My brother isn't the best when it comes in to birthday presents, but when he makes up for it, he makes up for it in style.  
That's how this food and wine fan ended up with a voucher for a meal at The Square, and not just any meal, but the Tasting Menu in this 2 Michelin starred restaurant.  That's the kind of apology I love.  Back in the days of corporate life, I could afford such extravagances fairly regularly.  Now it's a rare treat and perhaps all the better for it.
Easter Saturday turned out to be one hell of a day.  I started with a delicious Manzanilla sherry, and there was a great selection of gins for Mr Purple Teeth and our dining companions.  
The Square's Tasting Menu can be paired with the Sommelier's Selection of matching wines, providing a different glass for each course.  This is definitely worth doing in many restaurants, particularly if you're unsure about food and wine matching.  And it's a great way to find out about wines you may not ever experience otherwise.  My friends always like me to flex my wine knowledge, though, and it can be a challenge when faced with the giant tomes that make for the wine list in this type of establishment.  
To take the pressure off, I opted to start off with a bottle of Grüner Veltliner which was the recommended pairing for the first course: "Salad of Spring Vegetables with Montgomery Cheddar, Crisp Quail Egg, Shoots and Flowers".
As salads go, this was exceptional.  And Austria's signature grape was a great match, cutting through the rich cheese and balancing the herbaceous flavours with it's fresh, spicy green pepper notes.  There must have been over 30 processes in this little dish.  It sure beats opening a bag of mixed leaves and throwing on some cherry tomatoes.

The next dish was a Tartare of Fruits de Mer with Oyster Cream, Sea Vegetables and Salt and Vinegar Scraps.  I was slightly concerned about this until I saw the cute nasturtium leaf on the top.  This peppery goodness accompanied with samphire gave the dish enough green flavours to continue through with the Austrian wine.  The seafood was fresh and delicious, but the amazing secret ingredient to the dish was the "salt and vinegar scraps".  These were almost like rice crispies in texture, light little puffs just packed with flavour.  Another successful dish. 

Our next plate has been on the menu for longer than any other.  We spoke to one of the chefs who advised us this dish had been served successfully for many years: Saute of Scottish Langoustine Tails with Parmesan Gnocchi and an Emulsion of Potato and Truffle.  Being allergic to mushrooms, the kitchen had kindly made me an onion emulsion instead.  
Again, this appeared a very simple dish, but was just bursting with flavour.  In many ways the parmesan gnocchi was the star of the show.  You know when a dish makes you ask to meet the chef that you've got seriously good food in front of you.  


The recommended wine here was a Viognier, but I had to choose a bottle that would see us through this course and possibly 2 others.  I felt Viognier may be too perfumed for the job, but I wanted something relatively creamy and full-bodied.  Discussing with the sommelier, "Mohammed Mohammed from Egypt" he claimed, I opted for a Marsanne (with about 20% Roussanne).  As with the suggested Viognier, the Saint-Péray Les Pins (available for £19 a bottle at The Wine Society), is a northern Rhône appellation, and the wine was a great match for the dish with fresh citrus, florals, almond nuttiness and a delicate oak influence.  I'm happy to discover I can buy it retail as it was a real treat and a great alternative to the white Burgundy that had first come to mind, not to mention significantly cheaper.
Our friendly sommelier indulged in good banter about the wine choices and really added to our enjoyment.  When I asserted this wine would likely prove a better match than the suggested Viognier, he poured me a small glass so that I could compare.  I'm a real fan of Viognier, but in this case, I think it slightly dominated the delicate langoustine.  Still, it was lovely and I'm sure I'd have been happy with it, had I gone for the matching wines selection.

The Marsanne really came into it's own when paired with the next dish, a Cannelloni of Spring Rabbit with New Season's Onions, Pak Smoked ham and Marjoram.  A delightfully presented and delicate dish, it's the unmentioned pea puree which I recall most vividly for it's amazing freshness.  The suggested wine here was an Italian Trebbiano, though were were happy to continue with our Marsanne.

And then it was time for the big guns.  I wanted to get a red which could pair both with a fish dish and meat dish.  I also wanted to prove  to my doubting husband and friends that Pinot Noir could be just as intense and complex as his beloved St Juliens.  
After a little debate with my trusty Mohammed on Nuit-Saint-Georges or Gevrey-Chambertin, we opted for the Sylvie Esmonin Cuvee Vielle Vignes 2005. No surprise to Purple Teeth readers that the words "old vines" swung it for me.  Eye-wateringly expensive, sadly, but I definitely won the challenge.  The boys bought a second bottle.  Forgive me if the detail for the rest of the meal is light.  Tipsy doesn't begin to describe the condition I was poured out of the restaurant in.  But back to this silky elegant wine.

