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Patagonia

23/12/2015

 
PictureEolo Lodge - Patagonian bliss. Photo copyright mine.
Earth's secret paradise: Our armchair world tour continues and this week's destination was Patagonia.  We visited Patagonia some years ago as part of a trip to Argentina. We stayed at the delightful Eolo Lodge and would recommend it to anyone looking to get away from it all and see some amazing scenery.  
Admittedly, during our 3 days, we only scratched the surface of this incredibly diverse region, so we accompanied our virtual date with some TV-based research. I recommend this 3 part series from the BBC which will help you get a feel for the place. 

Picture£10 from Marks and Spencer 14% abv (Suitable for Vegans)
Comahue Pinot Noir (2013) from Marks and Spencer accompanied our attempt at a local dish: venison with red wine sauce, mash and veg.  Patagonia is famous for lamb, but that's often cooked in a fire pit.  Not something that was open to us in the week leading up to Christmas (yes, this blog post is being published a little behind schedule).

Regular readers will know that Mr Purple Teeth is not the hugest fan of Pinot Noir, and on opening this one, I feared the worst.  It was relatively pale red, and light and bright rather than deep and dark.  It looked really appealing to me in my Riedel stemless Pinot Noir glasses. 

Marks and Spencer are proving a useful high street store for our virtual travel dates.  The range of countries covered is far greater than any of the other supermarkets, and all the wines we've had so far have been a hit with Mr Purple Teeth.  That's no mean feat.  He was quite happy with this one, and enjoyed it's smooth out feel and black cherry fruit expression. The wine matched really well with our venison dish. 

It had a good medium body and some fruits of the forest notes along with some spicy notes from it's French oak ageing. Relatively simple, it was nicely juicy, coming from some of Argentina's most southern vineyards.  
What marked this wine out was it's versatility. It was the week before Christmas and the house was full of cheese.  An impromptu dessert of vintage Cheddar, Gruyere, Epoisses and Gorgonzola Picante was served.  The wine paired successfully with all of these cheeses, many of which struggle with a lot of red wines.  
This will be it's main selling point when we're not armchair travelling and watching BBC documentaries on the region.

Rating: Buy Again.

​Cheers!

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View from Eolo Lodge and the Purple Teeth Family on a boat on Lago Argentina, Patagonia, November 2010 (Photos copyright mine)

Oregon

18/12/2015

 
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Where does the time go, at this time of year? With so much going, it can be hard to find time for each other.  So Mr Purple Teeth and I decided to start a new idea.  Virtual "armchair travel" dates.  We randomly pick a hemisphere, lat and longitude, and find somewhere on the map that's nearby and looks worthy of a "little trip".
For a wine-enthusiast, it was a lucky break to find our first location was Oregon USA.  
Oregon's food culture is simple: sustainable, local, seasonal, with a dash of Pacific Northwest game, and Asian fusion influences.  
As for the wine, the area is gaining a great reputation for quality Pinot Noir. And while the wine's are not exactly priced for midweek, nor available in a giant supermarket near you, it is getting easier to get hold of them. 

With an "Oregon-inspired" backdrop of music by Pink Martini, Elliot Smith, the Decemberists and Josh Garrells, we started with a little discussion of what we had found out about the area from our online studies, and were surprised to find that recreational cannabis use has been legalised.  We decided not to try to bring this element of Oregon life into our living room.  Instead, we started with a Pinot Gris, sourced at £13 from Marks and Spencer.
Boasting "Willamette Valley Grown" on the label, the grapes must have been vinified elsewhere.  Willamette is one of several AVA (American Viticultural Areas - a similar regulatory system to Europe's protected designations of origin, like DOC), in Oregon.  You might also look for Umpqua Valley, Walla Walla (which sounded more Australian to me), Rogue Valley or Columbia Gorge.  There are several others, but, Willamette is the one I've seen most of in the UK. 

Wpdms shdrlfi020l willamette valley.jpg
"Wpdms shdrlfi020l willamette valley". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons.

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With a delightful nose of honeyed peach and hint of floral, that seemed a nod to Alsace styles, I was initially hopeful. In fact it was bright and powerful - the scent leapt out of the glass.

Following through on the palate, there was honeydew melon, ripe peach, a rich and full body. Nothing like Pinot Grigio!  Relief. 

It's oily texture and silky feel  was reminiscent of the French styles and though it's dry, it's so rich that you could think it "sweet because of the fruitiness", as Mr Purple Teeth highlighted.

