such a young whiskey, butterscotch and caramelised apple flavours with spice and pepper notes on the finish and good length. If this is how good a 3 year old tastes I’m looking forward to future releases.
