We have some good friends around for dinner regularly and during November the thoughts turn to Christmas lunch. One of my friends hates the whole idea of eating Turkey and Brussels sprouts both at home or when he visits family. One evening he casually said that he would rather eat bacon, egg and chips for Christmas lunch but his wife was having none of it. We were happy to oblige one Boxing day.
We did not exactly fulfil his wish but we came somewhere close. We cooked a smoked ham in the oven slowly and kept plenty of water in the roasting dish to ensure that the ham did not dry out. We put the ham on a griddle above the water . The ham was covered with Canadian maple syrup with a little mustard but you could just as easily have used honey and mustard.
We stuck a good number of cloves into the flesh. We added some white wine near the end of the cooking and basted the ham. To go with this we cooked sauteed potatoes (French style) and tinned tomatoes and of course free range eggs.
For aperitif we drank nv brut Champagne and orange juice but not mixed together into buck's fizz. I regard this as sacrilege; mixing Champagne with fresh orange juice ruins both drinks as far as I am concerned.
We drank Bandol Rosé to go with the ham which was simply delicious and we had Stilton cheese and dessert afterwards. This was enjoyed by everyone including our wives who thought that it was actually a good idea and our male friend could not have felt better.
I now have to try to find a way of including this on a Christmas lunch menu. And, why not do it? In parts of Germany it is the tradition to eat Schäufele or a smoked ham on Christmas eve.
http://www.majestic.co.uk/Domaines-Ott-Chateau-Romassan-Rose-zid08049
http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/glazed-smoked-ham.html?omnisource=gid_uk
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/jan/17/how-to-cook-perfect-sauteed-potatoes
Monday 16 December 2013
Friday 13 December 2013
Shock and horror! An Aldi ten quid bottle of Champagne tastes better than Veuve Clicquot
Aldi Veuve Monsigny Champagne Brut by Philizot at £9.99 has beaten a £130 bottle of Veuve Clicquot in a blind tasting according to today's "Independent". This does not surprise me one bit.
How does a silver medal winning Champagne get to be so cheap? Well, I suspect that Aldi has great buying power and the Champagne is probably being sold as a loss leader. It probably costs almost £10 to produce and retail a bottle of Champagne when you include taxes etc. No doubt Philizot are making a couple of quid on the bottle.
Three cheers for Aldi for selling a prize winning Champagne so cheap and at Christmas.
Philizot is a small company and can probably blend Champagne from different producers just as well, if not better, than the grande marque houses. So it is no surprise that their Champagne beat Veuve Clicqout in a blind tasting - so what? A wine costing £130 pounds cannot taste 13 times better than a wine costing £10 retail. Remember the cost of producing the grande marque wines is very similar to the cost of producing lesser known brand names.
There is so much hype and nonsense surrounding Champagne just like cosmetics and HiFi and fast cars. If it makes you feel better to buy a top name then go ahead. It is my pleasure to find lesser known but excellent wine at a fair price and report it here. I think that I can see through the hype and I am no scrooge.
Good luck to you and enjoy your Aldi prize winning wine for £9.99 including taxes. We have not got an Aldi near our home but if I pass one on the road I am going to get some of this Champagne, if it is still in stock, and drink it and enjoy it and report back.
This is what my blog is all about . It is finding very good wine at a good price. The big names make big profit margins and who can blame them if the public are prepared to pay an elevated price just to be swanky.
The best Champagnes come from the grower producers. That is small domaines that grow their own grapes and make the wine from their very own vines. These wines have regional character and a unique taste. Lookout for RM or Recoltant-Manipulant on the bottle.
Try R Renaudin and Benoit Lahaye; their wines are fairly priced and are of very good to exceptional quality.
http://www.r-renaudin.com/
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=benoit+lahaye+champagne&sa=X&rlz=1C1SKPC_enGB328&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=62CrUrjQFpCShgeYuYHwAw&ved=0CFkQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=988
http://www.laithwaites.co.uk/jsp/product/productDetails.jsp?productId=eprod520008&_requestid=115600
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/christmas-food-and-drink/9721641/Christmas-2013-Is-10-champagne-too-good-to-be-true.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/christmas-for-scrooges-awardwinning-champagne-for-999-whole-cooked-lobsters-for-599-but-how-do-they-manage-to-sell-them-so-cheaply-9001443.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/champagne-put-to-the-test-taking-the-fizz-out-of-bubbly-426379.html
How does a silver medal winning Champagne get to be so cheap? Well, I suspect that Aldi has great buying power and the Champagne is probably being sold as a loss leader. It probably costs almost £10 to produce and retail a bottle of Champagne when you include taxes etc. No doubt Philizot are making a couple of quid on the bottle.
Three cheers for Aldi for selling a prize winning Champagne so cheap and at Christmas.