Mr Purple Teeth loved it. "Big flavours, ripe melon and peach a seems a bit sweet - I love it!"  
​What a relief. Normally he's more into reds, but with a Pinot Noir coming next, I had to hedge my bets. 
​

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I didn't investigate the provenance of the sea bass, but cooked in an Asian style with chilli and pak choi, it made an exotic but simple appetiser.  The wine's label had also indicated chilli and lime chicken as a suitable food partner along with Asian style cooking.  
Powerful enough to stand up to the robust flavours of the dish, the wine was a success.  I will certainly be buying it again.  

In a world where the decent independent wine merchants are disappearing from our high streets as fast at the butcher and the grocer, Marks and Spencer do seem to be offering something a little different from most of the supermarkets.  With a decent selection from less commercial regions, they make finding something a bit different, just a little easier for those of us who don't have a fantastic wine shop nearby.  Not everyone wants to stock up in bulk on-line. 

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With the main course, I'd planned the Lemelson Six Vineyards Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2012. (£17 from The Wine Society, but currently out of stock).  This had been on the wine rack for some time.  I may have mentioned that getting Mr Purple Teeth to choose to open a Pinot Noir is a bit like getting me to choose a trip to the dentist.  It has to be done sometimes, but it's not often going to be top of the list...

​At 14.2%, and with a very full body and richer, darker colour than many French or New World Pinots, I was hopeful that it would pass the test.  I have noted that Mr Purple Teeth likes a full body (lucky for me, eh?!).
Produced organically, from a blend of lots vinified separately from 6 single vineyard sites, this has all the Oregon tick-boxes covered. ​


Like the Pinot Gris, this had a powerful nose, with the bouquet leaping from the glass at the first pour.  Wild strawberry and an almost Rioja-like vanilla from American oak were very pronounced.  
Following through, a great sensory mouth-feel from fine-grained, smooth tannins, juicy acidity and that full body, at last, a Pinot Noir that had the potential for Mr Purple Teeth to enjoy it.  How would it pair with the dish I had planned?

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I had decided to cook some local British venison steaks, with seasonal flower sprouts as my nod to Oregon cuisine.  With a preference for redcurrant or fruity, or even chocolate sauces with my venison, I was concerned that these may overpower a nice Pinot Noir.  
So, continuing the fusion theme, I opted for a hint of sweetness with a Teriyaki sauce with sesame.  While this is hardly "Fat Duck" level creativity, for someone who claims not to cook, I was quite impressed with this.
The sweetness was great with the iron-rich game and greens, and the umami from the soy played nicely with the wine. It was a gamble that paid off.  The greens too, played their part, and didn't clash.  
(I also enjoyed the wine with a strong cheddar the night after our "day-trip to Oregon").

While it won't replace Gevrey-Chambertin as Mr Purple Teeth's Pinot of choice, he enjoyed it. He also said that this was the best venison he'd had in a long time - including from several very good restaurants.     While it may have been the Pinots talking, I'm taking that.

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Oregon's wines and food culture inspired us both, and the idea of "virtual" travel will be something we continue with while we save up enough for our next "trip of a lifetime".
Oregon wine country is well established for oenotourism, and while not as well known as Napa or Sonoma, I hope that I'll one day be able to visit it for real.  We finished off the evening by getting a further insight into Oregon culture with an episode of Portlandia (see below).  £30 for wine might seem a lot for a Wednesday night, but compared with a couple of substandard glasses down the local, or a transatlantic flight, I think we got a bargain. 

I'd love to hear about any Oregon wines you've tried, or indeed, if you've already visited.  We are also open to suggestion for food, wine and culture for our next "virtual date" location.  The latitude and longitude picked found us somewhere just off Argentina's Patagonia.  Suggestions welcome...

Cheers!

Never judge a book...

9/12/2015

 
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I've had "Bull's Blood of Eger" several times before (Egri Bikavér), and indeed, I've been lucky enough to try several Hungarian wines. I was given this bottle in Budapest, by a Hungarian friend, back in January, with the comment, "it's nothing fancy".
Looking at the label, and with the warning, I didn't expect this to be particularly special.

It's a funny name for a wine, "Bull's Blood". The wine was given the name due to a widespread belief that bull's blood was indeed a secret ingredient in the wine, giving the strength to defeat the invading Ottoman Turks back in 1522. In 1997, Hungary's first Districtus Hungaricus Controllatus - DHC was created (similar to the French Appellation d'Origine Controllée (AOC) for Eger and it's bull's blood wines.
​It's a dignified and historic wine.  However, I was unable to find out anything specific about this particular bottle except that it was vintage 2012. Usually Kardaka and/or Kekfrankos make up a big part of most Bikavér wines, but there was no blend information on the label - my Hungarian skills left me not even knowing what the brand/who the winemaker was. 

