James Bercovici - The Big Red Wine Company

Ciaran left Domaine des Anges last October after 13 years but not before he had vinified the 2011 vintage. Most of the wines are not ready for proper assessment yet (I did taste the white and rose back at Easter) but yesterday popped up to see his old boss, Gay McGuinness, and the new estate manager, Florent Chave, formerly of Domaine Brusset, to have a chat and taste any new wines. The one most interesting to me was the 2011 Viognier "Cherubin". I have had an on-off relationship with this variety over the years, sometimes finding it exotic and frustrating at others. I used to abhor the oaked versions then find un-oaked wines too acidic. When Ciaran told me he was making Viognier starting with the 2010 vintage, I wondered how I would find the wine. That first vintage was aged 50% in third year barrels and 50% in stainless steel but I never got to taste it from the bottle as it sold out quickly (there wasn't a lot of it) so the 2011 is the first bottled Viognier from DD...

In stock at last, the new Chateauneuf lookalike from Ciaran Rooney. 95% old-vine, tank-aged Grenache (the label says 100% but who's counting?) with 5% Syrah from the cask. It's a wine that needs some bottle age to shine: just now the slightly shy nose has youthful qualities such as candy sweets which really need to take on some secondary characters. On the pallet, there is more to interest just now: a well-structure wine with lovely tannins and sweet, red berry, quite spicy fruit. The finish is good:  more of the same really but, as with the nose, I think there is more to come with a bit more age. This is really good news because, frankly, the wine is rather nice right now. How will it evolve? Difficult to tell with any debut vintage since there is nothing direct to compare with it, only similar wines made by rival winemakers using slightly different techniques. My guess is that, whilst it is enjoyable now, it really needs an extra year or two to flesh out, develop that nose,...

Having just hit 40 a couple of weeks ago (no, I didn't feel old until 21st when our youngest turned one and seeing the two sets of cards on top of the piano did bring home just how much older than him I am), we decided to have a blow out last night and around 100 friends and neighbours came over for a hog roast. The only difference between this and every other hog roast I have ever attended is that this was a complete DIY job. A friend (another James) built the spit on the lines of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's model (in his excellent "Meat" book) and despite our mutual nerves that it may not work, the Tamworth, bought from a friend of my brother-in-law, roasted to perfection. The extra flavour and texture of this breed was further enhanced by an internal marinade of chilli, garlic and fennel seeds overnight before the fire was lit around 7.30am for the hog to start roasting at 9am. Turned regularly throughout the day by myself and old college friend Saki, by 7pm it w...