Some Italians
As I reflect on the past two weeks in London I must admit that my food experiences were a little light on. Not one dining experience worthy of a post. That is not to say that dining in London is so terrible, I had some great meals in the everyday type places. The casual London dining scene has greatly improved over the past couple of years. I was treated to excellent meals in and around north London. From fantastic dry aged meat, deftly cooked fish of superb freshness and lightly dressed salads of sparkling acidity all washed down with some excellent vin ordinaire. My time to indulge in my passion for the finer restaurants was limited, so I concentrated on the wine.
The wine choices in London are simply fantastic. For a wine lover it’s like going down the rabbit hole and arriving in wonderland. The veritable kid in a candy shop would be the cliché. Haut Brion, Chateau Margeaux, Grand crus, super Tuscan’s, Californian chardonnay’s, Oregon Pinots Noirs and Spanish Rioja’s burst from the shelves. This is the complete antithesis of the local back home in Sydney. I’m often left thinking I’m perhaps on another planet.
For this short trip I stuck to the Italians. First off was the Castello dei Rampolla Chianti Classico 2013 £24/$48AUD (90% Sangoviese 10% Cabernet Sauvignon) This was a beast of a wine. Super tight tannins, earthy and almost unforgiving. This is a wine that needs bottle age to soften, but what a wine it is. Rich austere bouquet with aggressive flavours of earth, blackberries, nettles and hay. Give it 5 more years and it would have been perfect, still, delicious.
Castello dei Rampolla Sangoivese di S. Lucia 2011 Toscana £26/$50AUD (100% Sangoveise) This is another massive wine, age worthy with brutal tightness. This wine is something that I hadn’t tried before it was fermented and aged in clay amphora’s, a throwback of sorts to an earlier time. I have no reference point at all with this wine, this was the first “clay” wine I have tried. Did I like it…. initially I found it a little strange, it almost tasted corked? It was low alcohol at only 13.5% maybe lower so big jammy sweet red it was never going to be. Having worked on the potter’s wheel you know the smell of wet clay, and on the nose it did just that, smelt of clay. I drank this wine over three days with it being at its best on day two. The palate was rich and tight on the front with ideas of earth and stone, unfortunately it got lost on the finish. Still an interesting wine which would be fascinating to see how it develops characteristics over time.
Co del Mondo 2011 Kerrias Montepulciano d’Abbuzzo £25/$45 AUD (100% Montelpuciano 14.5%) Delicious, Moorish, gentle sweet summer garden on the nose with mouth filling red fruits and berries with well integrated tannins that sung thought out the palate. It reminded of lunch in the garden. A well thought out and built wine.
Lastly the Siro Pacenti Vendemmia 2014, Montalicino this wine was a little cheaper at £20 or around $40AUD and was delicious, delicate red fruit nose with well-balanced fruit, gentle tannins with a long gentle finish.
Other favourites
Ilatium Morini Soave £10/ $20AUD
Fontodi Chianti Classico £17/$35AUD
Most of these wines were purchased from Jeroboams in Hamstead Health
29 Heath St, London NW3 6TR, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 7435 6845
www.jeroboams.co.uk/page/heath-street
Cheers!