What I could figure out was that it was a decent bottle. A beautiful smooth texture, medium to full bodied, with a lot of ripe tannin, smokey dark fruit flavours, a hint of violet and a lot of spice coming from oak.  It tasted a lot better that I had given it credit for based on the label. I'd pictured a hasty 5€ purchase, that was perhaps okay for a Monday night wine.  I'd fallen into the 
trap of judging a book by its cover, a wine by it's label.  Many of us, with little else to go on, will choose our wine hastily because we "like the look" of it.  And getting the branding right to appeal to the market is an art.  I've seen some hilarious mistakes, or is it genius - you decide. See below.  I'd love to hear about your wine successes and failures based on "buying on the label".

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Back to our wine... Egri Bikavér must contain at least three of the following 13 grapes: Kadarka, Kékfrankos, Blauer Portugieser (Kékoportó), Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Menoire, Pinot noir, Syrah, Turán, Bíborkadarka and the modern Austrian crossings, Blauburger and Zweigelt. Grapes are usually vinified separately with blends receiving 6 months oak barrel ageing and 6 months in bottle before release.  The "Superior" level Bikavér must contain 5 varietals and has twice as long in oak and bottle before release.  It's complicated. 


In a world where grape varieties are becoming short hand for brands, is tough to communicate about wines like this. Consistency is another challenge with so many varietals to choose from.  But there are big brand blends out there, and  blending based on vintage and local conditions, is a long understood tradition in many top quality areas, like Bordeaux. 

While Bull's Blood was once a huge success in the UK it's actually not that easy to get hold of now, outside of specialist retailers such as the Hungarian Wine Society and the Hungarian Wine House.  In fact, even specialist wine merchants often only have the delicious sweet Tokaji wines in stock, while supermarkets may not even have that. 

Perhaps because it's a hard wine to understand with so much possible variation, perhaps because of the success of New World wines since the 1980s, perhaps it was just seen as too 1970s.  
It's a pity as its a wine with great character, a cool back story and at a reasonable price point.
If you do see Bull's Blood, make sure it's Eger (Egri) to get the authentic experience.  Fans of spicy, dry reds should enjoy it. Why not visit Budapest and try some there?
​
Cheers! Egészségedre!  (As they say in Hungary - it sounds a little like eggysheggydray) 

PS - I'd love to hear your good and bad experiences of buying wine based on the label - feel free to email me, or contact me via my Facebook or Twitter. 

Get the Balance Right...

6/12/2015

 

Your guide to not overdoing it this festive season

PictureA few of the lovelies I'll enjoy between now and the new year...
It's perhaps unusual for a wine blogger who spends most of the their time extolling the virtues of particular wines to remind us to drink sensibly.  At this time of year, though, it's important to remind ourselves, that we might be overdoing it. 
Excess calories from wine are probably the reason I can't get into my party dresses this year, despite having swum 50 miles for charity in the last 13 weeks.   Worried: You'll find a calorie calculator here which will give you an idea of the impact of your tipple on your waistline and on your health.  
For me at Purple Teeth, my goal is to help people drink better.  That could mean drinking less.  Certainly since I've been working in the wine business more and in Customer Experience Consultancy less, I've had to drink less.  Counter-intuitive perhaps, but as I've learned more about wine, my tastes have become rather more expensive than my income allows.  So I drink better, but less.  
Wine is a luxury good that's relatively recently been commoditised to be part of every day life.  And while there's no denying the pleasure of a lovely glass of wine with a good meal, too much of what we're drinking is not the best quality.
Clue: if you're buying wine at £5-6ish a bottle, the value of the wine is most likely less than the value of the glass bottle it comes in.  

PictureIf bars sold wine in measures like this, we'd all be a lot healthier
Regardless of the quality, too much of it in general, is not going to do our health any good in the long term.  
Back in the 80s when I first remember alcohol units being discussed, a glass of wine was purportedly "one unit".  That was based on a 100ml glass of wine, at 10% alcohol. Wine has changed a lot since the days when Hock was our regular tipple.  Women were meant to drink no more than 2-3 units per day, and men, no more than 3-4 units per day.  So, a couple of glasses was probably fine. 

