The current downturn has offered a few more opportunities to trying great wine at good prices.
Most of us want to enjoy these wines in salubrious surroundings, somewhere where we invite our friends or customers — and somewhere where we know we will be looked after correctly, by keen staff who know their wines.
The Agency at Madinat Jumeirah has always vied for prominent position with its sister wine bar, The Agency at Jumeirah Emirates Towers.
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Years ago, when wine bars were a novelty in Dubai, a commercial real estate person explained to me how such bars would work: it was all down to being able to attract business people after a hard day at the office.
Clearly my friend had spent way too long in London, but at the time his theory seemed to hold up, as The Agency was a roaring success at Emirates Towers and a quiet and subdued affair at The Madinat.
However, those days have changed, and it can’t all be down to smoking bans!
The Madinat Agency has for the last couple of years been THE place to enjoy a glass of wine early on, perhaps prior to dinner or meeting friends, as well as a decent spot to finish the evening with a glass of something special.
In recent years, the region has seen an influx of top sommeliers into five-star hotels, a trend which has seen a rise in the implementation of serious wine lists in the town.
On my most recent trip out as HME.com’s Wine Spy, I was in a group of four, able to look at bottles rather than just wine by the glass.
I thought it could be good to check out a couple of whites and a couple of reds on The Agency's new promotion list, featuring a range of wines discounted by around 25% from their original price.
While the prices were good, it still made sense to watch the pennies.
Scanning through the whites, two Aussie Chardonnays stood out for great value for money. First was the Wolf Blass Eaglehawk Chardonnay at only AED 150 (US $41) per bottle. The Eaglehawk range has always delivered value for money and this chardonnay doesn’t disappoint.
It is a well-made, honest drinking wine, with a mixture of sweet fruits such as peach combining well with the more austere citrus and grassy notes rarely found on Australian chardonnays at this price.
However we should have had our second wine first — the Little Yering Chardonnay from the Yarra Valley at only AED 190 (US $52) per bottle.
This wine was still made under Tom Carson before he headed off to Yabby Lake and if you close your eyes you could be drinking in Burgundy!
The wine has a crisp, tight and lean structure, with a little soft pear fruit, but with that lovely mineral backbone.
Another bottle of Little Yering called, but being true professionals we headed into red wine territory.
From Australia we moved to Spain.
I met with Miguel Torres at his winery around 10 years ago; this man, who single-handedly changed the face of Spanish wine, was a delight to talk to and spent a couple of hours explaining his theory of what makes great wine. It made for a fascinating lunch and I confess to seeking out his wines ever since.
Tonight was no exception; the first red we tried was his classic Coronas.
This wine has been here as long as anyone can remember, but it may be a simple classic which has been forgotten.
At the promotional price of AED 165 (US $45) a bottle, this is great value tempranillo, a real blockbuster of a wine at this price.
Dark red in colour, it is elegant and strong, with spicy flavours of oak balanced with blackberry, blackcurrant and red berries, to give an overall smooth and strongly tannic wine.
The evening was going well, and we were only just over AED 500 (US $136) out of pocket between the four of us.
One last wine beckoned, along with again a plate of cheese just to soak things up.
The only promotional wine to go for was one with a bit of elegance — such as the fine Atrium 2006 Merlot made by Torres, which brings back happy memories of the Right Bank.
Merlot has had its fair share of snipes, but any wine which can produce the iconic Château Petrus must have something going for it that the Americans have missed out on!
It was perfectly smooth enough to finish the evening off with, but also had enough body, full of cherries and strawberry flavours and nicely balanced with soft, ripe tannins.
Cheese included, we were in for still under AED 250 (US $68) per man — enough to allow for a little ‘Singapore Gin Sling’ in Trader Vic’s on the way home!
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