Simon J Woolf & Friends on Wild and Wonderful Wines
Why you should choose organic, biodynamic and natural wines, as a response to the terrible events of 2020 and the pandemic. And just to inspire you, Simon selects five discoveries made in 2020 that put a big smile on his face and made him refill his glass.
Simon reviews Richard Mayson’s new book The Wines of Portugal, published by Infinite Ideas (The Classic Wine Library) on November 12th 2020.
Simon takes a look at the extraordinary expansion in traditional qvevri winemaking in Georgia. What does it mean for quality, and how do you know what’s really in the bottle? With some notes about the OIV’s new skin macerated white wine category, which should help Georgia to classify its output more precisely.
Super ripe, with some meaty, animal notes and a hint of iodine and iron. Big and concentrated, but with Carignan’s trademark sour twang and funkiness. A bit smoky and dusty as it opens up to the finish, but overall a Read more
Noticeably oxidative on the nose, with caramel and nuts. Rather flat and featureless on the palate, with some cooked fruits. There’s some sweet apricot, apple tart and a slight saltiness on the finish. But overall this lacks excitement, and the Read more
Lively, citrussy, with some passion fruit and white grapefruit. Fairly youthful, simple stuff, with some fermentation aromas and a slight grassiness. Lean and nervy, with a nice suggestion of structure – fine tannins on the finish. A bit short.
From an organic certified winery based in St. Emilion (Their most well-known brand is La Fleur Garderose), this Semillon fermented and aged for 10 months in amphora. Still a little closed on the nose, it needs oxygen and then the Read more
Ripe and inviting on the nose, full of quince, ripe pear and a hint of red grapefuit. The tannins are soft and really nicely resolved (in comparison to the much more grippy 2018), and the fruit just lasts and lasts Read more
Smoky and dark fruited on the nose, this has the same joyful red fruit as its little brother the Camino – but here there’s a lot more structure, more “seriousness”, plus wonderful acidity and mineral energy. That feeling of sappy Read more
I started salivating already with the nose of this wine – it’s slightly bloody, with cranberry and a slight toastiness. Super juicy strawberry fruit, with a smoky, earthy hint, gorgeous acidity and bright red berry fruit, topped off with sappy, Read more