jamie goode's wine blog

Monday, May 22, 2006

Two fairly serious, rich white wines to report on.

First, Emmerich Knoll Loibner Schutt Gruner Veltliner Smaragd 2002 Wachau, Austria. [Don't you just love the label?] This is a textbook Gruner from one of my favourite Austrian producers, with a full melony nose displaying a delicious trademark white pepper edge. In the mouth it's smooth and rich with broad melony fruit. Youthful and fruity at the moment, but it will age nicely. I scored this at 92, for what it's worth. I bought this for £22 from Selfridges.

Second, tonight's tipple is a high-end Spanish white that retails for £18.50. You don't get many of these...Spain is normally thought of as red wine territory, what, with all that sun an' all. It's the Mas d'en Compte 2004 Porrera, Priorat, Spain. I have no knowledge of the varietal composition, but it tastes like a cross between Viognier, Chardonnay and Roussanne. It's a remarkable full-flavoured white of complexity and power, showing a nice balance between the fat, thick-textured tropical fruit and the spicy oak. There's great concentration here, but also a degree of freshness, and some minerality, too. Delicious and compelling, though I suspect early drinking might be in order. I gave this 93. Available from Jeroboams/Laytons, Weavers of Nottingham and Peake Wines.

6 Comments:

At 9:01 PM, Anonymous pivu said...

Jamie, I'm a bit wondering, but not unhappy at all, about your latest Knoll-experience. It seems to me that the Grüner Veltliner 'Schütt' Smaragd 2002 has made lots of progress. Every time I had this wine in the past, it has been initially closed, a bit meager with missing body, although with high minerality and future potential. But definitely not the same quality as GV 'Loibenberg' Smaragd 2002.

Emmerich Knoll himself BTW feels not so happy about his 2002 Veltliner-range, unlike his Rieslings from the same vintage.

 
At 9:37 PM, Anonymous Peter Hodder-Williams said...

Jamie,

The Mas d'en Compte is 20% Pansal (AKA Xarel·lo), 40% Garnatxa Blanca, 40% Picapoll.

Whilst this wine feels like it won't last too long in the bottle is usually holds itself together very well - I can only assume it must have more acidity that it would appear to. (In fact on release, I usually find the oak a little too forward, but it seems to blend nicely with some bottle time). The 2005 is about to be released, but I prefer to drink it with about a year's bottle age (ie now for the 2004) and if past vintages are anything to go by, it should hold up remarkably well at least another 2 years.

 
At 3:33 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

pivu, I suspect a Knoll GV that is singing on top form would be even better - you've clearly got some experience with these wines.

Peter, thanks for this info. Much appreciated. It's a really good wine, in its style.

 
At 11:15 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I believe it's Chardonnay and Macabeo (55%, 45%) though check that before posting.

 
At 11:21 AM, Anonymous Katell Pleven said...

The Mas d'en Compte is 60% White Grenache, 20% Picpoul, and 20% Pansal, fermented in new French oak barrels for 6 months.

 
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