Empty and Full; The Stop, Start Nature of Empty

[Hey there folks, we are having some issues with Empty on Wordpress, so just temporarily I will get this up here - Rob]

It’s been a long time since I’ve written in a way reminiscent of my old prolific empty self. There are a million excuses I could make as to why, but, very simply it boils down to one factor; passion. I have been working in ‘wine’ retail for quite a while now and if there is one thing I am certain of it is that there is a negative correlation between the amount of £6 wine one sells and your passion for wine. Thankfully, I am finding, there is a two step remedy; acceptance and focusing on the good wine in life. This leads me to writing this post; I have been really complacent with this passion of mine and I think it’s about time I start writing about it again.

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@Rob_Gilmour has been writing for Empty for too long to mention, he is currently working in wine in Edinburgh where he runs @Wine_Edinburgh and somehow has found time to be Vice-President of the @IWSScotland. Being a balanced multifaceted individual Rob's only interest in not wine, he is also interested in wine education as well having passed with distinction his WSET L3. If you'd like to contact him email: emptyglassie@gmail.com 

The Battle of Bordeaux

June 1938. European heads of state are doing their thing and getting ready to murder lots of Joe-subs, again. Times like these lend themselves to blowing off steam. Nobody needed to do this more at this point than Czechoslovakia having just had a chunk of their country "annexed" by the Third Reich. Roll on June, that's just what they did.

A Hard Day's Riesling

Jim Barry, The Lodge Hill Riesling 2007

Sometimes big and bold is quite simply better. This Riesling is a testament to that fact. Jim Barry rave about the Lodge Hill site, saying that its high elevation brings a unique intensity to the grapes grown there. I for one happily agree, this wine certainly is intense.  

The colour is inviting, reminding me of the straw bales which are everywhere right now. The nose is striking, with tart citrus fruits and orange blossom sending the senses into overdrive. Minerality and lime create a mouth watering palette. The real treat however is a tingly acidity which can’t help but re-energise the soul.

For me this wine is the essence of Australia. Brash and beautiful, it storms its way into your heart and leaves a big old smile on your face. This is the sort of wine you want to come home to after a hard day. It peps you up for the evening and will go excellently with any asian food; provided it lasts that long of course.

Score: B+ (88)

(Available widely for €19.99)

~ Will Blumlein

Reasoned Riesling Reactionaries

Nothing is beyond the  repertoire of armchair activists such as ourselves here at Empty. That's right, we said it, armchair activists.  Bugger that, while Germany, is and always will be one of leaders  for propagating the quality of the wino's favourite grape we have to all dust ourselves off and realise, the Aussies really have led the charge on getting Riesling noticed. Not mentioning them, is by our books, rather uncool. So we did what any self respecting wino aficionado would do. We answered the four questions we shouted at our computers in the wee hours of this morning. Where's Australia? Where's Austria? Where's Alsace? Where's the Kiwi's? (Also watch out for some of the Riesling that sadly doesn't make the Irish market; USA, Chilean etc.)

Question Time With Empty

It's a good simple and concise question that John Wilson summed up recently by pointing out had we always used Stelvin we would never move to cork, yet is the answer really that simple? Having sat down to do a blind tasting of a wine Shane had left, I was presented with a dull and dead nose and a palate of harsh acidity... A fault no less, the blind tasting had been oxidised. Provoked by this and indeed the impending arrival of guests and Shane himself, I decided while the topic was hot and many opinions could be had, that I ought to crack open a pair of wines I had picked up in The Corkscrew Wine Merchants on Dublin's Chatham Street. What was so interesting about this? They were both the same vintage no less and to boot one was under cork and the other under Stelvin. 

Empty's Full Glass on Wine Australia

Rob and Shane give a post-mortem on Monday's wine Australia trade fair marking any notables from the day. Comments on the master classes, the Riesling table. We'll also be updating this in the near future with a podcast of the opinions of the guys. For now read way! Hope you enjoy, and as always comments and debate welcome!  

A Stickie Situation....

In the wake of Wine Australia, I have been rather predictably on a bit of an Aussie trip. Cabernet being the main offender for the moment. However, it would be a blatant lie to insinuate that this is something rather new for me. Last year, maybe that was the case, but now, I am the right-proper Aussie pusher. So in the interest of critical thought, I decided I'd have a go at something a little different. The "Stickies". No, not those of the northern variety; I am, mind you, rather gangly and the only possible outcome ensuing such a feat would be the repeated hurting of myself. Fearing for myself as I always do,  I felt happening upon a safer plan of action the better option. Thus, the Australian dessert wines, which just so happen to also be called "Stickies". These little buggers are unpopular by the very nature of their existence, they are after all dessert wines. Which shouldn't in our ideal world matter, it is after all just another style. Yet the game is as always played through the  eyes of the consumer, and guess what, we are a rather prejudice aulde bunch. Like to believe it or not. 

d'Arenberg, The Dry Dam Riesling 2002

If you, like I, have ever watched Shaun of the Dead, it should be needless to say that you will have grasped the rather central thematic concept that a Zombie is someone or something that should by all rights be dead at this point, but is apparently not. Now to another harsh feature of these Zombie types, they come in an endless wave, persistent and never ending. To make sense of this, were I looking for a metaphor to offer the to Riesling here, well, I would most definitely compare it to a Zombie.