The AOC of Gevrey-Chambertin lies around 15km south of Dijon in the Côte-des-Nuits area of Burgundy, famous for outstanding Pinot Noirs.  Sylvie Esmonin has eschewed herbicides since 1990 and farms more or less organically.  She's using here around 60% of whole bunch fermentation and around 60% new oak which gives the wine amazing character. Though it's not a 1er Cru, it's still a fine quality wine with refreshing acidity, light tannins, a powerful and intense fruit driven nose, a medium body, and complex flavours of deep red fruit, black cherry, concentrated wild strawberry, alongside smoky notes and a black peppery spice, all with an exceptionally long finish.  
I haven't been able to track the exact wine down in retail, except with a 6 bottle minimum for £372! but the 2011 version is available at Berry Bros & Rudd if you have the patience to wait till it's ready.  At £45 a bottle, it'll really pay to keep it in the right conditions for a year or two.
It's first challenge was to pair with Slow Cooked Fillet of Brill with Crushed Jersey Royals, Pickled Celery, Mussels, Clams & Cider. This was a rich and buttery fish dish which allowed us to concentrate fully on the wine by playing the quiet dinner guest who is delightful company because they are quick to please but otherwise don't say much.  I'd managed to keep a bit of my Marsanne back to go with this too, since I had the benefit of the additional Viognier.

The "main course" was a seriously impressive Roast Veal Cheek with White Asparagus, Cauliflower Cheese, Hand-Cut Macaroni and Morels (absent from my plate due to my allergy).  Rich and intense, it brought out the smoky tones in the wine.  The meat fell apart with a fork and simply melted in the mouth.  I could eat this every day if chef was willing to send it round to my house.

We followed this with a 14 months aged Montgomery Cheddar coated in Malt Beer Caramel, with Pickled Onions and Digestive Biscuits.  Trust me when I say it was a lot more sophisticated than it sounds.  The second bottle of Burgundy made me forget to take its picture.  On the tasting menu, it was to be paired with a beer.  I think we got the better deal, if a lot more expensive!

And so to dessert (s).  
Brillat-Savarin Cheesecake with Strawberries was first, and was everything you'd expect, creamy, elegant, refreshing and packed with serious fruit flavour.

For the dessert wine, I felt I had to economise after our extravagance on the red.  Did anyone hear that stable door slam?

Jurançon Clos Thou was perfect for the job.  The Petit Manseng from south west France has the perfect balance between acidity and sweetness to pair with many desserts and in particular, the "main dessert".  Flavours of ripe citrus mingle with passion fruit, peach, nectarine and candied orange peel create a taste explosion.  Again, I can't find this for sale locally by retail, but Waitrose have a Decanter Gold Medal winning Jurançon sweet wine on offer (Chateau Jolys £14.49 for 75ml), that's really worth a try with almost any kind of dessert, or, as sometimes happens at Chateau Purple Teeth, FOR dessert.

An unlisted extra dessert came next - and I'm relying on a sketchy memory and bad photo, but there was chocolate, meringue and ice bream - what's not to love?  If I'm not mistaken, there was also popping candy.  Finally, the pièce de resistance, and the perfect match for our Manseng, a light and fluffy Passionfruit and Lime Soufflé with Sauternes  Ice Cream.  Sublime.  
If I could have just 3 courses, I'd choose this soufflé, the veal cheek and the very first salad, although the langoustine cries out to be eaten again too.  Adding up the cost of the day will simply be too depressing, so I'll just thank my brother for picking up the food tab, and try not to be overly concerned about the wine costs, because, life's too short to drink bad wine, right?  

We finished off with the usual petit-fours and I had some of my favourite oolong tea to try to sober up enough for the journey home after a rather perfect day.  Compared with other London Michelin starred establishments, I would return to The Square before almost any of them, perhaps with the exception of Le Gavroche.  So, if you get the chance for someone to pick up your tab, jump at it.  Just don't expect them to buy you that Burgundy too.

If you're interested in tasting the dishes without the trip to London or the expense, Phil Howard, the chef and co-owner of Square has written a savoury and a sweet cookbook.  If you're brave enough to try to match his standards, you can buy the books below at Amazon.
Cheers!

Purple Teeth made a local field trip to Reading a week or so ago to visit The Tasting House in Reading.  It's a new kind of wine shop in the area.  Not just a place to buy a bottle of wine from the extensive selection, but also a place to try new wines.  With 2 state of the art Enomatic® machines, featuring 7 whites, a rosé and 8 red wines at any one time, you simply top up a tasting card with your chosen amount (minimum £10 for first purchase), grab a glass, and enjoy samples from around 50p. Small samples of 25ml allow you to try several wines without becoming too tipsy. Or, if you prefer, you can buy either a 125ml  or 175ml glass of the wine that most takes your fancy, take a seat and enjoy it with friends and a selection of cheeses or charcuterie. 

Meeting a friend after work, we indulged in a couple of plates of meat and cheese (£8.45 for a single board). This helped to soak up the many samples we tried.  
My companion doesn't enjoy the effects of white wine, so she moved straight to the red wine machine, while I felt duty bound to sample the Rieslings on offer and some of the more unusual whites.  

In fact, I got to try a completely new one to me.  Always a joy! 
Frangy is one of four named crus of the "Roussette de Savoie" appellation of the Alps of eastern France, around 20 miles south of Lake Geneva.  I don't think I'd ever had the Altesse grape before. These wines express gingerbread, pear and white flowers and are considered the finest wines in the area.  Soft, mellow and perhaps slightly off-dry, if you like Hungarian Furmint, this should be next on your list to try (at the time of writing it's still in the tasting machine).

