The 7th April was a beautiful warm sunny day in London – most city dwellers will have been cooped up in hot offices with only the dream of fresh, cooling drinks, parks and swimming pools, but we were fortunate enough to be in a refreshing Spring/Summer wine tasting – enjoying the cooling whites and mouth-watering reds! What a perfect day it was! Hosted at La Galleria, Pall Mall, a fantastic art gallery slap bang in the centre of London, armit presented an eclectic range of 83 wines to members of the trade and press who were busy preparing their summer wine lists or prepping for future articles. 
Guests enjoyed a flavorful trip departing from England, stopping by several regions in France; Champagne, the Loire Valley, Burgundy, Côtes du Rhône and Bordeaux. They then headed South to Portugal, Spain through to Italy, stopping at Friuli, Liguria, Piedmont, and Tuscany and finally down into Sardinia. A quick visit to Austria before flying overseas to the new world: New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Argentina and Chile where armit proudly presented their new Chilean agency – Matetic Wineries! 
The tasting was separated into 6 zones, each consisting of fantastic wines: Spring-Summer days, Spring-Summer Evenings, Spring Summer Nights, Dessert Wines, Organic/Biodynamic wines and to finish The Wine of Italy. See the full list of wines here.
Here are some tasting notes in order to tickle your taste buds:
A fine bead and a pale colour here. The nose is beautifully fresh, starting off with lemon and almond, but then warmer notes of brioche, toffee and honey-roast nuts, but none of these elements are over-facing or lacking in elegance. The palate is fresh and floral and elegant, with fine and fresh acidity, lovely vinous texture and defined mousse. Beautiful, citrus-laced character.
Has a sweet and spicy cent, this had a coppery aroma to it and also a strange, but likeable, savoury scent that I couldn't quite put my finger on . Full bodied, mineral and well structured so it could cope with the copious fruit. Nice!
Gold Medal at Geelong Wine Show 2009, strong barrel ferment inputs, brightly flavoured and complex showing nectarine, melon and white peach with biscuit aspects on the palate, infused with lots of lemony acids and fairly overt spicy French oak.
The nose is perfumed and floral with aromas of white flowers, apricot and spice. The palate is textural and mouth-coating with flavours of peaches, oatmeal and a touch of lime marmalade. The generous palate and fine acidity provide length to the spicy dry finish.
A soft, watermelon pink colour with orange tints. A gamut of rose petals, lime zest, wild strawberry and freshly picked raspberries assault the olfactory senses. These red berry aromas follow through on the palate supplemented with nutmeg spice and ground pepper which is balanced by a refreshing acidity, softly textured mouth feel that leave a lingering farewell.
Bright red black right to the rim, with a lovely rich nose of black cherry and red fruits with grilled, new wood notes behind. Rich black and red fruits on the palate, creamy, plump with firm structural tannins behind, with a long, succulent finish. Lovely.
Hazelnut nose with ripe fruits notes and aromas of coconut. A structured and balanced mouth with silky tannins. All of that with a pleasant after taste.
This has spicy, wild berry aromas with firm, yet rounded tannins, balanced by dark cherry and sweet, red fruit flavours with mineral flavours on the finish. A very accomplished wine which gives immediate pleasure but it has enough depth to enable 3 to 5 years of ageing.
Sassicaia Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Tenuta San Guido :
Explodes onto the palate with masses of rich, opulent fruit that caress the palate with gorgeous length and a seamless beauty that is hard to fully capture. Dark wild cherries, plums, spices, minerals and herbs develop in the glass. This is an especially bold, perhaps slightly uncharacteristic Sassicaia in its extroverted personality, but it is beautiful all the same.
Ornellaia 2008, Tenuta dell’Ornellaia :
Dark ruby/purple core with brilliant intensity. A gorgeous bouquet of tilled earth, flowers and blackberry, along with fresh pavement and dark chocolate fills the nose. On the palate, a powerful entry of blackberry and cassis offers texture that is rather supple, expanding nicely to a crescendo of plus concentration of black fruit in the mid-palate. The medium-to-high acidity provides balance for the well-rounded tannins, and a kiss of sweet oak spice supports the robust fruit. A lovely wine that hits it on all cylinders with the power and precision to cellar another 10 to 12 years easily.
Brunello Di Montalcino,Sugarille 2006, Gaja, Pieve Di San Restituta :
Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille is the more potent of the Brunellos. It displays a darker color along with notes of tar, smoke, spices, toasted oak and dark fruit on a full-bodied frame with terrific expansiveness and length on the palate. A lingering note of licorice frames the finish of this beautiful, deeply expressive Brunelllo.
Green gold straw colour of this wine gives an almost seductive start to the whole tactile approach that is involved in tasting something this exquisite. Full ripe botrytised grapes dripping with sweet nectar were harvested and fermented in new French oak barrels. The rich perfume of the Sauvignon blanc enhanced by the new oak is toned down to perfection by the dried fruit and apricot flavours formed by the noble rot.
All these magnificent wines were enjoyed all day long and paired at lunch with some chorizo, saucisson, potato salad and French cheese, like camembert, Morbier and some delicious Bosworth goats cheese served by Cheese at Leadenhall. For those with a sweet tooth, try the Torcetti biscuit from Crosta & Mollica. The icing on the cake was of course the presence of three shining stars: Olly Smith, Ainsley Harriott and Tony Tobin.
Pairings of the day:
- EQ Coastal Sauvignon with Bosworth Goats cheese.
- Sassicaia 2008 with the Morbier.
Thanks to all the people who came and enjoyed sipping all of these nice wines with us – hopefully you’ll carry on sipping for months to come!
Charles LACHAUX
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