Translation missing: en.Chiara Boschis + Wendouree + Glenfarclas + Spanish Wine Tasting Saturday 24th 3pm-6pm: Chiara Boschis + Wendouree + Glenfarclas + Spanish Wine Tasting Saturday 24th 3pm-6pm
Chiara Boschis
The Pira family are a legendary family in Barolo with winemaking history dating back to the 18th century. Gigi Pira was a Barolo traditionalist and produced wines from the best grapes of his own vineyards: Cannubi, San Lorenzo and Via Nuova. Chiara's parents bought this estate in the 80s as they were close with Gigi Pira and intended to carry on the Barolo legacy. Consequently, Chiara became one of the first female winemakers in Barolo towards the end of the 80s. Following her family's sale of the historic Giacomo Borgogno estate, Chiara and her brother Giorgio became owners of this estate which has been certified organic since 2014.
Chiara's philosophy is to craft wines that marry the extraordinary power of Barolo with approachability, promoting great aromatics, lush textures and elegance. The Boschis family own vineyards in some of the best communes of Barolo with a total of 11 hectares: 2 in the Barolo commune proper, 8 in Monforte d'Alba and 1 in Serralunga d'Alba, with choice selected vineyards in those communes. For Cannubi and Mosconi the choice was to vinify the grapes coming from the individual vineyards separately, in order to underline and enhance their specific organoleptic characteristics. As a tribute to tradition, the Barolo "Via Nuova" is obtained from the assembly of grapes from 6 vineyards: 2 from the Municipality of Barolo, 2 from the Municipality of Monforte and 2 from the Municipality of Serralunga.
We've recently received our allocation of Chiara's Barolo from the 2020 vintage (some newer vintages for the non-Barolo offerings) and we have some from past vintages remaining too. To start with Chiara's more recent offerings we have the '23 'Dolcetto d'Alba', '22 'Barbera d'Alba' and the '22 'Langhe Nebbiolo' which represent a good introduction to her house style. We have the 'Via Nuova' Barolo in both the 2020 and the legendary '19 vintage. The 'Mosconi' we have in the '18, '19 and '20 vintages and the 'Cannubi' we have in both '19 and '20. This is a fantastic opportunity to stock up on some fantastic Barolo, maybe even build a vertical collection with those past vintages. Chiara only produces 40,000 bottles a year so don't miss these!Wendouree
The term 'cult wine' gets thrown around quite a lot these days (admittedly, by me trying to sell you wine), although if there ever was a true example of a cult classic, it's Wendouree. Wendouree are based in Clare Valley with no cellar door, no fax, nor website. To even receive these wines you need to send them a handwritten letter asking to be on their mailing list which takes years, sometimes over a decade to be approved, and then when you eventually receive the wines they're usually tiny allocations. Luckily, we're on the list and we get bigger allocations.
Even trying to find information online so that I can write about them is difficult, but I'll try my best to tell you everything I know. Firstly, some context on the region and how this influences the wines. Clare Valley, sitting at a higher altitude looking over the majority of the other South Australian regions is much cooler with a large diurnal range to preserve acidity. These reds are far from the overripe American oak bombs that can come from these other regions (not naming names). They tend to sit at the upper end of medium-bodied and are often described as an iron fist in a velvet glove. They display a beautiful elegance and perfume without being wimpy and can age for decades. Almost all of their wines are classified in the Langton's Classification of Australian wine.
As I've said above, these wines are highly sought after and we've already sold out of the Shiraz barely a day after they had been on our site. Wendouree also release practically no information about their wines so I can't even describe these for you without ripping notes from Halliday or Erin Larkin so I will just list them and hope that the grapes speak for themselves. Firstly, we have the 2019 'Muscat of Alexandria' - the only non-red in this offering. All of these reds are from the 2022 vintage: 'Shiraz/Malbec', 'Shiraz/Mataro', 'Malbec', 'Cabernet Sauvignon' and the 'Cabernet/Malbec'. These are easily the most elusive wines in the country so do not hesitate to snap these up.Glenfarclas
It's been a long time since we've showcased something in these emails that isn't wine, but we've got very good reason to now. Glenfarclas have been a family-run operation since 1865 when John Grant purchased the distillery and Recherlich Farm. Five generations on, the Grants remain committed to the original vision of creating the highest quality Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky in the traditional Speyside way.
Glenfarclas means ‘valley of the green grass’, an indication of the richness of the pasture land which surrounds the distillery and influences the grains grown. Glenfarclas are one of the only distillers that still use the old school method of heating their stills with direct fire, rather than steam or electricity. This is not due to some stubborn close-mindedness to new techniques as they actually did switch to steam for some point and then changed back to direct fire. Rather, they claim that the direct fire adds weight and complexity to the new-make whisky. Even Japanese giants - Suntory with their Yamazaki and Hakushu labels are doing the same thing. John Grant also personally travels to a particular family-run Bodega in Spain to select the best European casks previously used for maturing Oloroso Sherry. Glenfarclas also claims to have pioneered the cask-strength bottling, when it launched its 105˚ in 1968, and was one of the first distilleries to open its doors to visitors in 1973.
We've been lucky enough to get our hands on the famous Family Cask Range - a perpetual range of vintage single malt bottlings with 8 decades of releases under its belt. This represents the pinnacle of the Glenfarclas range and are sought by collectors all over the world. Firstly, we have some of the more classic releases: the '15YO Single Malt' and the '105 16YO Single Malt' which are also classics and should be staples on any whisky fan's shelf. From the Family Cask Range we have: 1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. It is worth noting that anyone born from 2004 onwards would have 21st birthdays coming up over the next couple of years, but that's none of my business. We only have 1 each of these so don't hesitate to snap these up!Spanish Wine Tasting Saturday 24th August 3pm-6pm
Join us this Saturday for a tasting of a mix of fantastic Spanish wines. Spain is a country rich with diverse wine styles and terroirs and always offer great value for money compared to the other big European wine countries. These are the wines that we'll be pouring for you on the day.
Delcado Zuleta La Goya Manzanilla NV
Abeica Rioja Rosado
Bodegas Eidosela Charquino Albarino
Telmo Rodriguez Almuvedre Monastrell
Telmo Rodriguez Gaba do Xil Mencia
Vallado 10YO Tawny Port
For better or for worse, Portuguese wine often gets bundled into the conversation with Spanish wine so we even have a Tawny Port on tasting too. This is an excellent chance to try some diverse grapes and regions that are too often overlooked. Sherry, Niles?