The Morning Claret

Simon J Woolf & Friends on Wild and Wonderful Wines

Obscure white grape varieties

Wines made from less well known white grape varieties. Expect the likes of Grillo, Fiano, Seyval Blanc and Rotgipfler amongst others.

Dom Bliskowice – J’16 Johanniter Ultra 2016 ©Taka Takeuchi
3 minute read

Dom Bliskowice Johanniter Ultra 2016

Poland doesn’t get the respect that it deserves, either with food or wine. Ignorance too often clouds the landscape. I was recently on a train to Warsaw eavesdropping as four Brits struggled to come up with a single dish other Read more

Les Cailloux du Paradis - Romorantin 2013 © Taka Takeuchi
2 minute read

Les Cailloux du Paradis – Romorantin 2013

I’m seeing more and more Romorantin in London and loving it. That’s saying something, with a grand total of only 70 hectares in existence. But what makes it more special is that it happens to produce great wine. Romorantin is Read more

Domaine Sainte Croix - La Serre 2015 © Taka Takeuchi
3 minute read

Domaine Sainte Croix – La Serre 2015

Here’s a fittingly off-piste wine to mark my first review for The Morning Claret. Domaine Sainte Croix was created in 2004 by an English couple, Jon and Elizabeth Bowen. Jon used to be a globe-trotting winemaker, Elizabeth an agricultural economist. Read more

Iago Bitarisvili, Kartli, May 2017 (Photo (C) Simon Woolf)
5 minute read

Iago Bitarishvili – The Chinuri Master

Chinuri is one of the more important white grape varieties indigenous to Kartli, and Iago BItarishvili is without doubt its best exponent. His focus on the grape is absolute, inviting comparison to the Vodopivec brothers in Friuli who focus solely on their native Vitovska. Iago makes two Chinuri wines, one with and one without skin contact.

8 minute read

A wave of Georgian qvevri wine in Amsterdam

I’m a huge fan of Georgian qvevri wines – that’s to say, wines made in the 8,000 year old traditional manner, where grapes, skins and sometimes stems are piled into a 500 – 2,000 litre clay amphora-like vessel, buried up to its neck in the ground. The challenge has always been how to get hold of them. But times are changing and one adventurous Dutch wine merchant “Andere Wijn” has hugely expanded their Georgian range.

Simon holding Portuguese grape varieties
7 minute read

Making orange wine in the Douro Valley – Part 1

It started with a seemingly innocent question from Oscar Quevedo: “Simon, do you know how to make an orange wine?”. Oscar isn’t stupid of course, he knew damn well I’d have something to say on the subject. We were sat Read more

Foradori - Manzoni Bianco 2014 (Photo Simon Woolf)
3 minute read

Mastery of Manzoni: Elisabetta Foradori

There are a small number of winemakers out there who defy any attempt at categorisation, apart from superlatives. Elisabetta Foradori is one. She’s the darling of the Italian biodynamic wine movement, an early convert to amphorae, and a peerless exponent of long skin maceration for white wines. But it feels clumsy to describe Foradori’s output with such limiting terms and techniques.

Tauss vinyeards in Southern Styria
3 minute read

A fiery Roter Traminer from Tauss

I’ve featured wines from several of the Schmecke das Leben producers in this series, but not Tauss until now. Roland and Alice Tauss are perhaps the least well known winery in the group, partly due to their very small size – there’s a mere 6 hectares of vines at their bucolic estate in Southern Styria.

Newly delivered qvevri, Tbilvino (Photo courtesy Kasmirhare)
3 minute read

Deep down in a Georgian qvevri – Vinoterra Rkatsiteli 2011

The spiritual and traditional nub of Georgian winemaking is the qvevri – a clay, amphora like vessel buried in the ground and described by Josko Gravner as “a womb for the wine”. Wellmade qvevri white wines can be revelatory in their freshness, intensity and uniqueness. Qvevris have become hip, and producers all over the globe are buying them up. But sometimes you need to go back to the source, to find a winemaker who really knows how to make the style sing. Gogi Dakishvili is just such a chap – head winemaker at Schuchmann estate in Kakheti, Georgia.