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22 / the tasting panel / january–february 2010 Decanter Fine Wine Encounter In mid-November each year, sometimes over the same weekend as the Hospices de Beaune, Decanter holds a two day event at the prestigious Landmark Hotel with up to 100 châteaux, domaines, tenu- tas, fattorias, quintas or even just plain wineries or vignerons who come and present their wines to Decanter readers and their friends. The rules are simple: Each producer has a one-by-two-metre white-clothed table, and either the owner or the win- emaker (often both) have to be there. This is not a selling, but a tasting and a contact exercise. During the day there are book- signings, the usual suspects like Michael Broadbent and Jancis Robinson dedicat- ing their latest works, and also Master Classes, most sold out in advance. Here was the list for last November: the Crus Classés of Margaux, Michel Chapoutier, Angela Gaja, Edouard Moueix, Hubert de Bouard and Frédéric Rouzaud all in person presenting their wares. It all felt as if there was no economic recession at all. I stuck to the tables, and after saying hello to familiar faces, struck out into the unknown (or not that well known). First off was Amayna from Chile's Leyda Valley, whose Sauvignon and Chardonnays are the most elegant in the country, alongside a knock-out Pinot Noir and a promising Syrah. Another Chilean (Spanish actually, Argentinian by adoption) is Jose-Manuel Ortega Fournier, whose 2008 Centauri Red Blend, with 30% 80-year-old Carig- nan vines to toughen up the Merlot and Cabernets from the Maule Valley, presents a different profile of Chilian red, dense yet still fresh. With a stronger Spanish accent there were the wines from Abadia Re- tuerta from Sardón del Duero, the homeg- round of vineyards centuries ago yet now excluded from the Ribera appellation: All were seductively spicy and polished, but the single-vineyard 2006 Pago Negrolada, 100% Tempranillo, was my best wine of the show. Still from Spain, as far to the south as one can go, were the fantastic Malaga wines from Victoria Ordoñez, a stunningly aromatic yet totally dry 2008 Botani from early-picked Moscatel grapes from slopes so steep they can only be worked by humans and donkeys, and a beautiful 2007 Special Selection from the same grapes left to dry for weeks outside on straw mats. The Italians, as elegant as ever, were grouped in the Grand Ballroom. Splen- didly elegant 2006 Il Blu (50% Sangiovese, 45% Merlot, 5% Cabernet) and very pure 2006 Chianti Classico from Brancaia; more robust wines from Fattoria Nittardi (the home of Michelangelo), both from their vineyards in Castellina in Chianti and from the Maremma; totally classic, bespoke wines from Givoanni Manetti's Fontodi estate in Panzano, quite different from the still Tuscan but Bordeaux blend from Tenuta degli Dei, owned by fashion star Roberto Cavalli. All four have one man in common: the brilliant viticultural- ist/oenologist Carlo Ferrini. After those youthful Tuscans, it was time for something sweet, and what better than Château de la Roulerie's 2008 Coteaux du Layon, pure honey and flowers, then on the next table the marvellously pure Sauternes from first growth Clos Haut- Peyraguey. There was much, much more to taste, from classics like Rauzan-Ségla, Louis Jadot, Douro wines and ports from Graham's and the brilliant Alves de Sousa, and always, as an aperitif before going off to lunch at Rowley Leigh's (ex–Kensington Place) upliftingly franglais restaurant Le Café Anglais (which used to be a McDon- ald's), a glass of Bisol Crede, the most elegant of Proseccos. Any wine lover who is in London the third weekend of Novem- ber should be at the Landmark Hotel. PHOTO: DECANTER Steven Spurrier's Letter from London