Nowadays, many bars serve us "buckets" of substandard Sauvignon Blanc or SE Australian Chardonnay.  At 250ml per glass, the wine is all but slopping over the edges.  There's no room for the delicate swirling and sniffing, and perhaps that's a good thing given how terrible much of this wine can be.  
Clue: if it's under £20 in a bar or restaurant, you're probably looking at the same wine value as you found in your £6 supermarket wine.

Speaking with John Petersen, local winemaker at Dropmore Vineyard, he also bemoaned these large glasses.  "If nothing else, serving it in small carafes would remind us that 250ml is a third of a bottle. I'd like to see those glasses banned."
​

Worse, the alcohol content is often 13.5%, sometimes even higher, meaning one large glass takes you over the recommended daily units for a woman.  And yet, the idea from the days of Hock, that we could drink 3 glasses of wine for 3 units somehow prevails.  In fact, 3 large glasses (or 4 "standard" 175ml glasses) represents a full bottle.  And with some Shiraz and Malbecs weighing in at over 15% alcohol, an "average" bottle of wine is anywhere between 8.2 (for a sweetish Prosecco with a calorie load of between 5-600) and 11.5 units (for a hefty red that also carries around 800 calories).  It's also no wonder people fall pray to the breathalyser... 


PictureIMAGES FROM DRINKAWARE.CO.UK
Remember too, that each unit takes one hour to clear your system, and that hour starts AFTER you stop drinking.  So, if you finish up a nice bottle of Shiraz at 11pm and head out to drive to work at 7.30am, you may well be over the legal alcohol limit. 
While 125ml glasses are available, they're certainly no longer the standard serving in much of the UK. At the lower end of the market, offers such as "buy 2 large glasses, get the rest of the bottle free" prevail, and pricing generally points the customer to buy the larger glass.  
At this time of year, it can be particularly hard to maintain the NHS guidelines of 2 alcohol free days per week. During the party season in particular, cutting back on our favourite tipples can be a challenge.  
​

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So how do we stay sensible, yet still have fun? 
Sensible drinking is no-one's responsibility except our own, and whether we're out, or at home with friends, family or colleagues over the festive season, it's important to understand how peer pressure can affect us.
Here are my strategies you can use to drink better but drink less:


Portion control is key:  When choosing wine by the glass, remember that 125ml glasses must be made available by law.  You can ask for them.  If you feel "silly" in front of your friends for ordering a smaller glass, think how much more smug you'll feel without the hangover they have as they imbibe twice what you're having.  Still not convinced?  Order Champagne, Cava or Prosecco.  The standard glass size is generally around 100ml, meaning each glass is much closer to a unit, allowing you to keep a closer eye on your consumption. Don't kid yourself though - a bottle is still way too much.  

Take some water with it:  Always ensure you have a glass of water or soda water on the side to help slow you down, and keep you hydrated.  You could also alternate with soft drinks.  They're not calorie free but they will help you pace yourself. And if the wine's in the bar is not that good, make it into a spritzer.  I often ask for a taste of the wine before committing.  Serially disappointed, I drink more wine at home than out, these days.

Keep Cool: Think about where the alcohol comes from - the sun, producing sugar in grapes, which is then fermented into alcohol.  So cooler climate wines are often a bit less alcoholic than their counterparts from warmer climes.  It's not an exact science, but often "New World" wines tend to be "bigger" than their old world counterparts, so often, a German Riesling will be lower alcohol than a New Zealand one, while a French Malbec will almost certainly be lower in alcohol than it's Mendoza counterpart. 

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Shop Local: Consider our very own ENGLISH Wine industry.  We make a wide variety of wonderfully refreshing and aromatic wines right here, which are very often much lower in alcohol than counterparts from further afield.  

Many English sparkling wines are lower in alcohol than their European counterparts, and the still whites start at about 10% abv.
One of my particular favourites of 2015 was the Bolney Estate Pinot Gris. At just 11%, it's quite a bit lighter than it's Alsatian counterpart at 13%, but no less intriguing.  
Switch from Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to a local Bacchus wine, or a local white blend and you'll save anything from 0.5% to 2% alcohol, while still having a terrific tipple.  Not to mention that you'll have saved around 11,000 miles of transporting the bottle.  And you'll have done your bit for wine biodiversity, and our local economy.

Think sweeter:  Slightly sweeter styles of wine, e.g. off-dry Rieslings or Portuguese Vinho Verde tend to be a good bit lower in alcohol, with some even below 10%. I'm not a fan of Zinfandel blush wines myself, but they can be as low as 8.5% alcohol, a far cry from their red brothers and sisters, which weigh in at 15% or more. Be careful to check the wine is naturally off-dry and not a fortified wine style, which can be even more alcoholic.