Philizot is a small company and can probably blend Champagne from different producers just as well, if not better, than the grande marque houses. So it is no surprise that their Champagne beat Veuve Clicqout in a blind tasting - so what? A wine costing £130 pounds cannot taste 13 times better than a wine costing £10 retail. Remember the cost of producing the grande marque wines is very similar to the cost of producing lesser known brand names.
There is so much hype and nonsense surrounding Champagne just like cosmetics and HiFi and fast cars. If it makes you feel better to buy a top name then go ahead. It is my pleasure to find lesser known but excellent wine at a fair price and report it here. I think that I can see through the hype and I am no scrooge.
Good luck to you and enjoy your Aldi prize winning wine for £9.99 including taxes. We have not got an Aldi near our home but if I pass one on the road I am going to get some of this Champagne, if it is still in stock, and drink it and enjoy it and report back.
This is what my blog is all about . It is finding very good wine at a good price. The big names make big profit margins and who can blame them if the public are prepared to pay an elevated price just to be swanky.
The best Champagnes come from the grower producers. That is small domaines that grow their own grapes and make the wine from their very own vines. These wines have regional character and a unique taste. Lookout for RM or Recoltant-Manipulant on the bottle.
Try R Renaudin and Benoit Lahaye; their wines are fairly priced and are of very good to exceptional quality.
http://www.r-renaudin.com/
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=benoit+lahaye+champagne&sa=X&rlz=1C1SKPC_enGB328&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=62CrUrjQFpCShgeYuYHwAw&ved=0CFkQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=988
http://www.laithwaites.co.uk/jsp/product/productDetails.jsp?productId=eprod520008&_requestid=115600
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/christmas-food-and-drink/9721641/Christmas-2013-Is-10-champagne-too-good-to-be-true.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/christmas-for-scrooges-awardwinning-champagne-for-999-whole-cooked-lobsters-for-599-but-how-do-they-manage-to-sell-them-so-cheaply-9001443.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/champagne-put-to-the-test-taking-the-fizz-out-of-bubbly-426379.html
More Christmas and New Year wine
Christmas and New Year are not just religious festivals as they are also associated with renewal and celebration. So what better way to celebrate some renewal than pushing the boat out and trying some different wines? Some of my suggestions below are quite expensive but what is wrong with clubbing in to buy a couple of good bottles?
These are straitened times in the UK and Champagne sales are falling. The middle classes are turning away from conventional supermarkets and shopping at discount stores such as Aldi and Lidl but more of that in a later blog.
Champagne is a much better indicator of economic confidence that GDP growth figures. Most of the UK GDP growth is in the property market and most of this good feeling factor has not filtered down to ordinary folk with families to keep.
We can still afford to drink Champagne because we do not have a family to keep and the house is paid off and we know producers in France who can supply good quality fizz at a reasonable price; otherwise we would be drinking Prosecco and going to Aldi as well.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/19/clever-economic-indicators-2010-entrepreneurs-management-business-survival-10.html
So here are my recommendations:
Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2004 dry sparkling wine: not cheap but great vintage wine which can genuinely rival Champagne. I can only describe this as elegant. It is very expensive but it is worth having a whip round to taste how good some English wines can be. In my opinion English sparkling wine is the best of English wine.
You have to pay for the risk of crop failures in bad years and that it is why it is so expensive. You pay more too because the English winemakers cannot enjoy the same economies of scale of Spanish, French or Italian producers.
English wine producers deserve our support and we should buy their products not out of sympathy but because they try hard to produce good results from unfavourable circumstances. Sometimes, they make really good wines and Nyetimber is a classic example.
Ridgeview Cuvee Merret Bloomsbury, England 2010: the same applies to this lovely dry sparkling wine too and made from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. This is another great English wine.
Gonzalez Byass Tio Pepe Palomino Fino is a good example. Once opened, the bottle should be finished straight away so you must drink it with friends . It is the key to sociability.
Manzanilla Pasada NV: similar in style to Fino but has a salty edge and once again drink it chilled and in good company.
Buller Calliope Rare Frontignac Halves NV: this is luscious dessert wine from Rutherglen in Victoria state. This is a very high quality dessert wine. You will need a whip round at £40 for a half bottle but it is worth it just to experience how good dessert wines can be.
Campbell's Rutherglen Muscat 37.5cl: not as expensive but it is still luscious.
Why not try some more exotic food like lamb or chicken couscous which my family in France cook in a Tagine; or they buy a takeaway made by Moroccans or Algerians in an authentic style. Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian reds go perfectly with this food.They are a delicious combination. In general , Maghreb wines are not top quality cru but some are and are very expensive. The lower priced wines are delicious and easy to drink and wash the food down so well.
These are straitened times in the UK and Champagne sales are falling. The middle classes are turning away from conventional supermarkets and shopping at discount stores such as Aldi and Lidl but more of that in a later blog.