The reds were just as varied.  An Italian Dogliani (not pictured), a traditional aged Rioja from 1998, an old vines Californian Zinfandel, a Chilean Carmenere and a Patagonian Pinot Noir from Argentina were all sampled, and it was the 2011 Humberto Canale Argentine Pinot Noir which won our vote as the wine to enjoy by the glass.  This surprised us both but we enjoyed it's velvety mouthfeel, dark red fruits and hints of walnuts.

The joy of the Enomatic® machine is that you can keep your wine fresh for up to 3 weeks after opening thanks to the inert gas blanket that keeps oxygen out.  That's great for these kinds of stores, allowing them to offer multiple samples to customers without losing lots in wastage.   But at around £10,000 they're hardly practical for home use. At least not in most homes I visit, and certainly not at Chateau Purple Teeth.
Despite the latest news that it's okay to drink a bottle of wine a day, most of us won't drink a whole bottle alone. I generally have no more than 2 bottles open at a time and find the VacuVin pump (link below and pictured left) does the trick for one or two days.  I've also included links to other wine preserving products you might want to try, including a "do it yourself" gas blanket.  Getting the right wine preservation system for you means you can enjoy your bottle sensibly over a few nights rather than either wasting it or drinking vinegar by the end of the week.    Precious grapes died for your wine.  Respect that.  
Feel free to share your preferred wine preserving methods on our Facebook page
Cheers!

PS: If you want to try a number of wines with friends,without leaving home, I'd love to help you plan a Purple Teeth tasting party..

Last Thursday, I had the honour to be an associate judge at The International Wine Challenge.

It might seem like a dream to taste wine all day, starting at 930am with Champagne tasting. However, as one of my co-judges said, with Champagnes like these, it's no wonder that Prosecco sales are booming. And he should know, as a former supermarket wine supremo...

It's fairly exhausting, being on your feet all day, thinking critically, and of course, spitting out all the wines you sample without getting covered in wine spray. Lots of good-natured discussion ensures fair results for all the wines, and a great sharing of knowledge.   It was a real honour to taste alongside such gurus of wine and I learned a lot from the Master of Wine at the head of my tasting panel and the rest of the team.

But what does the International Wine Challenge mean for you, the tasting public.  Can you really trust the "award winning" claims of the wines on offer at your local merchant, off-license or supermarket?

In a word, yes.  And in more depth, yes, particularly if it's an IWC medal.

In the UK, there are several "big" wine awards you'll find mentioned on wine labels.  IWC has been running for 30 years and is perhaps the most thorough.  There's also the Decanter World Wine Awards, which claims to be the largest, and the International Wine and Spirits Competition, which conducts a chemical analysis of each wine as well as a blind tasting.

One of the major advantages with the IWC, is that all wines are tasted by at least 2 panels prior to being awarded a medal. Fortunately I was judging in week 2 & the bulk of the "not recommended" submissions had been weeded out.  It's serious work.  

When a wine is deemed as "out" in week one, it will be re-tasted by one of the Chairmen.  If they disagree, the wines will be re-submitted for tasting in week 2.  Sometimes even wines with a clear "out" are re-judged in week 2 just in case of a bad bottle. There is also clear "fault" checking and extra bottles are on hand via the helpful and hard-working crew to ensure that every wine is given a fair chance.  In fact, the ability of the expert judges to pick out wine faults is hugely impressive.  They really want to give every wine it's best opportunity to shine, and I'm sure many consumers wouldn't have noticed several of the faults we encountered in our panel.

Of course there are great wines out there with no medal.  Not every winemaker submits their wines, perhaps because they have no trouble selling them, or perhaps they missed a deadline, or perhaps, even though their wine achieves a bronze medal, they decide not to publicise it because they were hoping for higher scores.

 Each wine I tasted had been sampled in week 1 by at least 4 panelists before it got to my tasting team. Wines are "flighted", so that wines with broadly similar characteristics are tasted together, e.g. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, or South African Cabernet Merlot blends, usually in batches of about 8 bottles.
Next, our panel (again, including 4-5 tasters) analytically taste. First tasting individually and making notes as we go, at the end of each flight there's discussion to agree on whether the wines sampled should get a commendation, bronze, silver or gold medal award. Several wines are still deemed "out" at this stage and don't receive an award. The agreed recommendations are then sent to the Judging Chairs for the final decision, along with an agreed "tasting note" which describes the wine and is published along with the final results, to help you, the public make wise wine choices.
Finally, in week 3, all the gold medal winning wines are reviewed by senior judges so that the "trophy winning" wines can be declared.  These rare top ratings aren't given if no wine is deemed up to scratch.

Of the 64 wines my panel tasted, 2 were possible gold medalists, meaning they were classic and near perfect expressions of their type. 
I loved them both, but my judgement wasn't enough to see them through. In fact, generally, I scored most wines lower than the rest of my panel, slightly afraid of being too generous. (So if I tell you a wine is gorgeous, you can be sure it's good.)  
The likes of Tim Atkin & Oz Clark were on hand as final arbiters for the top awards.  

The potential gold winning wines may not be your every day wines, being rather specialist: manzanilla sherry and sweet German Riesling.  These 2 wines are at extreme opposites stylistically, and both under-rated by the supermarket wine drinking public.  I hope if you're reading this you'd be open to trying these wines some day.  But of course, I can't tell you what they were.  I can't find out until myself the final results are confirmed and announced.

