The New Fine Wines

What are the new fine wines? Is there such a thing? Jamie, Doud and Emily talk about how taste has evolved from the traditional certainties and hierarchies into a greater appreciation of wines from less fashionable regions, grapes, and growers. Jamie cites Hugh Johnson’s aphorism that a fine wine is a wine that makes you want to write about it. The gang speculate about the qualities that make for a fine wine and conclude that the former prerequisites of impressive structure and ageworthiness are perhaps less important than the sense of purity and the capacity to lyrically communicate terroir. Made with attentive farming and skilful winemaking, fine wines can be made anywhere, at any time. The trio taste (and drink) a fabulous bottle of Comando G’s El Tamboril Tinto 2021 from the mountain region of Gredos west of Madrid. Although the vines are old, the appellation is very new yet is now recognised as a region capable of producing world-class (fine) wines from Garnacha. The other wine assayed is an intensely expressive Boekenhoutskloof Syrah 2023 from South Africa, liquid proof that skilful growers and vignerons can make spectacular wines in formerly unheralded (for fine wine) regions.