A few red wine recommendations.
I ordered some wine so I thought I’d tell you about it - part 2.
I hope you enjoyed reading about some of the whites I’ve tasted recently from The Wine Society. As promised, here are some red wines. I’ve added stars next to my favourites and do take note of the wines I was less impressed by.
I hope these recommendations are helpful for when you’re next scratching your head over what wine to order!
Reds:
Hogan 'Mirror for the Sun' Cabernet Franc, Stellenbosch 2022*
Cabernet Franc is such an underrated red grape so I jumped at the opportunity to taste it ‘on its own.’ A grape that is so often blended finally has a moment to shine. I’m a big fan of South Africa’s wines too so it was meant to be. Hogan Wines was born in 2014 with Jocelyn Hogan Wilson leading the way as head winemaker. After seven years working for others, she set up on her own with a wealth of experience at her fingertips. There’s something glou glou about this wine but that’s selling it short, as there’s a lot more going on. It’s the perfect medium bodied wine for when you want something with extra structure. It smells like a scented candle and I mean this in the best way. The best scented candles are fragrant and concentrated without being cloying and sweet. This wine manages to achieve this balance. Cassis, blackcurrant leaf, aniseed, stone are some of the flavours. This mix of fruit and herbaceous works so well. I’ll be buying this again.
Xinomavro Jeunes Vignes, Thymiopoulos 2022
Xinomavro is my new favourite easy-drinking red grape and this is an absolute bargain. Sour red cherries, strawberries and tar with pleasing notes of granite too. This wine doesn’t try too hard and it’s a great everyday option. I’m not giving it a star because it lacks memorability but it’s a good one to have a stash of.
Viña Zorzal Graciano, Navarra 2022
I like this producer and you don’t see 100% Graciano bottlings that much. Graciano is one of the grapes you will find in Rioja. The grape is added to the Rioja blend adding red fruit flavours. Sadly, this was pretty disappointing. It felt overly sweetened as if vanilla extract had been poured in. Not one I’ll be ordering again.
Saint-Joseph Silice, Domaine Coursodon 2021*
Black pepper, wet stone, slate and of course blackcurrant - this is such a delicious wine. St Joseph used to be the place I’d go for cheaper Northern Rhone wines but sadly the prices have increased (all wine has become markedly more expensive than it was sadly due to duty hikes). This particular cuvee seems to have sold out but try this for something similiar.
Chianti Classico, Riecine 2022
I found this a bit disappointing on first taste. Flavours of tobacco, red cherry, leather. Perfumed and meaty but it felt like the alcohol was a little too overt. However, I kept the bottle in the fridge and tried it again the following evening, which was hugely beneficial. The wine had come out of its shell overnight. All the restraint on first opening transformed it into a Chianti Classico I would buy again. It’s not going to knock your socks off with flavour, as they haven’t used any new oak (usually a good sign) but it’s an elegant wine that will grow on you. Every year Riecine want to produce a Chianti Classico that is pleasantly austere. They’ve achieved this with their 2022 wine.
Etna Rosso, Pietradolce, Sicilia 2022
There’s something very Nebbiolo-like about this wine. Made from 100% Nerello Mascalese grapes on the slopes of Mount Etna, the strawberry and tar notes take me to Piedmont. You can feel the Sicilian sun too making the wine fuller and less stringy. It’s a light-bodied red, which you know I’m a fan of. It isn’t sumptuous but it’s perfect for the times when you want a glass of red but you want something refreshing. Very few tannins, easygoing but very pretty, this is the sort of wine I could drink many glasses of without getting bored.
Corse Calvi Rouge, Clos Culombu 2022 *
I went to Corsica a few years ago and loved it. The landscape is incredible and where the land is rugged, vines will grow. This is much more elegant than I thought. The blend is 60% Sciaccarellu, 20% Niellucciu, 10% Minustellu, 10% Syrah so not grapes you see everyday but it is genuinely delicious. Beautiful cassis fruit with hints of strawberry. Not unlike a Syrah from the Northern Rhone with its hint of pepper and stone. Buy a bottle to expand your vinous horizons!
The Liberator 'God's Own Country Part 2', Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley 2020
A funky label for The Wine Society so I was half expecting a natural wine but no, the liquid inside is refined. My love for South African wine continues with this blend of Grenache and Syrah. Hemel-en-Aarde translates as Heaven and Earth and there is something ethereal about this wine. I really enjoyed it and like the Corsican bottle, it’s got a little more power than a purely fruity wine.