The final medal winners from the judging I took part in (Tranche 2 of the International Wine Challenge 2014) will be announced online on 7th May in the same place as the 2013 results. Many thousands of wines will have been submitted and tasted.  Only wines that are genuinely good examples of their type will achieve awards. 

If you're a big fan of a particular style of wine, you can search for medal winners by grape variety, by country or region here.  Good luck tracking down your favourites.

 I'd love to hear if you've bought any wine because of it's "medal" status.  And if so, whether the wine lived up to it's award-winning expectations.  Why not share a photo of your favourite award winner on our Facebook page?

Cheers!

Social media rocks.  I met Perfect Friday Wine through the twittersphere, and, discovering our non-virtual presences were only a couple of miles apart, we've developed a friendship through wine.  
Jo, who runs Perfect Friday Wine, has recently expanded her predominantly French stock list to include some Spanish wines and I had the pleasure to open a bottle of her new Bodega Comenge Verdejo from the Rueda region of Spain, last night.  (£10, delivered locally or from Maidenhead market on the first Saturday of the month).
Verdejo, for the uninitiated, is a white wine grape most associated with Rueda, where it is thought to have originated.  Others believe it originated in North Africa and was originally planted in north-western Spain by the Moors as far back as the 11th century. 
I had long assumed it was the same grape as the Portuguese Verdelho, often used to make Madiera, since there was a long tradition of oxidised (sherry like) styles of Verdejo, but these are not the same grape variety, and the modern styles of Verdejo are extremely fresh and fruity.  Excellent examples can also develop a nutty quality as they age.

If you're a fan of Sauvignon Blanc, you should allow yourself to be tempted by this aromatic variety.  There's the same high acidity and aromatic core of lemon zestiness, but none of the grassy, green tones that can make one tire of the UK's current favourite white.  If you're already a fan of fashionable Spanish varietal Albariño, this grape can present some of the same minerality and zing, but usually at a fraction of the cost.  It's delicious on it's own, or pairs well with goats cheese, Asian or spicy cuisine, and white or shell-fish.  It might even stand up to something like a pesto pasta.

Our Bodega Comenge bottle was even more appealing than I'd expected.  There's a good dose of lime flavour, enough to satisfy a Riesling fan, and bags of peachy, nectarine notes. I particularly enjoyed the silky smooth body which comes from this grape variety's high glycerol content. It's a great summer evening wine and I shall definitely be drinking it again.  
 
For readers who don't live close enough to Jo's delivery zone, you'll find examples in most of the major supermarkets and even as the inflight white wine on BA.  Beware, there are some inferior examples out there, and many are blended with cheaper grapes.  To experience this grape at it's best, look for a 100% Verdejo from Rueda.  The back label should clearly state Rueda Verdejo to guarantee at least 85% of the grape in any blend.

Do you enjoy Verdejo?  Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.  Recommend a good one for your fellow readers, or, post a pic on our Facebook page.

Cheers!

Magyar.  In my childhood, this was an exotic place found only on the stamps in my brother's collection.  As I grew older, I came to realise that this was Hungary, a central European state, shrouded in soviet mystique with a completely impenetrable language.  Growing still older, I came to see Hungary as a bunch of clever people, from the composer Franz Liszt, to the inventor of the Biro ballpoint pen, and the Rubik's cube.  

At no time did I think of this far off eastern land as "wine country". Years later, I learned of Tokay, or more correctly, Tokaji Hungarian wine, the country's most famous wine, a sticky sweet delight that's got a royal history.  I came across the name long before I tasted it, back in the 1990s when Pinot Gris from Alsace was called Tokay Pinot Gris (it had formerly been known as Tokay D'Alsace, but Hungarian EU membership soon sorted out that confusion).  
Finally, this century, I got to taste a "Tokaji 5 Puttonyos" and realised that I'd been missing out on a wealth of amazing wine.  Starting my wine studies, I learned more, and last year, I finally made my first of 3 trips (so far) to the Hungarian capital, Budapest.  I also met some great Hungarians.

I haven't yet found myself in Hungarian wine country, but the wines I've tasted had me intrigued.  
The language and culture are different to much of Europe (eg it's not normal to clink glasses when toasting your drinking partner in Hungary). And the rich wine tradition, dating back to the Roman empire, has delivered some unique and very different wine styles to those you'll find on your local supermarket shelves, as well as internationally recognised varietals. I wanted to share this diversity with my Purple Teeth readers.
Thank you very much to Bálint Takács of The Hungarian Wine House for providing the wines we researched for this article.  He founded his company in 2008.  Now offering a selection of over 70 Hungarian wines and spirits to represent the best of what the country has to offer, Bálint personally controls his range by regularly visiting the wineries.   With a minimum order quantity of just one bottle, you can feel free to follow up and buy a bottle of whatever takes your fancy.  It'll be with you in two days or less.

Bálint kindly provided a mixed case of wine, so I felt it was only fair to enlist some extra help in reviewing the bulk of the bottles.  As well as Mr Purple Teeth, I invited Jo from another wine blog, Perfect Friday Wine and Aurimas, one of my friends from WSET school, to help taste and review.  Jo and Aurimas are studying for the next level of WSET qualification, the seriously tough Diploma, so they were more than happy to try some new wines.

