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ON THE BOTTLE
by BOB TYRER
The Sunday Times
June 17, 2012 Sunday
London
As I'm feeling guilty for being absent from this column so frequently
recently, I'm determined to get this written before Cliff Richard comes
on the telly and I lapse into a frenzy. Yes, it's two weeks ago; we're
still in the grip of the jubilee and the Buckingham Palace concert is
beginning. I'd planned to write while waiting to see the Queen on her
boat, but standing on a ledge in the rain, with a tiny chink of the
river in view, wine was the last thing on my mind and I couldn't hold
my iPhone, let alone use the keys. So here we are: it's freezing June,
the roses at lunch didn't help, and I'm in need of some adventurous,
soul-warming reds. In honour of Prince Philip, and, as this will be
appearing on Father's Day, let's say the theme is patriarchs.
Noah has, I think, a fair claim to be the daddy of all patriarchs. As
his ark apparently made landfall on what is now the Turkish-Armenian
border, it's not far-fetched for the makers of a new super-premium
Armenian wine, Zorah Karasi, to point out that it comes from vineyards
"nestled in the shadows of biblical Mount Ararat". This is serious,
expensive and exceptionally tasty stuff, made from a local grape and
aged in amphorae, the huge clay pots of antiquity. Zorah was set up
by an expatriate Armenian living in Milan, who brought in an Italian
winemaker - who just happens to have worked for my next patriarch.
There can't be many wine drinkers who haven't bought a bottle of
Mondavi over the years. Robert Mondavi, who set up his Napa Valley
winery in 1966, was most certainly the daddy of the modern Californian
wine industry. Towards the end of his life, he regretted that his
company had shifted its focus from top quality to mass market.
Constellation, the global conglomerate that bought it in 2004, has,
counterintuitively, bolstered the top-end quality. There are some
super single-vineyard bottles, but I prefer the straight Napa Valley
Cabernet, which has all the old man's virtues while being just about
affordable.
My third morale-boosting bottle comes from two trainee patriarchs,
Chilean schoolfriends turned business partners who set up the Anakena
vineyards under the Andes mountains. They've created a warming
super-premium called Alwa (sunrise in the indigenous language, they
say). A glass or two of this would surely have saved Prince Philip
from hospital.
LIQUID HUNCHES
Zorah Karasi Areni Noir 2010 (£24.15) An elegant and slightly exotic
beauty (www.philglas-swiggot.com).
Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet 2008 (£19.99) Extremely drinkable
dark fruit and spices (cellarviewines.com).
Anakena Alwa 2007 (£20.49) Coffee, chocolate and loganberries
(www.oldbutcherswinecellar.co.uk).
by BOB TYRER
The Sunday Times
June 17, 2012 Sunday
London
As I'm feeling guilty for being absent from this column so frequently
recently, I'm determined to get this written before Cliff Richard comes
on the telly and I lapse into a frenzy. Yes, it's two weeks ago; we're
still in the grip of the jubilee and the Buckingham Palace concert is
beginning. I'd planned to write while waiting to see the Queen on her
boat, but standing on a ledge in the rain, with a tiny chink of the
river in view, wine was the last thing on my mind and I couldn't hold
my iPhone, let alone use the keys. So here we are: it's freezing June,
the roses at lunch didn't help, and I'm in need of some adventurous,
soul-warming reds. In honour of Prince Philip, and, as this will be
appearing on Father's Day, let's say the theme is patriarchs.
Noah has, I think, a fair claim to be the daddy of all patriarchs. As
his ark apparently made landfall on what is now the Turkish-Armenian
border, it's not far-fetched for the makers of a new super-premium
Armenian wine, Zorah Karasi, to point out that it comes from vineyards
"nestled in the shadows of biblical Mount Ararat". This is serious,
expensive and exceptionally tasty stuff, made from a local grape and
aged in amphorae, the huge clay pots of antiquity. Zorah was set up
by an expatriate Armenian living in Milan, who brought in an Italian
winemaker - who just happens to have worked for my next patriarch.
There can't be many wine drinkers who haven't bought a bottle of
Mondavi over the years. Robert Mondavi, who set up his Napa Valley
winery in 1966, was most certainly the daddy of the modern Californian
wine industry. Towards the end of his life, he regretted that his
company had shifted its focus from top quality to mass market.
Constellation, the global conglomerate that bought it in 2004, has,
counterintuitively, bolstered the top-end quality. There are some
super single-vineyard bottles, but I prefer the straight Napa Valley
Cabernet, which has all the old man's virtues while being just about
affordable.
My third morale-boosting bottle comes from two trainee patriarchs,
Chilean schoolfriends turned business partners who set up the Anakena
vineyards under the Andes mountains. They've created a warming
super-premium called Alwa (sunrise in the indigenous language, they
say). A glass or two of this would surely have saved Prince Philip
from hospital.
LIQUID HUNCHES
Zorah Karasi Areni Noir 2010 (£24.15) An elegant and slightly exotic
beauty (www.philglas-swiggot.com).
Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet 2008 (£19.99) Extremely drinkable
dark fruit and spices (cellarviewines.com).
Anakena Alwa 2007 (£20.49) Coffee, chocolate and loganberries
(www.oldbutcherswinecellar.co.uk).