Monkeyshed Wines

This was just too tasty to leave behind but I did have to wonder, will anyone want to drink an Austrian “Red” made from a blend of what might as well be three varieties of cabbage? Well if not they certainly should!
This is really good. Almost like drinking velvet. It has a rich, luxurious and envelopingly softness up front and through the middle with just the right amount of solid backbone to hold up the rear and stop it loosing all shape in a pool of loveliness. To the blend. The Blaufrankisch is deemed to bring the alluring fragrance of good Gamay and some of the gaminess of Syrah. It is long and sinewy on the palate. St. Laurent brings colour, depth, delicacy and balance. Zweigelt is named after the good doctor who crossed the Blaufrankisch and St Laurent - an obvious move I hear you cry as one!
I really like this. Try it, I think you will too.

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It’s probably best not to delve too deep into exactly what Bonarda is. Ostensibly its native to Italy but there seems to be a certain amount of confusion at home as to what it really is. What is safe to say is that with Malbec, a native of Bordeaux and Cahors, it has found much greater popularity, success and a new sense of purpose in its new home from home Argentina.
Scrummy, a full, rich wine with a damsony tone to its exuberant fruit and great terras argentinas earthy weight.

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Yum! It really is hard to beat a good Garnacha as the saying goes? Juicy, supple and approachable but this has a depth and complexity that just keep you going back for more if only to put your finger on exactly what it is you are tasting.
This comes from the Aragon plains and must be drunk with slow roasted little lamb to be fully appreciated.

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Wow. Amarone is a real mind blower and this is no exception. Good modern purity and deliciously perfumed flavours on both nose and palate.
Amarone is never cheap but this is good value and really punches well above its weight, treat yourself.

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This wine was always a bit of a no brainer when putting together a new list for the Harvey Nichols empire. Always delicious and always a benchmark example of such a classic Italian style. I’ve toyed with it since giving up the luxury of such a vast range and decided in the end that Valpolicella was perhaps a style too far. But I still couldn’t resist trying the new vintage at a recent tasting. Delicious, as ususal, but somehow richer, purer, slightly more vibrant and delicious than I remember? Screw cap! Bored of waiting for the legislators to catch up (and this too is a theme of the family) the Allegrinis declassified from Valpol Classico to straight Valpol in ‘07 and bottled under a screw cap.
Now the wine gets a listing simply for being quite a tasty tipple at the perfect price.

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A cousin of the Alpha Zeta range that so tickles my fancy!
Matt Thomson has weaved his magic with fruit from Abruzzo this time around. Ripeness is never a problem for such a warm region. The challenge is to capture the richness but keep it focused and clean.
So here you are - all the rich flavours of the Abruzzan Med in Technicolor, extra bright, clear and focused.

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Can I get away with the Princes of Denmark being Plantagenets? Probably not, but Plantagenet is one of the original wineries in the Great Southern region of Western Australia and was set up at Mount Barker, not a million miles inland from Denmark, W.A.. So now you know.
This is a classy number. Big on fruit and oak but both are checked by some wonderfully levelling acidity, the key to the wine’s excellent balance. The class of the fruit and wine making skills of John Durham bring a depth of complexity to the wine.
Tidy, very tidy indeed.

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Really juicy friendly stuff. The Deux Roches crew make a range that never disappoints. The common signature throughout is ripe full opulent flavours. That’s what this is all about, and all the tastier for it.

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I’ve got a thing about Fred Loimer’s wines.
In fact it probably goes further than that to my introduction to Austrian wines. An invite came through to a tasting at the Austrian Ambassador’s Residence in Belgrave Square about two seconds from my old Knightsbridge office. It seemed churlish not to. I waltzed up expecting something along the lines of the slightly mad, slightly unwashed, slightly hippy, boho crew that had revealed themselves as the Swiss wine trade. Not a bit of it. I clearly hadn’t read my invitation and dared to turn up around lunch time not in full ball gown and feeling particularly underdressed. An extraordinary atmosphere of very much alive imperial majesty leagues removed from their alpine neighbours. The wines are similarly leagues apart. If the Swiss offer slightly too high altitude versions of their neighbours in France, Italy and I suppose Germany, Austrian wines are truly singing their own song. The best are absolutely fantastic with a brilliant combination of purity and richness.
The Loimer wines deliver.

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Amazing stuff from the shores of Lake Garda. The problem with wine from such a picturesque and well know spot is finding one that firstly wants to and secondly can live up to your holiday memories or fantasies. At Ca dei Frati both are well and truly taken care of.
The Dal Cero family are winemakers who put in the hard work finding great vineyards, cropping low and respecting their fruit. Stunning wines of great depth and complexity that all but the very, very best holiday memories will struggle to put in the shade.

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A particular favourite of mine ever since we first met over a crowded table in Sydney many, many moons ago.
Semillon has been at home in the Hunter valley for as long as Australia has produced wine. Picked early it was Hunter Valley Riesling, a little riper it became Hunter Valley Chablis and the full monty was unleashed as Hunter Valley White Burgundy. Labelling has changed a bit but the variety of styles remains.
Brokenwood now make two Semillons. Their ILR Semillon is an admirable tribute to the classic Lindemans Hunter Valley range of yore. Their real success is with their straight Semillon which is light, fresh and just perfect dry white for relatively early drinking. It will blossom if you manage to loose a case in the depths of your cellar for a few years too.

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Grapes: Sauvignon Blanc
Each: £9.95
INTRODUCTORY OFFER - A dozen for £107 (£8.92 each)

Speaking as the inhabitants of the Monkey Shed we could hardly do anything but like a wine called Tinpot Hut. Indeed just as our name links our past and present (we live in Chico’s old digs) so too does Tinpot Hut link the sheep (well it had to be really) rearing history of Marlborough to its present guise as a winemaking mecca. Lyrical enough?
The Hut is a solo venture of Fiona Turner erstwhile co-conspirator, in many a caper, of the ubiquitous Matt Thomson. The grapes come from her own property in Blind River and other specially selected sites, from contacts carefully ferreted away over the years for just such a solo venture.
The wine has lovely depth and intensity and a Sauvignon pungency that is leavened by a lovely minerality on both the nose and palate.

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