• The Hungarian word for wine (BOR) is one of only 2 in European languages that doesn't derive the word from latin roots 
• Sparkling, red , white, rosé, and of course dessert wine styles are all produced, from indigenous and international varieties
  
• There are 22 appellations (or named regions) within Hungary, each offering it's own character to the wines
• The climate is basically regarded as "continental", but large bodies of water, such as Lake Balaton and Austria's Neuseedlersee, very close to the Hungarian border, provide moderating influences to some of the wine regions while the Carpathian and Alpine ranges help to keep things temperate
• A wide variety of soil types are present including everything from volcanic basalt, to chalky, through sandy.  
• The famous Bull's Blood (Bikavér) wine is thought to have fortified the defenders during an invasion in 1522.  The wine was given the name due to a widespread belief that bull's blood was indeed a secret ingredient in the wine.
• In 1997, Hungary's first Districtus Hungaricus Controllatus - DHC was created (similar to the French Appellation d'Origine Controllée (AOC), enacting the rule specifying that Egri Bikavér must contain 3 out of 11 traditional grape varieties.
  
• The sweet wine Tokaji is so renowned, it even gets a mention in the Hungarian national anthem.  It's been made since 1571
• While wine-making suffered during the communist period, the last 20 years have seen an immense upturn in the quality of winemaking across Hungary, and many winemakers are investing in new technology and equipment to produce fine wines with a unique style and history

Now what really matters - what does it taste like?  We're still only scratching the surface here, but open your mind, explore something different and let us whet your appetite to try the wines of this intriguing nation.

Cserszegi Fűszeres is a grape variety known to have originated in Hungary, and this was our first experience of the grape.  The Benedek Cserszegi Fűszeres (Cserszeg Spice) 2012 (£10.60 12% abv) is from the Mátra region, the second largest in the country.   It is around Hungary's highest mountain and the vineyards are on the southern mountain slopes. Wines have been produced here for around 600 years.

The grape variety is native to the area around Lake Balaton, and it produces wines that are great as an aperitif, as well as matching well with soft cheese. Light bodied and relatively low in alcohol (12%), I found it very light and easy to drink.  The flavours were comice pear, lemon and some elderflower.  The scent of the wine is really intense and leaps out of the glass at you before you even taste it, although the flavour is slightly less intense than the nose suggests.  We all noted some petillance in the wine - a slight spritz when opening (and re-opening) the screwtop.  The summary view from all of us is that this is light and fresh with pleasing acidity, and would be great on a summer evening.  It would probably appeal to drinkers of Muscadat, Picpoul or Albariño who are looking for something different with a floral quality.
Luckily, I got to taste most of the wines again the day after.  This one still had a good intense bouquet and was very pleasant.

Nyakas Aligvárom  2012 (£9 12.5% abv) is an unusual blend from Etyek-Buda made from four different varietals: 50% Chardonnay, 30% Irsai Olivér (indigenous to Hungary), 10% Müller Thurgau and 10% Pinot Gris.

With several international awards and a name (Aligvárom) which translates as "I can't wait", this wine created high expectations. 
Fortunately it lived up to all expectations and beyond. Pale straw in colour, it's flavours are much more intense than the colour suggests. There are really intense aromatics here, with lime and tropical fruit flavours.  This was a resounding favourite among the whites on the night.  Mr Purple Teeth thought it was a pineapple explosion and instructed me to place an order.  As well as lime and tropical hints on the nose, we also found some peach flavours.  Crisp and refreshing yet with a smooth finish with a silky or somewhat oily texture on the palate, there was a lot to interest us in the glass. Paired with a selection of charcuterie and strong cheeses, the wine faired well.   
Going back to taste the remainder on day 2, I was glad I had it all to myself.  The aroma seemed less intense and some of the tropical flavours had decreased but it was still delicious, rich and silky, with hints of grapefruit on the finish.  The body and mouthfeel were still full and satisfying and I was sorry we had drunk so much the previous evening.  This was definitely the bottle I'll be buying again, and no doubt my drinking partners might buy some too.  If you've never had a Hungarian white wine before, why not start here.  It's the cheapest one of the bunch too.

Hagymási Egri Leányka  2011 (£10.90 13.5% abv)
Hailing from Eger, the home of perhaps Hungary's most renowned red "Bull's Blood" (Bikaver), this dry white from the Leányka varietal or "Eger’s Maiden" is very popular in Hungary.  Described as "always fresh, crispy and fruity. Abundant fragrances of flowers and fruit. A young pretty wine with long after taste" we were surprised to find this was the least popular of the whites we drank.
This wine really had us all stumped.  Although not unpleasant, we were almost tempted to declare a fault, because the cork looked a little weird. This was just an excuse because the 4 of us found it so hard to name the flavours in the wine.
Mr Purple Teeth found almond marzipan flavour.  It's full bodied - an interesting conversation piece
I found the nose interesting and baffling.  Pretty full-bodied with not much fruit on the palate, I imagined there was perhaps oak or lees stirring in the wine making process. We all found it  worked better when paired with food, particularly ham and olives and even worked well with Brie de Meaux, a fairly pungent French cheese.
Jo felt the texture was a little syrupy and that the acidity faded too quickly - maybe a little flabby, she thought.  I'll bow to her higher studies.
Aurimus wondered if the wine being a 2011 had just lost some of it's freshness.  In any case, it provoked interesting and prolonged discussion.
On the 2nd night it was just as intriguing.  It was still incredibly challenging to name the flavours, but perhaps it was something nutty or a hint of spicy ginger. There may also be some honey here.  It's got a lot of body and is quite unusual, so if you like a challenge, give it a go. You'll be sure to baffle your wine-snob friends.

