Here’s the recipe for a memorable wine experience: to one lovely venue/location (this can be anything really, from a picnic blanket on sunny day with a fabulous view to a nice restaurant or even your own kitchen) add some good food (again, the options here are virtually limitless, just make it tasty), some lovely wine (suited to aforementioned food) and stir together with liberal helpings of good humour and witty stories.  Guaranteed good times.

Welcome to the stage Bernard Repolt of Remoissenet Père et Fils.  We met Bernard at a Burgundy dinner at Ox restaurant in Belfast where he followed the formula to perfection.  We had a glass of his white Rully 2010 with a scallop and cured salmon starter – a delicious match.  The Rully was lovely, white Burgundy as it should be.  It was round and satisfying with a subtle richness that matched the scallop and salmon perfectly.  Later on, we had a red Givry with sea trout.  The Givry was lovely and fresh and bright with ripe red fruit and a hint of chocolate.  At the end of the meal, Bernard pulled out a magnum of 1978 Beaune Rouge – the pièce de résistance!  It was amazingly fresh and vibrant and a real treat to try something so mature.  Bernard was serving the wine himself, charming everyone present with his wit and somewhat irreverent sense of humour.  Result? A room full of happy people who won’t forget him in a hurry.

The next day, Bernard and his charming wife Céline came to Crossgar to taste more of the wines with us and tell us about what Remoissenet is all about.  Bernard is an ex-president of Louis Jadot where he worked with his wife.  He told us that she fired him so he got the job with Remoissenet (not many of his witty stories are printable).  It’s an old domaine but after M. Remoissenet retired, it was sold and given something of a facelift.  Bernard plays a pivotal role in the revitalisation of the business; he oversees the winemaking and all the business processes.  He’s also in charge of their incredible cellar of older wines which is really unique and very exciting.  Very few people have access to such a rich resource and he plans on releasing them in small quantities over time.

The wines are really tasty and have that drinkability factor that sometimes eludes even very well made wines.  The reds are picked late to ensure the grapes are totally ripe and there are no green or bitter flavours in the wine.  The JN selection of Remoissenet reds includes:

Remoissenet Santenay Grand Clos Rousseau 2010

Remoissenet Givry Rouge 'Roi Henri' 2011

Remoissenet Gevrey Chambertin 2010

The whites all have a freshness and elegance about them – they’re subtle with very little oak flavour but they have lovely texture and ripe stone fruit flavour.  Some are showing signs of maturity with complex, earthy notes.  The JN selection of Remoissenet whites includes:

Remoissenet Givry Blanc 2010

Remoissenet Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume 2010

Remoissenet Rully Blanc 2010

Remoissenet Saint Romain Blanc 2009

Remoissenet Chass. Montrachet Vergers 2010

These are fantastic food wines so we suggest you get a bottle or two in and invite some of the people you love round for dinner.  Because that, let’s face it, is what it’s all about.

Saturday 27th April 2013
3pm-4pm
The Tasting Room, Crossgar
Tickets £10.00 for Two

There is no better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than with one of South Africa's most charismatic and passionate winemakers. Adi Badenhorst from A.A Badenhorst wines will be bringing his native warmth and humour to our tasting room in Crossgar. He will be filling us in on life as a winemaker in Swartland, the joys of Chenin Blanc, blending reds, leading revolutions, and of course we will be doing some tasting too.

Get the shopping done early and reward yourself with some good-humoured, informal, quality wine time.  You never know - you might discover your new favourite wine.  

New to JN, Tasty Tastings, this is the first in a series of informal winemaker tastings due to take place on Saturday afternoons.

