{"id":18745,"date":"2017-09-29T07:04:21","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T07:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=18745"},"modified":"2017-09-29T07:04:21","modified_gmt":"2017-09-29T07:04:21","slug":"new-releases-from-urban-winery-ldn-cru-gavins-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/uncategorized\/new-releases-from-urban-winery-ldn-cru-gavins-last","title":{"rendered":"New releases from urban winery Ldn Cru, Gavin’s last"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"OLYMPUS
Gavin Monery, winemaker, Ldn Cru<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday afternoon I met with winemaker Gavin Monery, to taste through the new wines from urban winery Ldn Cru, plus the previous vintage. It was Gavin’s last tasting, but he was keen to show the wines because he’s very proud of them.<\/p>\n

\"london<\/p>\n

There have been changes at Roberson, the wine agency company behind Ldn Cru. Cliff Roberson’s daughter Talya has taken over from her father, and for various reasons it means that Gavin is no longer able to work with the same vineyards going forwards, and for him this was a significant change, as he’d spent a long time sourcing these and also cultivating relationships. So Gavin is moving on, to Vagabond Wines to do a similar project in Battersea, and he will also be making some wines for Vagabond in situ. For example, In February will be going down to South Africa to make Old vine Cinsault and Chenin. Vagabond have customers already who can buy even small parcels of wine, whereas Ldn Cru had to sell to restaurants, which made the project a bit tougher.<\/p>\n

But he leaves on good terms. ‘Roberson is a great company and I love what they’ve done,’ says Gavin. ‘I’ll always be really grateful to them.’<\/p>\n

So, the wines. From 2015 onwards all the wines got a special cuvee name related to the variety they are made from, and a date underneath indicating vintage. ‘Because we ship fresh grapes we are not allowed to use the variety or vintage,’ Gavin explains. These latest releases are very impressive wines.<\/p>\n

\"ldncru\"<\/p>\n

Baker St Bacchus 2016 England<\/strong>
\nSandhurst (Kent) and Great Whytman in East Anglia (Essex). The Essex fruit comes in a bit riper. Beautiful aromatics here. Very fresh and tangy with floral, grassy, elderflower notes. Crisp with good acidity and a hint of pith. Really bright and convincing. 89\/100<\/p>\n

Abermarle St Albari\u00f1o 2015 Rias Baixas<\/strong>
\nFrom a vineyard in Salnes. Very lively and pure with real intensity to the lemony fruit. So fresh and lively with keen acidity. Hints of pith with a bit of grip. Pure, direct and very impressive. Finishes lemony and vivid. 91\/100<\/p>\n

Charlotte St Chardonnay 2015 Limoux<\/strong>
\n12% alcohol. Limestone soils. The soil here is white. 1 new barrel out of 18 this year. There’s a lovely freshness to the bold pear, apple and white peach fruit. There’s some richness to this wine, but also a lovely taut, mineral character, with just a hint of nut and toast from the oak. Very fine and expressive. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Chardonnay 2014 Limoux<\/strong>
\n12% alcohol. Did a bit of work with turbidity this year. There’s lovely freshness, with lemons and tangerine, and a bit of citrus pith, too. This has a linear personality, with nice bright fruit and some subtle nutty notes. Finishes with a hint of bitterness. 91\/100<\/p>\n

Pimlico Road Pinor Noir 2016 Limoux<\/strong>
\nPure limestons soils. Two tanks, one had 40% whole cluster, the other 30%. Very little extraction. Went into old barrels. Very pure, vivid, juicy and supple with red and black cherry fruit as well as some spiciness. There’s a hint of rhubarb, with nice grip under the fresh fruit. Youthful and vivid, and needing a little time to open up. This is impressive, with nice acidity. 90\/100<\/p>\n

Grenache 2014 Calatayud, Spain<\/strong>
\n90 year old bush vines, 1000 m altitude, open fermenter, one punch down a day. Beautifully fresh with fine-grained raspberry and cherry fruit with nice weight. Hints of leather and liquorice. Has nice acid structure. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Gresham St Grenache 2015 Calatayud, Spain<\/strong>
\nSilky and vivid at the same time with lovely ripe raspberry fruit, and some cherry liqueur notes. Sweetly fruited yet really fresh with some bitter plum notes on the finish. Juicy and really vivid. Has potential for development. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Barbera 2014 Piedmont, Italy<\/strong>
\n20% new oak. Spicy, vivid and lively with high acidity and a bit of grippy structure, but also lovely pure fruit. This is silky and fresh with pure berry and cherry fruits as well as a bit of spice, pepper and tar. Juicy and bright. 91\/100<\/p>\n

Barbican Barbera 2015 Piedmont, Italy<\/strong>
\n20% new oak, to season the barrels for the other varieties. This has real grip and intensity, with some tannic grip and a bit of tar and spice. There’s direct blackberry and cherry fruit with a tarry twist. Fresh and intense with a taut personality but also lovely expressive fruit. 91\/100<\/p>\n

Kings Cross NV<\/strong>
\n65% Syrah, with some 2016 as well as a majority of 2015, 15% Barbera, 15% Grenache, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Ripe but restrained with good concentration of berry and blackcurrant fruit. Nice spiciness and lovely liqourice and leather hints. Sweet and a bit spicy with good structure. 91\/100<\/p>\n

Syrah 2014 Calatayud, Spain<\/strong>
\n40% whole cluster. Juicy and fresh with some pepper and liquorice, as well as smooth but well defined black cherry and blackberry fruit. Has lovely focus and nice structure. There’s high acidity, but the wine tastes ripe. Very fine. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Sydney Street Syrah 2016 (barrel sample) Calatayud, Spain<\/strong>
\n12.8% alcohol. Low alcohol, high acid. 950 m altitude, in Calatayud. Very fresh and expressive with ripe raspberry and red cherry fruit. There’s some lovely peppery detail with juicy acidity helping provide structure. Grippy and taut, this has lots of potential. 91-93\/100<\/p>\n

Sydney Street Syrah 2015 Calatayud, Spain<\/strong>
\n50% whole cluster. Nice concentration and some real elegance here, with pepper and spice. Notes of liquorice, dried herbs and nice weight. Lovely weight here: fine and fresh with lovely ripe berry fruits and some raspberry freshness. This is really good, and will get better. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Cabot Sq Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 Languedoc<\/strong>
\nRed clay over limestone. Lovely vivid blackcurrant fruit with nice acidity and good tannins. Structured and well defined with nice juiciness and lively acidity. Taut, backward and with potential to develop. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 Languedoc<\/strong>
\nStructured and dense with nice grip. Lovely sweet raspberry fruit with a savoury, spicy, slightly earthy edge to it. Firm and drying on the finish. A wine for the long haul. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Previous reviews of Ldn Cru are here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday afternoon I met with winemaker Gavin Monery, to taste through the new wines from urban winery Ldn Cru, plus the previous vintage. It was Gavin’s last tasting, but he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18749,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18745\/revisions\/18749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}