We all know the feeling. You’re picking up a few things from the supermarket for dinner and pass by the wine section. Or you’ve just popped in on the way to a friend’s house and want to pick up some drinks and snacks to take along. Or you’re just a saddo who likes to hang out in your local 24-hour store 😉 Either way, you end up standing in the wine aisle in front of a bewildering array of bottles on shelves and often you have a very limited amount of time to make a choice. Pop quiz – what do you do?? Well, you might start by picking a country and sticking with what you know – in my case, South Africa and in the case of many people here in the UK, France. Price will most definitely come into the equation for me – I have a husband who believes less is more when it comes to spending (heaven alone knows what possessed him to marry me, the Queen of Conspicuous Consumption…). And almost certainly, you will look for something familiar – hey, there’s a Chardonnay/a Merlot. I’ve heard of that so it can’t be that bad, let’s take it.
All of which is fine and well and might sometimes get you a decent wine. But the problem with a) the consumer’s attraction to recognised, ""big name" grape varieties and b) the growing trend to list the grape varieties on the bottle (no longer only confined to the New World) means that there is a greater and greater demand for certain noble cultivars. As a farmer, given a choice, you clearly have to do what will ensure your economic survival. So if the market demands Cabernet Sauvignon, you rip up the plantings of local grapes and start planting Cab instead so that you can sell more of your wines. And that’s where it starts getting not so fine.
There are about 600 wine grape varieties in the world (check out this bewilderingly large database)- and yet I challenge you to find more than two dozen in your local wine store or supermarket – and that’s if it has a good selection. I mean, would you want to live in a world where all you can choose from are 10 or 15 different types of car? Or ice cream? Or paint colours? So why settle for that in the world of wine?? Since this trend towards homogenization is driven by customer demand, why not start buying the more obscure cultivars and generate more of a market for them – that way, the selection available in stores around the world can only improve! Also, bear in mind that not all vines are equally happy in all climates so growing, say, pinot noir out of its natural habitat could be a costly and wasteful business. So why not encourage the planting of wines suitable to each country’s particular terroir by being willing to buy wines that you may not have heard of, but that may be perfectly suited to a particular country’s conditions? (If you want to know more about drinking unusual varieties rather than the tried-and-tested, have a look at the excellent Vinodiversity).
You might have noticed that I am rather in favour of Andrew’s choice of theme for this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday – obscure red grapes. Ahem.
So after all that evangelising, what did I buy? Well, I had a limited time to find a wine as I have been madly busy lately and was on a business trip to the wilds of Bedfordshire for half of this week, so it was off to trusty old Tesco. I did’t have much hope of finding anything unusual and I already knew to steer clear of the South African, Australian and French shelves as they were peopled pretty much exclusively with well-known cultivars. So I headed on over to South America, looking originally for an Malbec (one of my new favourites). But instead I came back with something I had never seen or drunk before – the Luis Felipe Edwards 2003 Carmenere.
Carmenere is an interesting grape. It was once heavily planted in Bordeaux and is in fact one of only six varieties that are allowed to be used in making red Bordeaux blends. However, it is a very late-ripening grape (even later than Merlot) and because Bordeaux is not known for its hot climate, there were problems ripening the crop almost every year. For this reason the grape fell out of favour and when it came to replanting after the phylloxera outbreak in the 1880’s, it was simply not replanted. Today it is almost impossible to find Carmenere grapes in Bordeaux. Why? Well, because it has packed up and headed for pastures warmer – Chile! The first grapes were imported in the mid-1800s and for a long period the grapes were planted in amongst Merlot (with which it shares many characteristics, such as soft tannins and ripe fruit). But in the early 1990’s when Chilean "Merlots" were thoroughly scrutinised in an attempt to explain their distinguishing characteristics, it was discovered that many of the vines that they had labelled as Merlot were in fact Carmenere. From then on, Carmenere was correctly identified and bottled under its correct name, and aggressively marketed from the mid 1990s onwards. Voila – a very extended overnight success story!