Vincent Brut Tokaji Furmint Brut (£16.50 12% abv) is a "traditional method" sparkling wine.  This means it's made in the same manner as Champagne (you can read more about what that means in a previous article), but in this case is made from the Furmint grape variety rather than the grapes used in Champagne (Chardonnay/Pinot Noir/Meunier).
Produced on the Garamvári Estate, this wine was commended by the 2013 International Wine Challenge.

It was going to take something special to convince Mr Purple Teeth to like sparkling wine.  It's not something he indulges in or enjoys, and this sadly did not prove any more successful.  
Jo, Aurimas and I all instantly tasted a surprisingly dominant apple dominant flavour and aroma.  There was something like yeasty, buttery pastry and baked fruit, a little like a fizzy apple pie in the glass. It's got great mousse, and refreshing acidity, but lacked some of the complexity of Champagnes.  Jo is a real fan of English sparkling wine and felt like this didn't deliver on the palate what the nose had promised.  All in all, it was a decent fizz, but not one we'd be likely to choose again.

By this stage we were really ready for some red wine.  We had enjoyed our lesson in Hungarian whites, and found some pleasant surprises, but with a huge plate of cheeses in front of us, we wanted to get our teeth into some tannin. Luckily we enjoyed all of them.

First on the list was Pfneiszl Kékfrankos - Together Again Organic 2011 (£12.50 13% abv) from the Sopron region. It is our first of two Blaufränkisch wines.  Sopron is a city in the west of Hungary, sometimes referred to as Hungary's most faithful city since it opted to stay in Hungary rather than join it's neighbouring Austria in 1921. On the south bank of the Neusiedlersee (a renowned Austrian wine region) the winery has been growing organically since 2006, powered by youthful family members and winemakers Birgit and Katrin, both in their 20s.

My learned colleagues were unsurprised to hear that we had young winemakers at the helm.  It's very much a "party" style red wine in that it's a huge fruit bomb, almost Ribena like with blackcurrant, fairly light bodied and has little to no noticeable tannin.  This makes it really quaffable, and there's some smoky flavours and a hint of spicy eucalyptus. Good acidity makes it very juicy and that helped by the fruitiness with lots of soft red cherries, maybe some raspberry, redcurrant and blackcurrant. If you're a fan of young Gamay wines and Beaujolais, you should be trying this.  The fruit aromas are as prominent as the flavours and it's really food-friendly.  Jo declared this dangerous, because you could easily drink bottles of it before realising it's 13% alcohol, it's just so juicy.

The Szekszárd region, in the south of the country around 2 hours drive from Budapest, is one of the oldest wine regions in Hungary, reputedly founded by the Celts over 2000 years ago. I promise the Celtic connection had nothing to do with my love for this wine. 

Szekszárd is famous for it's full-bodied and spicy reds, aided by it's long hot summers and mild winters.  From here we discovered another delicious Kékfrankos and one that's very different in style: Pastor Kékfrankos  Barrique 2011 (£14.20 14% abv) 

New in, and already out of stock and no surprise, because it was a winner with our team of 4 reviewers. 
Grapes are hand picked and carefully selected, and the new wine spends 12 months in brand new small oak barrels (barriques). It's clearly not a volume product. The intention is maintaining quality.

Again, like the organic offering, this is a red with very low tannin, which Jo and Aurimas felt was a little odd in such a big wine, giving a mouthfeel that lacks the texture of other robust, fruity reds.  Despite that, they did enjoy drinking the wine when they took their analytical hats off.  Mr Purple Teeth really enjoyed it even though he's a huge fan of tannic wines. 

We felt that it might appeal to Syrah and Shiraz drinkers given it's got lots of deep black fruits, black cherry and some chocolate and coffee notes as well as something very savoury.  It's soft, juicy and very easy and appealing to drink.  If you'd like a wine to pair with red meats but perhaps aren't a huge fan of red wine because of the chewy and drying tannin, you'd be well advised to try this one, so put your name on the waiting list for the next vintage.

Garamvári Esti-Kék 2009 (£15.30 13.5% abv) from the region of Balatonboglár is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot.  Balatonboglár is a resort town on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, known as the town of grapes and wine.  This traditional Bordeaux blend had it's work cut out as Mr Purple Teeth is a huge lover of traditional left bank Bordeaux.  

Although he felt it wasn't quite as complex as a Bordeaux wine, he enjoyed the full body and rustic blackberry and plum flavours.
I enjoyed this wine more than I expected to, since Bordeaux blends often leave me cold, being too tannic.  I actually drank the remainder of the bottle to myself over the course of the next 2 nights and found it opening up more revealing blackcurrant flavours and lots additional spiciness and coffee hints.  This suggests the wine would age well for a few years, if you had the patience to hang on to it.  
It was very pleasing with strong hard cheeses and had great acidity and tannin in perfect balance.