The Blueberries (Empty Awards for 2011)

Here at team empty we have decided that we could kick off the new year by having ourselves a little bout of awards just to mention some of the best wines, people, producers, regions and wine businesses that we've come across over the 2011. Our format is very simple, there is a first, second and third place, see simple. That in mind, here are our Blueberry awards for 2011.

Ring Bolt Cabernet Sauvignon, 2009

So with these occupation things being all the rage and us empty heads sharing an ironically leftie view of the world we said we would dedicate this review to the exec of Maynooth’s Student Union who at the time of writing are bailed up in a TD’s office in Naas. The wine would need the values of #Occupy at heart so what wine ticks all these boxes?

The Art in the bottle

The Tim Adams Shiraz is a wine I had heard a lot about and all good things at that. This always makes me wary, is it going to be like Avatar? The biggest hyped up movie of all time that turns out to be this mess of images and plot that leaves me left to wonder whether or not I have just witnessed the death knell of art and culture.

Where am I going with this? Well, after so many let downs of late by hyped up wines I decided to take a chance and buy a wine I spotted in ... wait for it ... Tesco. Gasp! As mentioned above, I had heard some very good things about the entire Tim Adams range , almost too much.

I am a very sceptical person at the best of times, so I approached this wine with great trepidation. Shiraz is certainly one of my favourite grapes, but it is abused far too often in making truck loads of wine to fill supermarket shelves the world over.

Ferngrove, Shiraz, €12.99

 

So enter another Auzzie poised to steal me and my little old world heart away to the great down under. Punching in at €12.99 this little wine offers a tight entry level to the world of austrialian shiraz, or so it seemed. 

5 wines to try

Shoo Fly, Chardonnay, 2009


€13.95, Mill Wine Cellar
Chardonnay as it should be, beauitful soft and full bodied, with a strong body of melon and elderberries both on the nose and on the plate. The wine opens with peach and minerality showing and developing, grapefruit makes an apperance on the palate. Not the most complicated wine but extremely tasty, offering a lot of taste and a good interesting cool-climate chardonnay from the adelaide hills a region fast stealing my heart. Advice would be to find a bit of spare change and add it to the ten quid bottle you normally get and try this wine. Tis an award winner after all having the title of best white wine on the Irish Market under €20, not a bad reputation to have mind you.




Petit Fumé, Michel Redde et Fils, 2010

€16.99, Mill Wine Cellar
We have sun, we need a crisp clean cut white to celebrate, look no further than Petit Fumé, made by Michel Redde et Fils, this Sauvignon Blanc is what you need, Sauvignon Blanc has risen to popularity of late- especially with the rise of New Zealand wine. While New Zealand is now regarded as the King of Sauvignon Blanc, I feel that this title is fairly undermining of the French examples, we have loire producing some of the most crisp examples of this vartiel, so looking at this pacticular bottle, we have a crisp and clean experience. Brilliantly structured, fresh apple and minerality notes, finishing with acidity to clear the palate after each mouthful. The nose is especially inviting on this, best when just slightly chilled to take the acid edge off. While slightly expensive, this bottle and grape has finally come into it's own, rarely failing to impress. What we're talking about here is a sleek stylish examof what is now just a bulk grape; it has distinct fruit notes and subtle hints to leave you curious. Its greatest drawback (being students) is the price. However remember it is on offer, so it’s well worth picking up as a treat, and in this weather the wine will be one of the most refreshing things on the shelf

Santa Digna, Cab Sauv Res, 2010

€9.99, Wine Mill Cellar
Sun seems as though it would like to stay and as a ritual in it's honour (and as a hopefully attempt to persuade it to stay for a short while longer) I thought I ought to toast to it this weekend. Now we have offered you our white wine selection, but despite two of my bigger predujices, the first that chilean wine will dissappoint and the second that Rosés are a stupid idea and are boring wines  of my own I decided I'd give the following wine a bit of a test drive. So the wine up for tasting? Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé, 2010, from Santa digna, chile. So starting out with low expectations, opening the bottle, I was suprised to be greeted by a more than pleasant raspberry and subtle strawberry nose, beckoned by this I knocked a bit into a glass give it a bit of a swirl and slurped me some Rosé, and for the second time in not so long chile has surprised myself. So with this we were looking at raspberry, strawberry, bit of early minerality of a very flithish style. As the wine opened up we started to see the fruits develop a little, we started to get grapefruit and the nose turned slightly Sauv Blanc with gooseberry. What was the biggest slap in the face was how refreshing the wine tasting despite the fact it weighed it at a burly 13.5% alcohol. That fact showed the quality of the make of the wine we were dealing with, that combined with the full body of the wine. I'd have given it a 7, fresh wine, felt a little green at points but nothing overly officious to the palate!