So what about this particular example? Well, Luis Felipe Edwards is a family-owned, boutique wine producer based in the Colchagua Valley in central Chile. The current owner restored the original 1950’s plantings during the 1970s, and started producing wine in 1994. This particular wine consists of 85% Carmenere and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. We paired it with grilled pork sausages, red wine gravy, mashed potatoes and broccoli and that worked fantastically. Here are the detailed tasting notes:
Colour – clear ruby with hints of purple around the edges
Nose – red fruits, earthy, strawberry jam. Stemmy with hints of vanilla
Palate – At 14% alcohol it’s not a wine to be trifled with! But the alcohol is not overwhelming on the palate. The wine is quite full-bodied with tart red fruits up front and a nice vanilla caramel finish. It’s not too complex, but has a medium long-finish and the overall impression is balanced and very drinkable. At £3.99 it is an amazing bargain and I seriously doubt whether you would find any Cabernet Sauvignon of comparable quality at this price. My advice? Buy, buy, buy before word gets out and the price goes up!
As always, a thorough post. What, $6 US! I will keep an eye open. Thanks, jens
Thanks, Jens! I could not believe the price myself – I mean who in their right mind would spend £6 to get a Blossom Hill/Gallo/Hardy’s when this is available at 1/3 of the price? I’m stocking up as we speak! And I think there is a list of distributors on the estate’s website if you want to know where to look in your area.
Sigh it’s a bit depressing the illusion of choice sometimes. Most of the biggest supermarkets are filled with different kinds of the same crap. Do we really need a coca cola aisle. Settle for less and more eclectic any day.
Canny bargains, what a joy.
Ek verstom my dat ‘n mens so baie oor kos kan skryf. Ek is een van daai mense wat my kos eet en ‘n uur later nie meer kan onthou wat ek geëet het nie.
The illusion of choice indeed. 15 kinds of sliced sandwich “ham” and not a chunk of chorizo in sight. In fact, the bigger the store, the less real choice you have. Aaaah, wine bargain hunting – the acceptable face of hunting!
Boertjie, jy klink nes my man. Solank dit sy maag vol maak en sy bloedsuikervlakke herstel, gee hy niks om wat hy eet nie. En om daaroor te skryf is so vergesog as om buite die perke van die werklikheid te wees! Ek is weer verstom oor hoe versigtig en pragtig jy goed vertaal. My ma was nog altyd die tweetaligste persoon wat ek ken, maar noudat sy oorlede is dink ek jy het miskien haar plek ingeneem!!
By spooky coincidence, I made chorizo in red wine yesterday.
Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo [spooky Twilight Zone music] Lucky you – you found chorizo!!
Although I must add that a friend had discovered a Polish butcher near her place in North London and I plan to head over there and stock up on spicy sausages soon!!
Your story reminds me of the infamous Charles Shaw wine, but more affectionately known around these parts as Two Buck Chuck, because it can be bought at a staggering $1.99. What’s even better is that it is perfectly drinkable! In fact, legend has it that at blind tastings, it has even swept first place a couple of times!
Type “Two Buck Chuck” into Google if you want to know more.
Groetnis,
R.
Hi Red
And that reminds me of the legend that used to do the rounds back home that Tassies was made from the leftovers at the bottom of the barrels used for far greater wines. So in a given year you could get a wine that was 99% Cabernet, an other years, 99% pigswill… And of course there was also the rumour that Tassies would beat pretty much any other wine in a blind tasting in a good year!
Lekker naweek!
J
£3.99 at Tesco? Was there a special offer? I see it on their Wine Warehouse pages at £5.50-ish/6 bottles. They have an own-label Carmenere at £3.31/6. I will definitely have a go at the Edwards. I have had the Casillero del Diablo version, which was good, [at about £5.60 from Tesco & all the UK s/mkts]. I am surprised that you describe the colour as “ruby red …” as one of the characteristics of Carmenere is its almost inky, opaque blackness. The Casillero is like this, stikingly so on first aquaintance.
As for chorizo, anyone able to get to Portobello Rd in London will find the real thing, and how, at Garcia’s deli, which is just before [downhill side] of the Westway flyover and another Spanish deli [I forget the name] just past the flyover on the uphill side. Both on the right, as you walk uphill.
Liked your review, and since u wrote it, you may notice rationalisation by the supermarkets, and they eventually will sell only well known brands (like they did with beer). The independent sector will have an opportinity to gain some ground!
For your info LFE have just managed to gain a foothold in ASDA in the UK.
The Cabernet Malbec and a white Chardonnay/SBlanc has just arrived in at £4.78 a bottle. Wait a few months and it will go down to £3.78 on offer.
Good luck… and good hunting!
Peter