Hagymási Bikavér Superior 2005 (£17.99 12.5% abv) is one of the iconic "Bull's Blood" wines from Eger.Officially Egri Bikavér must contain at least three of the following 13 grapes: Kadarka, Kékfrankos, Blauer Portugieser (Kékoportó), Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Menoire (known as Kékmedoc, or Médoc noir before), Pinot noir, Syrah, Turán, Bíborkadarka and the modern Austrian crossings, Blauburger and Zweigelt.The "Superior" standard was formally introduced in 2004 and Bikavér Superior must contain at least 5 of the recommended varieties, spend at least 12 months in oak and 12 in the barrel and be produced to a lower yield.

With a Decanter wine awards commendation to it's name, and based on Kékfrankos,  the Hagyamási Bull’s Blood we tasted is a cuvée blend, matured in oak barrels for over 12 months. Eger’s highly prized south-facing Eged Hill has perfect vine growing conditions.
This was a serious wine and it was no surprise to me that it was Mr Purple Teeth's favourite wine of the evening, with it's dark fruits, full body and smoky tones.  
It was Jo's favourite of the reds too.  She loved the long finish and the spicy notes on top of the dark cherry flavours. She ruled it "great" and took the rest of the bottle home to share with her husband.  High praise when there are 9 bottles to choose from...
Pleasant velvety tannins, ripe plums and smoky hints created a very well balanced wine.  There was a lot of tannin but the juicy acidity prevents this from feeling drying.  

At the end of the evening we had a great appreciation for the whites and reds of Hungary, and were ready for something a little sweeter.  As we'd all tasted the "traditional" Tokaji sweet wines, we were given something a bit different to pair with our home-made Lithuanian dessert of Tingynis.

Pannon Tokaj Fordítás 2008 500ml (£13 12% abv) is a good introduction to the sweet wine of Tokaji, being considerably cheaper than Eszensia Aszús, which have a sweetness rating from 3 to 7 Puttonyos. The process for making these wines is so different, it almost merits a separate article, so perhaps I'll get around to that some other time.  Suffice to say it's a unique Hungarian product where berries infected with "noble rot", (officially known as Botrytis Cinerea, or Aszúsodás in Hungarian, a kind of benevolent grey fungus) are gently pressed under their own weight to reveal a nectar from which the sweet wines are made.  
Tokaji Fordítás is another local speciality. The pressed aszú berries are filled up again with grape must (freshly pressed unfermented juice) to dissolve the remaining flavour and sugar contents of the berries, creating a sweet wine with a bit more tannin and lower level of sweetness. 

This was like a glass of sweet orange marmalade - very textured from the tannin, good acidity and freshness, with flavours of orange peel, honey and dried fruits.  Mr Purple Teeth found a hint of an orange muscat, while we can't quite work out what Jo meant when she sensed a hint of tequlia. Perhaps it was the fresh lime flavours, mingling peach and lemon. It's sweet but not too sweet.
On the second night this was equally appealing.  I had it with some duck liver parfait on toasted brioche and it was really a perfect match.  A sweet wine but not so sickly sweet that it overpowers food, it's a great introduction to the sweet wines of Tokaji for those who haven't yet had the pleasure. 

For those who don't like sweet wines to be too sweet, it's just perfect.  On the third night, it was just as delicious with less indulgent jaffa cakes.  Simply divine. If you've never before tried Hungarian wine, you really owe it to yourself to try one of these historic and iconic Tokaji wines.  You don't know what you're missing.

I'm sure we've inspired you to try some of these wines, or other Hungarian Wines. Remember Hungarian Wine House have over 70 in stock so there's a lot of variety and something for everyone.
I look forward to reviewing another unusual white varietal, a semi-sweet Furmint and a pure Cabernet Sauvignon over the coming weeks and months - the three bottles we didn't get to during our tasting evening.  

Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with Hungarian wines. We'd love to hear what you think.
Egészségedre!  (As they say in Hungary).
Cheers!

I often wonder whether it's worth discussing wines on Purple Teeth there aren't readily available to my UK readership.  On the one hand, if you like the sound of it, you can't get it anywhere, but on the other hand, it may inspire you to try something different next time you're looking at a wine list or perusing the supermarket shelves.

By coincidence, I found myself in possession of 2 bottles of Carignan (or Cariñena as the Spanish call it). One you can buy easily and the other, sadly not available in the UK. 
People seem to find it difficult to know what to bring to a wine blogger, especially those who aren't huge wine fans themselves.  I like to think of it as fate, then, that I ended up with a random bottle of Chilean Carignan (not readily available in the UK) albeit a Decanter Silver Medal winner, and a bottle of Spanish Cariñena from the wine region where this grape originated - the town of Cariñena of course. Cariñena is in the Aragon region of northern Spain, situated right between Ribera del Duero to the west and Priorat to the east.  The Cariñena grape variety finds itself playing a key role in blending and provides a good structural backbone to some Priorat wines.

As Carignan isn't a varietal we've reviewed before, I decided to take the plunge and compare the two.  What better way to uncover whether it's "original and best" or "new and improved".  Will the Old World hold it's own, or will the New World reign supreme?  

