Sampling the future – The Sampler, Islington.

There are phases of wine-geekery. In my early days I was interested in wine, fascinated by the diversity of the worldwide offer and intrigued by hints of the possibility of sublime wine experiences. What I lacked in knowledge, ability and experience I made-up with enthusiasm. When buying to lay-down I often bought wine on recommendation of merchants or on the back of a review. As I gathered a little more experience the consequences of this strategy became clear in the form of bottles of wine in my cellar that I simply didn’t like. Aussie Shiraz that tastes of Pepsi? No thanks! Over-alcoholic over-oaked modern-style Rhônes? Off to auction with ‘em! After this I concentrated on buying producers that I knew and liked, but there are limitations to this strategy too – even the best winemaker can have an off year.

So to my new resolve: only cellar wines that I’ve tasted. Fundamentally, it’s my palate that I’m buying for and so my palate is the only one that really matters. If I don’t like a wine then no amount of reviewers’ points, gushing prose or deep discounting can make me like it.

This is where The Sampler comes-in. The Sampler is a wine shop. A good wine shop. It has a good range of wines from across the board including plenty of high-end and older wines too. This is all good, but not enough to set it apart in a crowded marketplace.

As its name suggests, The Sampler has a unique selling point – around 80 wines open for tasting at any time. Of course an open bottle doesn’t want to be hanging around too long and the economics of opening 80 fresh bottles each day are unthinkable, so boss Jamie Hutchinson has installed ten Enomatic sampling machines from Italy.

Each Enomatic unit holds eight bottles under a nitrogen cap. While each is held in the machine ingress of oxygen is prevented and the open bottle is held in suspended animation. Jamie suggests that bottles keep well for 2 or 3 weeks.

Each wine is individually priced for the dispensing of a 25ml tasting sample, the price being set as a factor of the cost of the bottle and the fixed costs of the dispensing units. They aren’t priced as a profit centre of the shop. The process is painless –  you get a credit-card style piece of plastic and buy some credit on it, put it in a machine and press the button – hey presto!

The shop’s arranged so that the ten Enomatic units are all loosely themed. There’s always one machine dispensing eight different budget or everyday wines, and at the other extreme there’s another unit offering samples of “icon” wines. On the day of my visit these included Petrus 1983, an £850 bottle on sample for £38.25 a slurp. There’s a lot in-between though and the machines have a clear effect on sales – I tried an Oregon Pinot that had all been sold since being put on tasting, a common phenomenon according to Jamie.

The wines showed very well from the machines, everything seeming pretty much as it should. Below are notes on the ten wines I tried for my fifteen quid. As you can see I didn’t like them all, but that’s really my point – for an outlay of 49p I now know I don’t have to waste £10 on a bottle of Bonny Doon Riesling. Will I be buying 2004 Pio Cesare Barbaresco for my cellar – for sure.

There are licensing problems to be overcome for the use of these machines to become more widespread, but they could revolutionise wine sales. At all levels of the market, from dodgy knock-offs to top wines from legendary estates, if we are all able to routinely taste before we buy then the quality has to be built-in.

The following ten wines were all tasted at The Sampler in January 2009, in the order shown:

Whites

Seppi Landmann (Alsace), Riesling, Hospices Strasbourg 2001, Bottle: £20.49 (sample 92p)

Bad start! For me the nose here was a bit stinky and drainy and the palate had a distinct and instantly dislikeable caramel note. Not good. Avoid.

Bonny Doon (California), Pacific Rim Dry Riesling, 2005. £9.99 (49p)

I thought the nose here a bit dumb. Palate equally disappointing, being quite fat and round and short on acidity with a quite confected character. Also not good. Beginning to doubt the Enomatic units….

COS (Sicily), Rami, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, 2006 £12.49 (56p)

Ahh, much more interest! While it took a while to open-up the nose eventually gave gentle peach-stone and apricot notes. But the palate is where the real interest is: it has explosive power – oily texture, rich and mineral, dried herb notes and a touch of fragrant angelica. Heaps of acidity. Lovely.

Cuilleron (Rhône), St Joseph Blanc, Lyseras, 2006 £16.99 (76p)

Oooh, best nose so far. Perfumed peach-stones with grilled nuts and a touch of interesting herbaceousness. Palate is oily and rich with grilled hazelnuts and a distinct ginger note. Good structure and plenty of acidity. Excellent, well-made and no rush to drink.

Marques de Murrieta (Rioja), Capellania Blanco, 2003 £12.99 (58p)

Amazingly for the heatwave vintage this has a nice typical and quite traditional nose with a touch of oxidation and no obvious excess of alcohol. Palate is rich and full and there’s just enough acidity to keep it in balance. This won’t see old bones but is lovely drinking now.

 

Reds

Sokol Blosser (Oregon), Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2006 Bottle £20.99 (sample 94p)

Nice pale colour. Nose is a bit good! Gloriously appealing blend of strawberry, loganberry and raspberry ripe fruits along with a smoky note and a solid backbone of rich plum fruit. Although the palate is initially magnificent with a big fruit-cake and stewed tea hit, it gets a bit wearing by the end of 25ml (!) – it flatters to deceive and is a bit pinot-on-steroids for me – the fruit-cake flavours dominate. It really isn’t a bad wine, just not my style.

Ridge (California), Montebello 2004 £84.99 (£3.25)

From the “icons” cabinet, this is really lovely and shows the great qualities both of the Montebello terroir and the winemaking at Ridge. Lovely lilting elegant nose with just a hint of a lifted volatile touch. In the mouth this has an elegance and poise that scream of great class. There’s soft mulberry fruit, serious structure and texture and enormous length. Glorious wine.

Pio Cesare (Piemonte), Barbera d’Alba 2005 £11.99 (54p)

Good, well-made well-balanced fruit-driven stuff. Not over-the-top at all, unlike too many Barberas, just good, honest fruity slurping. Very Good.

Pio Cesare (Piemonte), Barbaresco 2004 £34.99 (£1.57)

Nice translucent colour. The nose is simply gorgeous – roses and pepper, absolutely typical. Very expressive, very aromatic. Palate has fabulous power – there’s a huge hit of fruit and also acidity – quite the most explosive mouthful of wine I’ve had in a long time. Plenty of finely-wrought tannins. Intense, long and very lovely. Buy some of this! 2004 was a great year in Piemonte. That producers such as Pio Cesare, who with the best will in the world have been a bit hit-and-miss in recent years, are making wines this good at the normale level speaks volumes for the great conditions. Hard to resist now but will keep for 10-15 years.

Guigal, Côte Rôtie, Brune et Blonde 1978 £120 (£5.40)

I was keen to see how something with some serious age would show from the Enomatic, and Guigal’s entry-level Côte Rôtie could be expected to be a fragile wine at thirty years of age. Colour very much as expected – red/brown. Nose was very lovely in an evolved and aged way – minty, herbal, meaty and gravy notes all present and correct. Hasn’t fallen apart. Maybe less fresh in the mouth and beginning to dry-out a little, but very much within normal limits for a wine of this type at this time of life. Very lovely.

Andy Leslie, January 2009