“Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time. Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines…”
Well yes, 2024 – like recent years before it – was a bit like that, disappearing in a haze of tastings, appointments and deadlines. But one thing I’ve found about ageing is that you return to lost loves, as Kafka put it - and wine-wise that means going back to those styles that got me interested in the stuff in the first place.
So not acidity-driven Albariño or Riesling or even classy Pinot Noir but the comfort wines that got me through two Uni degrees and a first job in the City.
So, when I came across the Eisenstone Shiraz 2021 at the Waitrose Autumn tasting, I felt like that cynical food critic in Ratatouille whose taste of a dish made by the gastronomic mouse transports him back to his lost childhood. This is a full-on, take-no-prisoners Shiraz, made the way they used to be made, from the Koonunga sub-region of the Barossa Valley, and named after the German word for ‘iron’, in honour of the original German settlers of the region. The wine is aged on oak for 18 months and shows dark berry fruit and liquorice on the palate, with a hint of mint on the finish. Not cheap at £50, but bearing in mind just 4400 bottles were made, worth every penny.
Just a few bottles away was another great wine, something of a snip at under £20, Babylonstoren Babel Red Blend 2022. South Africa is really on form right now and this delicious, velvety but nuanced red blend from Simonsberg shows just how. No fewer than eight varieties go into the mix, including Merlot, Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc, Malbec and Pinot and the result is a full-bodied delight, tempered by lovely freshness on the palate. This is a great accompaniment to cheese but also red meats.
And among the whites the No 1 Douro Branco 2023 stood out, confirming how well this Portuguese region is now producing whites. A fabulous, rich field blend of Rabigato, Viosinho, Arinto and Alvarinho, this is a generous yet precise wine, peach, apricot and white flowers on the palate and a long rich finish. At under £14, a truly worthy addition to Waitrose’s excellent and growing No 1 wine range.
The Armenian tasting at 67 Pall Mall in the early autumn was one of the great unsung treats of 2024, with the Caucasus country in my opinion now making wines at least the equal of its oenologically better known but now deeply troubled neighbour Georgia. Amongst reds Areni Noir - nowadays normally just called Areni - is king and the tasting showed a fascinating variety of different styles and blends.
My favourite was Voskevaz Karasi Collection Areni Noir 2019, made from 120-year-old vines in a vineyard 1,600m above sea level in the Vayots Dzor region, close to where Armenia’s wine story – the world’s oldest – started over 6000 years ago. Aged in 100-year-old karasi and American oak, this is balanced and velvety, very age-worthy (and best decanted) and utterly memorable. Available through Armenia specialist GInVino - Best Wines off the Beaten Path (https://wineorigins.co.uk/)
As far as the UK trade is concerned, Washington State has had a low key few years, maybe because the US’s second largest wine producing state is – aside from its excellent Rieslings – mainly associated with unfashionable Bordeaux varieties and blends. Two very different wines, however, L’Ecole No 41 Syrah 2019 and Syncline Gamay Noir 2019 show that the state – now home to over 1000 wineries – continues to make exciting, quality wines.
The first, L’Ecole No 41 Syrah 2019, is an old favourite, from Walla Walla in Columbia Valley, made by one of the state’s best-known producers famously based in an old schoolhouse, which last year turned 40. This wine, actually 82% Syrah, 16% Grenache and 2% Mourvèdre, is at its peak, stylistically very different from the two Australian Shiraz I include here but all the more fascinating for that. Medium to full bodied, with lots of dark berry fruit – blackberry and blackcurrant – with spice, tobacco and pepper on the quite hefty finish, although the 15% alcohol is carried well. Very Decent. (available from Wine Treasury).
So too is the distinctive and unusual Syncline Gamay Noir 2019 from the Syncline winery in Columbia Gorge. Lots of fresh red fruit on the palate, soft tannins and a lingering herbal finish in what is a surprisingly light wine. Small volumes of this were produced – just 17 barrels – but on this showing, Gamay has a great future in Washington State. (Ally Wines).
Cantina Tramin winemaker (and Paul Newman-lookalike) Willi Sturz
A true prince amongst decent Italian cooperatives, Cantina Tramin – based in the eponymous Alto Adige village that is reportedly the birthplace of Gewürztraminer – is best known for its Nussbaumer Gewürztraminer and Epokale, the iconic dessert wine made from the same variety. But a Zoom tasting organised by Studio Cru in November confirmed that winemaker and Paul Newman-lookalike Willi Sturz, now 32 years at Tramin, is no slouch when it comes to other white varieties, notably Pinot Grigio (an important grape in the region) and Chardonnay (not so much, and often overshadowed here by Pinot Bianco).
Two wines from these varieties make my list. The first is the 100% Pinot Grigio Unterrebner 2022, a high-end interpretation of this oft maligned variety, now celebrating its 30th anniversary. Some 75% of the grapes are fermented in large oak barrels, 25% in small, and then the whole left on their lees for a year before bottling. Calcareous soils and careful dedicated winemaking turn this into something very distinct from what you and I might regard as typical Pinot Grigio.
“We don’t really market this as Pinot Grigio but as a great bottle of wine,” says sales director Wolfgang Klotz. Quite so, but even more can this be said of my other Top 10 wine from Tramin, the Troy Riserva 2021 (Troy means ‘path’ in the local dialect). The first vintage of this was only in 2015 and just 6500 bottles are made each time but what a Chardonnay: climate change, large diurnal temperature differences and careful grape selection have made this superb, elegant, cool climate wine, intense gold in colour with a deliciously nuanced and balanced palate, world class. Sturz says his wines aim to bring this beautiful Alpine region into your glass – with the Troy in particular he is clearly on the right path. (available from Hallgarten & Novum Wines)
Finding good quality Assyrtiko made outside Santorini used to be a challenge as winemakers struggled to find the right balance between acidity, freshness and fruit but with prices for wines from that island seeming to rise exponentially, it has luckily become a little easier with Greek-focused importers like HN Wines sourcing some great stuff. A new boutique (just 16 hectares) organic producer in Pieria on the slopes of Mt Olympus, famously home to the Greek gods is Navitas, (which translates from Latin as re-birth/energy) and that is just what the Terre de Zeus Navitas Assyrtiko 2022 conveys. This is a delight, very different to its Santorini cousins but showing salinity, herbs, lemon blossom and good but not excessive acidity. (HN Wines)
And last, but certainly not least, another Barossa Shiraz to take me back in time, 40 years to 1984, which is when Rockford Wines started production at its small, historic winery in South Australia and when I was hanging out in Bondi. Iconic wines can, I find, sometimes struggle to live up to their reputation but Rockford’s Basket Press Shiraz isn’t one of them. The 2018 vintage is positively singing, with a huge hinterland of flavour accorded by the 120-year-old vines and the reassuringly old fashioned approach taken by winemaker/proprietor Robert O’Callaghan: there’s lots of ripe black and red fruit on the palate, spice and pepper on the long finish and the tannins are soft. Someone told me that the bottle shape and colour are meant to recall Australia’s old-fashioned stubby beer bottles – whether this is true or not, this is a delicious Shiraz, made the way they used to be Down Under, but with just 13.8% alcohol – a 1980s pre-global-warming level. A great, nostalgic wine to see out 2024 with. (Armit Wines).
“Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way…” Well, yes it is and now more than ever as we wait for the promise of our new political dawn to be realised, hoping that Trump 2 won’t be as awful as we all fear. The economy may be shot, the wounds inflicted by the absurdity of Brexit still fester and World War 3 might (or might not) be imminent, but wine-wise at least, there’s never been a better time to be alive. Cheers to 2025.
