Welcome to the first ever Vintage Executive Wine Club. Every month it will be my pleasure to review five wines supplied by Vintage, Lebanon’s leading vintners, from their outlet in Saifi Village. From the comfort of the pages of EXECUTIVE, we will take on a journey of wine, grapes, famous (and not so famous) winemaking families and regions, explain what makes them so special and how you can get the best out of them.
The wines are selected by the very capable Wadih Riachi, manager of Vintage, whose knowledge of the wines in his shop makes buying and visiting the Vintage shop an education in itself.
This month Wadih has selected three reds, all with a strong Cabernet Sauvignon presence: Michel Lynch 2000 (Bordeaux), Torres Gran Coronas Reserva 2000 (Penèdes, Spain) and one from Lebanon’s very own Domaine Wardy (Lebanon).
Cabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red grape on the planet. Typically giving aromas and flavours of blackcurrants, peppers, chocolate and spices, it is planted almost everywhere in the wine growing world, but is most associated with the wines of Bordeaux, in which it is almost universally present and where it has thrived since the 18th century.
The Michel Lynch 2000 is an elegant blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc (two other hugely important Bordeaux grapes), in the best tradition of the Medoc region of Bordeaux, where the lynch family has been making wine since the 17th century. The wine is firm in the mouth with supple tannins and gives notes of berries and sweet spices. I found it needed at least an hour or two to “open up,” so decanting is advised if one wants to appreciate the understated elegance of this wine.
The Torres family of Penèdes in North-East Spain is one of the powerhouses of the modern wine sector and the Gran Coronas is one of their most consistent performers, made as it is with 85% cabernet and backed up with 15% local Tempranillo, Spain’s most famous grape, giving it a dryer, measured feel in the mouth, while losing none of the Cabernet’s traditional characteristics.
In Lebanon, the Cabernet Sauvignon has replaced the Cinsault as the backbone of the modern Lebanese wine industry. Domaine Wardy’s monovarietal is a fine example of how the grape has taken in the Bekaa With its intense fruits, the wine is big in the mouth and keen to express the formidable terroir from when it came. Salim Wardy has done a fine job with this and his two other ‘mono’ blends and above all represent excellent value.
For the whites, Wadih has gone for Chardonnays, one from the historic Burgundy vineyards of Joseph Drouhin in Beune and the other from the mighty Frescobaldi holdings in Tuscany in central Italy. The Chardonnay may have become a cliché among today’s white wine drinkers, but this should not detract from its popularity, versatility, consistency and quality. It is a grape that ranks among the most important and widely planted on Earth and, in France, makes some of the finest Burgundies and Champagnes.
Beune, in the Côte d’Or region of Burgundy, is home to Joseph Drouhin, whose ancestors have been producing wines for centuries. The Macon-Villages 2002, comes from an AC (appellation contrôlée) of the same name and is known for its Chardonnay. It is a medium bodied white, fruity with hints of flowers and like most of the whites from the region is drinking well now.
Frescobaldi is one of the most powerful vineyard-owning families in Tuscany, of which Pomino, situated at 650 meters, is a DOGC (denominazione din original controllata e garantita) the highest category of Italian wines. It is no wonder then that the Fescobaldi’s Pomino Bianco 2002, a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc is one of its best whites. I concur with Wadih: it is indeed long and elegant and bristling with Tuscan spirit. On the nose it is awash with flowers, peaches and pears. It is a wine to savor and is also drinking very well now.
Till next month, enjoy!
Michael Karam’s Wines of Lebanon will be published this spring by Saqi Books of London. He is a contributor to the Award winning Wine Report and Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Wine Companion.