Carignan has a reputation as being harsh and tannic, even rough, with high acidity and astringency.  It sounds difficult to love, often being described as "rustic'. It's a high yielding grape variety so, although it's prone to certain mildews, it's long been popular in hot, dry climates. It's late-ripening is not an issue in that kind of climate. In Chile, it was often blended into low cost "jug wines". In France, it went into wines where the specific blend is not named on the label, namely those from the Languedoc such as Minervois, Fitou and Corbières.  In blends it adds acidity and tannin, improving aging potential.

Fashions change, and Carignan has gone from being one of the most widely planted grapes in France, to being overtaken by Merlot by the latter part of the 20th century.
Winemakers have come to realise however, that instead of ripping up old vines, which tend to be lower yielding, careful handling can result in seriously concentrated wines of very high quality, and there's recently been somewhat of a renaissance in this grape's popularity.  Luckily, both of the wines I'd been given were produced from "old vines". 
This was a promising start. Seeing the words "old vines" on a label is often enough to convince me to buy a previously untried wine.

First up, the Indomita "Gran Reserva" (14% abv) from Chile's Maule Valley.  It's worth noting, that unlike in Spain, the term Gran Reserva has no legal meaning.  It's the wine maker's choice to call his/her wine what he/she will, but generally, we'd expect the Gran Reserva to be retained for his/her best grapes, and wines made with a little more care and attention, perhaps with more use of oak, or hand selection. 

The Maule Valley is part of Chile's central valley, 150 miles south of the nation's capital (Santiago).  It's the largest, and one of the oldest wine valleys in Chile. Dry-farmed, old-bush vineyards are abundant, and predate the current generation of modern winemakers who've brought Chilean wine to the front of our supermarket shelves.  
According to Wines of Chile, Carignan covers only about 2.5% of the land that the most popular variety (Cabernet Sauvignon) covers.

At first sniff, I was a bit worried.  It's a challenge if I can't find anything nice to say about a wine that I received in a gift.  There's a kind of acrid, green smell that is unexpected in a wine this deep of colour.  As it opens up, this becomes more evidently herbaceous, and reminded me somewhat of Cabernet Franc.   Tasting it, I was relieved.  I instantly knew Mr Purple Teeth would like it.  I was right.  His succinct tasting note is "hate the smell, love the wine", later adding, "if I'd been served this beside a steak in a restaurant, I'd be very happy".  Perhaps it was a little much to expect a more detailed review when he'd just seen his beloved Liverpool beat Spurs 4-0 in a pub...

Yes the wine is acidic, but to me this is one of it's qualities rather than a negative.  It creates a fruity juiciness that helps to fool the palate into thinking the tannins are less prevalent or less drying than they really are. The fruit flavours tend to red plums and redcurrant, with some kind of smoky chocolate or even coffee flavour on the finish.  It's not just a one hit wonder.  There's complexity here as the herbaceous notes on the nose continue through to the flavour.  When it comes to red wine, I often find myself giving it a flavour "colour-code".  This is probably meaningless to anyone else, but to me, this is a kind of green and red tartan where another wine may be described as a purple velvet. 

After drinking the first glass, I was happy to pour another.  That was unexpected, and a pleasant surprise.  Not bad for a bottle that cost 10 €  in Finland... (don't ask!)

The next job, then, was to taste the Spanish "original".  The Alegría Old Vines Cariñena 2012 (13.5% abv) from Cariñena is £7.49 from Laithwaithe's and not without it's own awards, achieving a bronze in the 2013 International Wine Challenge.  

Again, this was a gift so I'm not able to comment on Laithwaite's value or service. Alegría means joy, in Spanish, so expectations ran high that this would delight the taste buds.  I cannot blame the wine for the fact that it cost me one of my Riedel glasses.  There's a disadvantage to trying to write a blog post "in real time", but I'm grateful that the wine glass fell on the (thankfully uncarpeted) floor rather than spilling across the laptop itself...  but onto the wine.

Structurally, very similar to the Chilean version, there's juicy acidity, lots of tannin, a full body and bags of concentrated  fruit flavour.  The flavour is different to the Chilean example. There are very few green and herbaceous notes in the Spanish wine.  As a result, the dark black and red berry fruit flavours are much more forward and there's lots of spice, with more bitter coffee coming through than the dark chocolate notes on the Indomita.  

Our Spanish example is simpler, and perhaps more approachable.  It's more instantly appealing, but there is less to hold the interest.  Was it a "joy"?  
Well, it was pleasant, if not delightful. I enjoyed it.
Mr Purple Teeth found it smoky and pleasing, and felt it seemed older than a 2012.  He even compared it to a good Bordeaux.  High praise, if only for the structure.
When asked to compare it with the previous night's wine, his answer was "did I have wine last night?".  Clearly the 4-0 win for Liverpool had induced a pint or two.

Both wines worked better with food.  Both provided a pleasant evening (apart from clearing up the spilt wine mess), and only one is available in the UK.  So is there any point in declaring a winner?  
If pushed, I'd choose the Alegría for a simple evening meal, but if I were trying to impress a wine snob, I'd test them with the Indomita. 
<Kudos, that man!>
Cheers!

P.S.  Please remember to join the conversation either in comments below or over on our Facebook Page.  Why not tell us about your favourite Carignan/Cariñena?  Or your favourite old/new world comparison.  Or perhaps you had a bottle of something we recommended.  Do tell us what you thought.