WTN: Romance, Neusiedlersee (Gols), Penedès

Bunan Bandol Moulin des Costes 2001
Corked.

Čotar Teran 2006
And the romance of the cork strikes again.

So time for a glass stopped wine instead:
Gernot und Heike Heinrich Blaufränkisch 2008
From Gols, Neusiedlersee in Burgenland, Austria. I have previously tried Heinrich's St. Laurent and Zweigelt, so I was very happy to try this Blaufränkisch, too. Spicy, juicy dark fruit, peppery and gravelly. It seems like a juicier version of Éric Texier's Syrahs. Good body, friendly palate despite some nice grip to it. Invigorating, mineral finish. 13% abv and dangerously moreish.

Now I've tasted through the basic, varietal wines from Heinrich and I think they are fantastic. I do not dare to go to the "top" end of his wines yet, since all notes I see on them mention lots of oak. Or is some forumite going to persuade me otherwise?


With such a success after two corked wines, we hesitated slightly and then rationalized (hopefully correctly) our way into opening a white wine under cork: drawing from a random batch of wines, the probability of it being corked is the same even with a couple corked ones already having been opened.

Thus moralized by impeccable logic and a shared bottle of wine we opened up a Can Ràfols dels Caus Gran Caus 2005, a strange, alliterative blend of Chardonnay, Xarel.lo and Chenin. And it's quite lovely. It seems a bit like LdH whites, except not so oxidative in style. It smells a bit like it was under flor yet afaik it wasn't. It smells of tart white flowers (elderflower?). Crisp and very dry yet rich. Nice stuff!

Chenin in Spain? How rare is that?

Thus moralized by impeccable logic and a shared bottle of wine we opened up a Can Ràfols dels Caus Gran Caus 2005, a strange, alliterative blend of Chardonnay, Xarel.lo and Chenin. And it's quite lovely. It seems a bit like LdH whites, except not so oxidative in style. It smells a bit like it was under flor yet afaik it wasn't. It smells of tart white flowers (elderflower?). Crisp and very dry yet rich. Nice stuff!

Nice note, Otto. I had their '05 Xarel-lo "Pairal" last year in Barcelona (well, at El Celler de Can Roca in Girona) and found it fascinating, in an oxidative style. That wine, according to Victor, is aged in Chestnut, which may or may not account for its oxidative character. Perhaps this blend might get a similar elevage?

Mark Lipton

Gran Caus is one of the five highly idiosyncratic whites (there are reds, cavas and a great rosé too) made by Carlos Esteva on his estate atop the Garraf cliffs. It isn't aged in any kind of oak - in bottle only. La Calma (100% chenin blanc) and El Rocallìs (100% incrocio manzoni) are aged in French oak, while Xarel-lo Pairal (100% xarel-lo) is aged in chestnut.