’07 Qupe “Santa Ynez Valley” Marsanne
Whenever I need to get into Central London, and I have time, I prefer to take the bus. I don’t know why, the train is usually faster (unless someone has jumped on the tracks,which happens more often then you’d think) and anyway, I just love watching the streets of London pass by.
My bus, the 176, goes straight thru Dulwich and along Lordship Lane where there is a wineshop, Green and Blue Wines. Everytime I pass by I swear I’m going to get off and check it out but I was never really motivated to do so until I found out they specialized in natural and organic wines. Well, anyone who’s been reading me for a bit knows I’m a big fan of those wines so I jumped off the bus the other night to check it out.
They had a nice selection and I was tempted by many until I spotted the ’07 Qupe “Santa Ynez Valley” Marsanne/roussane – on sale! Down from £20 to £12. I snapped it up and jumped on the next bus home. Qupe specialize in making wines using Rhone varietals and the grapes are sourced from carefully selected growers. The grapes are all organic and/or biodynamically grown. The grapes used for this wine were no exception coming from vineyards around Los Olivos, CA.
The wine was a bit too cold when I opened it but after giving it 15 mins to warm up it proved to be a delight. Bright straw yellow, at first it didn’t have a very intense nose but after a bit of time, I started to get apricots and white stone fruits with a certain, slight waxiness to it. When I sipped and swished, I got ripe apricots and peaches on a round medium bodied wine. There was a pleasing minerality on the palate along with hints of bitter almonds and it finished with a citrus peel finish, kind of pith-y.
I had it with salmon en croute, a lovely match, the wines fruity qualities shining on my palate, loads of peachy, stone fruits and enough acidity to keep up with the pastry and the salmon….nice. It was even better when we finished off the bottle the next evening. I opened a Qupe red at Christmas which I enjoyed and now this lovely white – definitely a winery to keep an eye out for when in the shops.
Sounds delicious, Sleuth! Have you tried Qupe Syrahs? Love them.
I did have a syrah at Xmas but it was a bit t young, I shouldn’t have been so impatient! Having said that, I still think they make great wines!