Get tickets here

Just a couple of weeks ago we travelled to the Languedoc and suffered baltic temperatures; now it’s time for the Rhône and the temperature has reached a balmy 10°C and there is even a hint of blossom on the trees making it almost feel and look like spring. Tonight was spent with the wonderful team of Vieux Télégraphe with a tasting of the flavourful and sturdy 2010 vintage followed by the quite forward and drinkable 2011. At dinner this evening local new green asparagus and hand-dived scallops were washed down with George Vernay’s 2011 Condrieu. With a pan-fried veal dish, we drank Vieux Télégraphe 2004 and La Roquète 2009 which proved to be the star of the show. The 2009 vintage really is top drawer and those of you who decided to spend your hard earned on this vintage have a treat in store. Tomorrow it’s time to visit around seven of our favourite growers from Gigondas and Vacqueyras to Vinsobres and Lirac. It’s on the road by 7.30am!

Tasting a superb range of Lirac with Marine owner if Domaine Joncier

Tasting in Avignon with Céline from Grapillon D'or

The winds of change are blowing gently through the Artadi vineyards. 2011 was the first year they strictly adhered to organic agricultural principles in all their plots. On top of this, they have started to apply biodynamic agricultural principles to some of their plots. The Artadi family have always had a deep respect for their land; when winemaker and owner Juan Carlos López de Localle was last here he told me that leaving his vines to travel felt like leaving his babies. This man truly understands the individual nature of each of his plots and how these differences and details reflect in his wines. It’s completely fascinating and inspiring to hear him talk. Juan Carlos may not speak English like a native, but he can absolutely convey his passion and knowledge with the utmost clarity. I defy anyone to spend some time in his company and not be won over by this man’s passion, skill and charming humility.

The old adage that great wines begin in the vineyard is absolutely true. A great winemaker can make a good wine from less than perfect grapes. A terrible winemaker can make bad wine from fabulous grapes, but to make a truly outstanding wine you need superb quality raw materials and the talent to make a wine that fully expresses its nature and beauty. It takes quite a leap of faith to completely surrender to the whims of Mother Nature when your livelihood and reputation hinge on getting a great natural product. It’s one thing to respect Mother Nature, it’s quite another to decommission all the weaponry you can call upon should she make life difficult. So when the Artadi people decided to go fully organic in 2011, there must have been a few sleepless nights when the weather didn’t exactly pan out as a perfect growing season. 2011 turned out to be an uncharacteristically dry year, with a cooler than normal summer which led to a long ripening season - but the grapes were really healthy. August and September saw a radical increase in temperature in the lead up to harvest so all in all this was a far from typical year in the Rioja region.

And the result? In the words of Juan Carlos: “Today, the tasting of these wines show cleanliness, transparency, fruitiness, freshness, muscular energy, the force of youth, and when we taste our emblematic plots, we can feel more deep vibrations, more reflection, voluminous sensations, text and sounds more difficult to interpret which predict a vintage of great merit”.

We look forward to their arrival.

Click here to see 2011 Artadi wines available to purchase en primeur.

Click here for some Artadi wines available for purchase now.

Click here for a list of all our wines currently available to purchase en primeur, including 2010 Artadi wines.

Henrys Drive is a new range to us at JN Wine and we recently had the pleasure of a visit from Renae at our Crossgar shop a few months ago. Renae was utterly charming and down to earth and we really enjoyed hearing about the wines and the property.

Henrys Drive is named after Henry John Hill, the proprietor of the 19th century coach service which delivered passengers and mail throughout the region. The region in question is Padthaway in the South east corner of South Australia – a picturesque valley with soils similar to those of Coonawarra (red earth).

We were taken with the quality and diversity of the wines. The morse code Shiraz and Chardonnay are a fantastic introduction to the wines of the region and incredibly good value for money. Australian Shiraz is hugely successful and very popular and for good reason. Although Syrah and Shiraz are different names for the same grape, it makes absolute sense for the Australians to have given it another name as the grape expresses itself in such a unique way in this country. Henrys Drive make a whole range of wines from this fabulous grape, each different in style. The top wines are beautiful expressions of regionality and are made from tiny parcels of their very best quality grapes.

View Our Henry's Drive Range

Share
Tweet