Playing With The Reserves

Reserve’, it’s a curious word. Used in a sporting context it speaks of being not quite good enough to make the grade – “Russian striker Dmitri Turgenev will play for the reserves at Rochdale while his colleagues take on Milan in the San Siro.” Transfer the word to wine jargon, however, and the reverse is the case: ‘reserve’ together with its continental cousins ‘réserve’, ‘reserva’ and ‘riserva’, implies a wine that’s superior in some way to the standard product and therefore able to command a higher price.
So how is this superiority achieved? By more rigorous grape selection? By longer ageing in expensive oak? Perhaps. The qualification varies from country to country. In Portugal a Reserva wine is one from a good vintage with an alcohol level of at least half a per cent above the regional minimum. In Spain, a red wine labelled Reserva will have had at least three years ageing in cask and bottle of which at least a year will have been in cask. Similar restrictions apply in various Italian regions, although the Riserva bottlings of such classics as Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Chianti Classico are simply required to have been aged longer, not necessarily in wood. Because producers are not required to declare a Riserva in advance of commercial release, liberties have been taken – it’s not unknown for an unsold bottling to be reclassified as Riserva in an attempt to jack up the price. This has led to calls, so far, unheeded, for the category to be abolished.
It is in the English speaking world where most liberties have been taken: Wine Maker’s Reserve, Estate Reserve, Private Reserve, Reserve Selection, the permutations are endless and the significance, minimal. Which is not to say that wines labelled thus are not decent drinking. A reputable maker, whether in Napa, New South Wales or New Zealand, would hardly compromise his reputation by labelling a bog basic wine as ‘Reserve’.
The French term is ‘Réserve’ and up to now there has not been much restriction on its use. Typically, in the South at any rate, a Réserve wine will have been made from specially selected grapes from the best plots in the vineyard. Laudable enough, but earlier this year I attended a tasting in Dublin of Southern Rhône wines. Tucked away in a corner was a lady with but one wine on display. “It is my wine. It is what I do,” she said. I tasted and thought the wine, a Châteauneuf, pretty sensational, one of the best two or three on display. Another taster enquired “Do you make a réserve, a special cuvée?” In the manner of a patient parent fielding the same question for the umpteenth time from a persistent child she told him “Why should I make a réserve? To do so would be to tear the heart out of my wine.”
I recently had the opportunity to sample Madame Chouvet’s wine again at a tasting organised by John McGrath and Carl Byrne’s Nectar. I’m delighted to say my previous impressions were confirmed. A blend of perfumed Grenache backed up by some steely Syrah, the 2000 vintage Domaine de Fontavin was sound, rounded and complex and at e21.95 way short of the price commanded by more famous names. The white Châteauneuf was appealing too, a powerful nose led to a great concentration of fruit on the palate, complex flavours of nuts and chocolate hanging around long after you’d put the glass down. A blend of white Grenache and Roussane, keeping qualities must be in question but if you want a ‘now’ wine for a special dinner party this is as good as it gets. Sticking with Rhône, I was delighted to re-encounter Hélène Thibon’s Mas de Libian. Hélène is a very talented young winemaker and her not-so-’ordinary’ Côtes du Rhône 2001 gets my vote for the best red currently available in Ireland for under e11. Is not e24 an awful lot of money to pay for a Côtes du Rhône Villages? Not when it’s the same lady’s 2000 La Calade, a huge, serious wine that, at 15% ABV, gives the lie to the currently modish theory that high alcohol wines are per se crude and fatiguing.
I also wrote notes of approval for a fine Macon Villages from Domaine Chêne, for Barking Owl’s clean Sauvignon/Semillon and for an expressive and weighty Barbera d’Asti Superiore Berengarium 1999 which, at e14.95 is just the job to re-energise palates jaded by too much Merlot, Cabernet and Shiraz. Nectar Wines, Chapelizod Tel: (01) 623 3846 – applause for their short but skilfully compiled list.