Max Fred. Richter, Mosel Valley Riesling, 2009

€14.99, Corkscrew
A lovely example of Mosel Valley Riesling. Crisp and refreshing as all Riesling should be, it is sweet with a Clean nose, the wine is extremely complicated with melons, pear, apple and a slight hint of citrus making up the main fruits of the wine there is a nice touch of clove to the wine and everything seems to have a thin blanket of honey coating it. To boot it even has a foral smell as it opens which does not get lose on the palate, despite the mass arrays of smells and tastes each one is well defined. Leaving for a truly enjoyable wine that seems to wreak of a come hither note.


Leyda Reserve, Pinot Noir 2009

€14.95, Mill Wine Cellar
New world wine is a bit of a new thing for myself only letting go of my predjuices against many regions. However one predjuice has managed to last the test of time Chilean wine. That is until recently, so recent in fact it was this week, when I found a bottle of Pinot hiding behind large quanities of Shiraz from the same nation. Single vineyard always a good sign. Opening the bottle I was greeted by a warm smelling wine, nice mind you, slowly this developed into a nice red fruit and tobacco form, living up to the warm cilmate Pinot reputation of packing a punch, not only that but this also as it opened smelt meaty, and on the palte started to minic this and also add a sweet red pepper undertone. It kept opening up as the night progress and showed signs of the red berries and other red fuits as well as the prevelant tobacco smell and palate, all in all? A wine well enjoyed.

Tasting Cabernets with a Blindfold on

While none of us attending the Empty Glass' first blind wine tasting were actually wearing blindfolds I did have to close my eyes when they were poured. The reason for this was because I knew what each bottle looked like, even if they had brown paper covering the bottle. So, that is the idea of a blind tasting, you are not supposed to know what each bottle is. We began the tasting by telling everyone in the room about the noble grape Cabernet Sauvignon which is the basis for some of the best and some of the expensive wines in the world. Typically consists of aromas, such as Blackcurrant. This is then normally added to by the influence of oak aging which adds complexity to the palate and nose, with notes of cedar-box, cinnamon, vanilla etc. depending on the type of oak used.

The reason for blind tasting is to be able to objectively judge each bottle on its own merits as opposed to looking at a bottle that has Bordeaux on it and assuming it will be the best one. The results of the tasting were interesting and it was a very tight race between the top three. The wines were scored by each of us out of 5, 1 being something the taster would never ever drink again and 5 being the best thing that they have ever tasted. The results were as follows;

1. Longview Devil's Elbow Cabernet Sauvignon, Score: 29 available for 17.99 in O'Briens

2. Torres Gran Coronas Cabernet Sauvignon, Score: 27.5 available from most off licences for 15.45

3. Peter Lehman Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon, Score: 25.5 available from the Mill for 10.95 or two for twenty

4. Lafite-Rothschilde Légende, Score: 22 available from O'Briens at 12.95

5. Heartland Cabernet Sauvignon Limestone Coast, Score: 20 available from the Mill at 14.95

6. L'apostolle Cabernet Sauvignon, Score: 16 available from the Mill at 8.99

What was most interesting about this tasting was the variation between wines from the same region such as the Heartland and the Longview. Both displayed the typical Adelaide eucalyptus, but the Heartland was taking a long time to open up. While all the wines were decanted for half an hour before the tasting some of them would have benefited from longer. For example the Heartland tasted much better two hours later. However the results were a very fair assessment of the wines and what impressed me most was how well the second cheapest wine did. The Lehman Cabernet Sauvignon punched well above its weight. While it is a fruitier style and perhaps not  as complex as the Torres and the Longview, it blew the pants off the others near it, including a Bordeaux from the eponymous 2005 vintage.

So, what did this tasting teach us? All the hype about famous Bordeaux names with equally famous vintages are apparently not up to tackling New world wines that are slightly more expensive or in one case cheaper. Tasting notes for the wines themselves will soon follow this article.

Remember, be informed, price and hype does not always denote quality.

With Special thanks to the Mill Wine Cellar Maynooth who supplied tasting glasses (and also stock the over-achiever Peter Lehman Cabernet that was the winner for me in its quality and price).