WINE: Sangiovese and Tempranillo are the grape varieties covered in part two of Mary Dowey's autumn wine course.
Are your tulip-shaped tasting glasses at the ready, waiting to be topped up? Welcome to the second instalment of our four-part intermediate wine course, which explores grape varieties less well-known, but no less important than those picked apart in last autumn's series of drink-it-yourself tutorials. It also includes the sort of inside-track information that will help to turn you into a confident, clued-up wine buff in four weeks flat.
Like Viognier and Marsanne, the two white grapes featured last weekend, Tempranillo and Sangiovese are on a bit of a fashion roll at the moment - but in this case, the rising popularity of the Rhône can't be held responsible. Tempranillo is Spain's aristocratic red counterpart to Cabernet Sauvignon. Sangiovese is Italy's most widely planted red grape, capable of reaching giddy heights in top Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino. Winemakers the world over are increasingly fascinated by both, as Cabernet and Merlot fatigue takes hold.
One thing to bear in mind is that both of these grapes are often blended with others. Modern Spanish versions of Tempranillo often come rounded out with a bit of Garnacha, and/or a dash of Cabernet for depth, while the recipe for traditional Rioja combines Tempranillo with Graciano and Mazuelo as well as Garnacha.
The Sangiovese story is similar. Traditionally in Chianti, Sangiovese was blended with grapes such as Canaiolo, Trebbiano and Malvasia (the last two both white). These days, Sangiovese must account for at least 75 per cent of any wine calling itself Chianti. Up to 10 per cent Canaiolo is allowed, and up to 15 per cent other grapes. In recent times, these have tended to be Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, but right now there is a new focus on pure, or almost pure, Sangiovese.
That's a long-winded way of explaining that the wines you sample in this exercise may not be 100 per cent examples of either grape. But remember, wine labelling allows for a bit of latitude anyway. Depending on where it comes from, any wine with a single grape variety on its front label may in fact be only about 80 per cent of that grape, blended with something else. Keen tasters love to show off by identifying the mystery ingredients. Once you know the character of all the main grapes, that's not as difficult as it sounds.
ESSENTIAL KIT
Let's recap on what you need to get started:
GRAPE 3: TEMPRANILLO
CLAIM TO FAME The main grape of Rioja, Spain's best known red wine - now popping up as a fashion item in the New World.
PLUS Capable of making flavoursome, long-lasting red wines.
MINUS No very clear identity, so can be difficult to recognise.
CHEAT LIST OF SMELLS, FLAVOURS, TEXTURE Strawberries and other red berries, plums, leather, tobacco, smoke, medium-bodied, firm tannins.
WHAT FOOD DOES IT SUIT? Lamb, beef, chargrilled chicken.
TWO TO TRY
Agramont Tempranillo, Navarra, Bodegas Principe de Viana 2001. From Dunnes Stores, usually €7.69, currently on promotion - buy two bottles and save €2.50.
Marques de Riscal Rioja Reserva 2000. See Bottles of the Week.
This is a bit like comparing a Volkswagen Polo to an Audi A3. Both wines belong to the same family, have many common elements and do the job they were designed to do pretty well, so you have to decide whether you are happy with the basic model or prepared to pay a good deal more for enhanced performance. The Agramont is a simple, fairly light Tempranillo with nice juicy berry flavours and a slightly savoury, indeed almost salty finish - great value at the price. The Marques de Riscal Reserva is a much swankier creation - more concentrated, complex and lingering.
GRAPE 4: SANGIOVESE
CLAIM TO FAME It's the main grape of Chianti, Italy's best known red wine - also on a fashion roll in the New World.
PLUS Its bitter cherry tang makes it brilliantly appetising with food.
MINUS Difficult to enjoy without food, and some people find it too acidic.
CHEAT LIST OF SMELLS, FLAVOURS, TEXTURE Red cherries, black cherries, raspberries, damp earth, herbs, pepper, spice, meat, medium-bodied, high acidity.
WHAT FOOD DOES IT SUIT? Braised beef, steak, calves' liver, pasta with meat sauce.
TWO TO TRY
La Carraia Sangiovese, Umbria 2003. From O'Briens, €9.99.
Genius Loci Sangiovese, Toscana, Burchino 2000. See Bottles of the Week.
As the price of decent Chianti is climbing to crazy heights, let's look at a couple of Italian Sangioveses which represent much better value, while at the same time demonstrating two different styles. In La Carraia, leading wine consultant Riccardo Cotarella has tamed Sangiovese's high-acid, high-tannin tendencies to make a soft, smooth, modern young wine - not very complex, but easy to drink, with typical red cherry bite. Genius Loci, from Tuscany, but not the Chianti zone, is a much more serious mouthful - spicier, richer, with more tannic grip. The first is fine by itself,the second in urgent need of food, preferably roast meat.
THIS WEEK'S INSIDER INFO - A FRENCH TURNAROUND
When screwcaps first began to appear on high-quality wines a few years ago - prompted by mounting frustration over cork taint - it was said that they would never catch on. Why? First, because they don't look nice. Next, because restaurants would hate them. (Without the mystique of the cork-pulling ritual, wouldn't wine waiters look pathetic?). And finally, because the French wouldn't use them in a pink fit. The screwcap initiative was driven by a handful producers in Australia and New Zealand. Europe would show them they were out on a limb.
Well, look what's happened. The advance of screwcaps has been much more rapid than predicted - even in restaurants (notably in the UK, considered doggedly traditional). And the French - as fed up as everybody else that at least five per cent of their wines are corked - are buckling. Well-known Chablis producer Michel Laroche last year used a metal seal for some of his grand cru wines, having previously bottled his entry-level Chablis under screwcap. Leading Bordeaux producer André Lurton has followed the same route with Château Couhins-Lurton, Château La Louvière (both in Graves) and Château Bonnet (Entre-Deux Mers). And Pavillon Rouge, the second wine of Château Margaux, is even runnning a screwcap trial. Zut alors!
With flagship wines such as these to emulate, many other French producers may soon abandon cork. Pechiney, the French screwcap manufacturer based near Saint-Emilion, expects production to increase from 15 million closures last year to 30 million in 2004 and 60 million in 2006. But reports are filtering through that some screwcapped wines show a reductive (smelly) character, while others, knocked about in transport so that their seal is broken, are oxidised. The poor old screwcap still doesn't look beautiful, either. That's why I'm putting my money on the new glass stopper, the Vino-Lok.