Greek and French wines you must try out

This month’s wine adventures come from two different old world countries: the first of them being the unlikely country of Greece while the second one is France. While my good friend Malay Kumar has recently become the Asia Pacific Brand Ambassador from the Aaos Vaeni Corporation in Macedonia, it was the Tastin’ France team that exposed me to the flavours of Burgundy and Bordeaux.

A small gang of us sat down at Kofuku at Ansal Plaza for a tasting of the Greek wines with some scrumptious Japanese food to accompany us. The wines we tasted included the Makedonikos White and Red, the former which is a white wine made from Red grapes. The Naoussa Xinomavro ’16 has a persistent taste of red fruits and spices along with moderate tannins that blend quite well on the palate. 

But it was the Grand Reserve 2013 that really impressed us quite a bit. Although the Xinamovro is a lesser-known grape, its complexity is pretty near to the Nebbiolo grape of Italy. The Grand Reserve is an off dry wine which has a beautiful bouquet of juicy red fruits on the nose which opens up into a complex layering of flavours that include the gamut of fruits that I mentioned earlier along with quite dominant hints of American Oak.

French winemaking is one of the oldest wine making industries in the world. But understanding French wine isn’t that easy. It takes repeated practices to understand the beauty and complexity of these wines. So when the French Embassy in New Delhi organised a trade tasting of some of their wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy, we headed there ASAP.

We first try out some of the Bordeaux. Now the wines are beautiful blends of Red grape, one of the best ones of the lot being the Chateau Montveil Pomerol ‘12. An elegant red wine with a dominance of Cab Sauv and Merlot, it’s the rich Berry flavours combined with the complex yet mature tannins that impresses me quite a bit. The ‘16 from the Chateau La Rose Montveil is explosive with flavours of raspberry and black currant that dominate it. The Chateau La Graviere Lalande de Pomerol 2014, on the other hand, has good earthy notes but the tannins seem a bit harsh on the palate.

Another Bordeaux that made quite an impact on me is the Le Cloitre du Chateau Prieure- Lichine Margaux 2015 has a complex notes of blueberries and earthy leather notes with a mature set of tannins that makes for quite an interesting French Red Wine. Let’s get onto some of the Burgundys now.

What you need to understand about Burgundian wines is that the Red is always made from Pinot Noir and the White from Chardonnay. The two Pinot Noir that I tried out from Prosper Maufaux reaffirmed my live for the grape. These two wines have quite a lovely fruity bouquet with an off dry flavour which evolves into multiple fruit flavours complemented by hints of French Oak and finally finishing with the soft mature tannins that charachterizes Pinot. I’ll talk about the chalky Chardonnay of France sometime later. For now, enjoy a selection of Reds from Bordeaux, Burgundy and Naoussa. Do let us know which one you would like to try out soon.