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Unleash your inner wine snob: Order a smaller glass so that there is room to swirl the wine.  Smell it.  Look for interesting aromas. As you taste it, try to find more than one flavour.  If you can't, don't worry - it's not you!  Chances are, you're drinking a really rather ordinary wine.  Next time, trade up. Drink less, but choose a higher quality wine.  

Slow down: Some wines have just so much going on that I can spend 30 minutes without even tasting them, just savouring the aromas.  And when I do finally taste it, it's a sip, not a slurp. And it's usually a little taste of heaven.
Think about it this way, you might wolf down a Mars Bar and not give it a second thought.  But you'll have swallowed ~260 calories without even noticing.  If instead, you buy some Belgian truffles at considerably more cost than the Mars Bar, you may well eat the same amount of calories.  But you'll eat them more mindfully, you'll savour the flavour, you'll enjoy the experience over a significantly longer time.  Chances are, you'll have eaten your standard chocolate bar while doing something else, while you'll give your posh truffles a lot more attention.  At the end, you'll know that those 260 calories were worth it.  
Treat your wine this way.  Slow it down.  Choose better. Sip and savour.  Discuss it with whoever you're drinking it with. Watch how it compliments your meal.  Take the time to enjoy each alcohol unit mindfully, instead of just drinking a bucket of substandard Sauvignon.  You'll reduce your units, but you'll definitely increase your pleasure.  

Find out the wines I'm enjoying and recommending on my website. Or consider hosting a Purple Teeth wine tasting party where I'll show you and your friends what to look for, how to taste, how to know what to order, and how to find wine that delights every time. ​​Get in touch, for more information on how to host a party, or give one as a gift.  
Whatever you're drinking this festive season, try to have the odd day off, enjoy the experience, and try something new at least once.
Cheers!

Tannat

1/12/2015

 
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Disappointed! This wine could have been so much more, but it had a bit of a fault. That is, a bit of secondary fermentation in the bottle giving in unpleasant spritz to the wine.

Tannat is the signature grape of Uruguay and also of Madiran in France. It's also renowned as having one of the highest levels of reservatrol - the compound that's making headlines for red wine's health benefits. I was keen to try it.

This example from Argentina is a bottle that's been on my wine rack for around a year - the last time I bought anything from Naked Wines. It's no longer in stock.
Pity, I'd love to have tasted a non-faulty bottle. Deep purple berry flavours, freshness, smooth but hefty tannin - it's everything Mr Purple Teeth loves with his Tuesday night cheeseboard. But. It's faulty.
There's a lot more faulty wine out there than we appreciate. I found a number during the IWC associate judging I did a couple of weeks ago. Many of these faults go unrecognised by us punters. We just drink the wine and say it's no good. We shouldn't! Facts can be avoided and should be reported.
Meanwhile, I'll be looking for a Tannat from Madiran or Uruguay to find out exactly how good it can be. Tasting beyond the fault, this could have been amazing. Let me know if you had one!
Cheers

    Purple Teeth

    My name's Heather and I've been enjoying wine for over 20 years. I'm the 2013 winner of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust Rhone prize for oustanding students at the advanced level.
    My mission is to share my passion for the myriad varieties of fermented grape juice, hopefully inspiring you to try something new, or to host  a Purple Teeth wine party in your own home or business.

    My blog mainly features wines you should be able to find on your local high street or online, and occasionally, I will review restaurants, travel and other forms of alcohol, since my qualification covers spirits too.  I believe it's important to enjoy the calories and the cash we spend on alcohol, and I hope my guidance can help you reduce the risk of making a bad buy.
      
    When I'm not drinking wine, you'll find me on the dance floor where West Coast Swing is my dance of choice. Socialising with the friends I've made there from all over the world has also brought me new adventures in alcohol!  And just in case you're interested, I also write a blog called Confidence Within.  You'll find it at heatherharrison.weebly.com


    Remember to enjoy wine sensibly...
    For a woman, 2-3 units per day is the recommended maximum allowance.  This equates to around one standard "pub measure" glass of wine:
    175ml of 13% alcohol wine is 2.3 units (and a scary 140 calories).  
    You'll find all the facts you need about safe, moderate drinking at the www.Drinkaware.co.uk site. 
    Purple Teeth supports safe drinking. Never drive or operate machinery after drinking alcohol.

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