Wine Express Blog

Californian wine came of age in 1976 at a blind tasting in Paris which pitted the top Chateau from Bordeaux against some largely unknown wines from the Napa Valley. To everyone surprise and the French wine industry’s mortification, previously unsung Californian producers like Stag’s Leap and Montelana bested Bordeaux icons like Chateaux Mouton-Rothschild and Haut-Brion. California has never looked back. Top wines from the Napa Valley fetch hundreds of dollars a bottle, and there are long waiting lists for the tiniest of allocations of the now great Californian names.

But in the last decade or so, something interesting has happened. Californian wines have become a bit more like those from Bordeaux. And Bordeaux has become a bit more Californian-like. That is to say that the top Californian wines have become a little less voluptuously fruity and oaked, and top Bordeaux reds a little fruiter and more rounder. Warmer weather in Bordeaux has played a part in this, but winemakers on both sides of the Atlantic have consciously incorporated some their rivals’ best features into their own winemaking. The winners are neither California nor Bordeaux, but us, the consumer.

John Borrell

It’s nearly 30 years since I was last in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. There was a civil war going on then and I was Time Magazine’s correspondent in Beirut. Now the civil war is across the border in Syria and I have swapped writing for wine, a sensible thing to do at my age.

This time I was in the Bekaa to meet Fauozi Issa, owner and winemaker at Domaine des Tourelles. It is one of Lebanon’s oldest wineries and Faouzi is producing some interesting wines; Decanter Magazine recently rated his Marquis des Beys, a blend of Cabernet and Syrah, at 93 points.

I was keen to taste the wine and to meet Faouzi and his family. At Wine Express we like working with family-owned wineries and enthusiastic young winemakers. Neither disappointed.

Fauozi, who studied oenology in France and worked at Chateau Margaux, bubbles with enthusiasm. The 2009 Marquis des Beys was as good as an expression of the Bekaa’s terroir as any Lebanese wines I have tried. I’ll share my tasting notes later.

There is also a seductive white made mostly from Viognier (apples an pineapples) and an everyday red made from Syrah and Cabernet which was soft on the palate and full of fruit.

It was a great tasting and we’ll shortly be bringing Faouzi’s full range o Poland.

Few people have heard of the Spanish grape Monastrell. They are much more likely to have heard of Mouverdre from France or Mataro from Australia, both of them clones of the original Spanish Monastrell. The reason for the grape’s obscurity is that until recently it was grown primarily to produce bulk wine which was shipped off, often abroad, to add colour and body to more anaemic wines with better name recognition.

But just as Primitivo from Puglia in Italy has in recent years shrugged off its bulk wine image and become a sought-after single varietal, so too is Monastrell from Murcia in Spain rapidly becoming much more than just a tanker or blending wine. In fact, a recent visit to Murcia in the south of Spain has left me wondering whether Murcia might not be the new Puglia and Monastrell the new Primitivo, an increasingly popular grape in Poland.

There are many similarities. Both regions are in the hot, dry south of their respective countries. Both grape varieties tend to produce full, fruity and sometimes tannic wines. Both Primitivo and Monastrell are often great value for money, especially when compared to wines from better known regions in their own countries. Chianti in Italy and Rioja in Spain spring immediately to mind.

On my visit to wineries in both the Jumilla and Yecla denominations in Murcia, I tasted single varietal Monastrell with 93 Parker points and met winemakers who believed they will soon achieve scores in the high 90’s. I also tasted Monastrell with Parker scores in the high 80’s which could be retailed in Poland for less than 30 zl a bottle.

In fact they will be within a month or two. Check our website for Monastrell from Murcia early in the New Year.

John Borrell