Champagne is a much better indicator of economic confidence that GDP growth figures. Most of the UK GDP growth is in the property market and most of this good feeling factor has not filtered down to ordinary folk with families to keep.
We can still afford to drink Champagne because we do not have a family to keep and the house is paid off and we know producers in France who can supply good quality fizz at a reasonable price; otherwise we would be drinking Prosecco and going to Aldi as well.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/19/clever-economic-indicators-2010-entrepreneurs-management-business-survival-10.html
So here are my recommendations:
England
Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2004 dry sparkling wine: not cheap but great vintage wine which can genuinely rival Champagne. I can only describe this as elegant. It is very expensive but it is worth having a whip round to taste how good some English wines can be. In my opinion English sparkling wine is the best of English wine.
You have to pay for the risk of crop failures in bad years and that it is why it is so expensive. You pay more too because the English winemakers cannot enjoy the same economies of scale of Spanish, French or Italian producers.
English wine producers deserve our support and we should buy their products not out of sympathy but because they try hard to produce good results from unfavourable circumstances. Sometimes, they make really good wines and Nyetimber is a classic example.
So come on all you Americans and Australians show the UK a bit of support too.
What better way to start off a party than with some UK fizz which has regional character? No, it has its own unique flavour so it does not taste like Champagne.
Fino Sherry: drink the youngest available chilled. This is one of my favourite wines. You can drink it as an aperitif and with all of the fish courses and it goes with virtually any food including cheese. There is nothing to beat the fresh, dry and nutty flavour of a good Fino or Manzanilla Sherry. It is so under-rated. I recommend you try it at least once over the festive period;you will not be disappointed. Somewhere, on one of my blogs I describe how it is made and why it is such good wine.
France makes almost every style of wine including the Port style and the Port method was invented in France. France has not mastered Sherry styles and does not make these style of wines.
No other country can mimic Spain's unique wine and this is good enough reason to try it.
Gonzalez Byass Tio Pepe Palomino Fino is a good example. Once opened, the bottle should be finished straight away so you must drink it with friends . It is the key to sociability.
Australia
Montenegro
Vranac: This full bodied dry red wine is difficult to find in Britain but it is delicious and good value for money. It has a good structure and will keep for years. Made from the Vranac grape, pronounced vraanats, it shows regional character so what else could you ask for? Invite your friends around for some Balkan specialities. The Wine Society has got some suggestions for what food to eat but surely not Macaroni Cheese or Beef Curry! Macaroni cheese needs Italian wine and Beef Curry needs Kingfisher or Cobra beer.
Try, Pljeskavica made from ground lamb, beef , pork or veal or a mixture with onions: this is absolutely delicious with mashed potato or pita bread. It is a bit like a Hamburger but much tastier. Vranac and Pljeskavica: now this is something a bit different and exotic for the New Year.
The Maghreb
These wines are difficult to find in the UK but if you are making a wine buying trip to France they are freely available in the supermarkets and it makes a change from Bergerac.
Canada
Once upon a time Canadian Ice Wine was banned in the EU but now everyone has seen sense. Canadian Ice Wines are made from grapes that have frozen on the vines and shrivelled up to make the sweetness very concentrated. These are delicious wines and a real change from European dessert wines and just as delicious. They have regional character too; so try Peller Icewine Riesling 2007.
Slovenia
Slovenia has a fine wine making tradition and makes some of Europe's finest wines. Unfortunately I could not find a supplier in Britain. But, if you are completely fed up why not spend Christmas or New Year in Ljubljana. The city is stunning but cold at this time of year and full of Christmas and New Year spirit. You can spend a nice long weekend there eating and drinking well.
Try the As restaurant for fish. I would give it a Michelin Star.
But most of all try visiting the Movia Wine bar right in the centre. Movia is the top wine producer in Slovenia their wine bar is a good place to discover Slovenian wines.
I have tried most of the wines on the Jancis Robinson website and can confirm that they are of superior quality - not bad for a Master of Wine?
Monday 9 December 2013
Winejaw - Christmas and New Year wine
This year I feel obliged to write about Christmas and New Year Wine. I quite like Turkey but not at Christmas. Normally, my wife and I either go to France at Christmas where Turkey is not on the menu or we stay at home and just have some friends round and you've guessed it Turkey will not be on the menu.
Louis Jadot 2012 Mâcon Rouge 'Les Roches Rouges'. Louis Jadot is one of my favourite negociants and produces good standard quality wine.
Aperitif: non-vintage Champange -R Renaudin brut or Benoit La Haye brut.
The Turkey
I have eaten Turkey enough times to know what wine goes with it. My preference for a well cooked Turkey, which is not dry but succulent, would be a bottle of red Burgundy. If you have cooked the Turkey yourself and can guarantee that it will be juicy and succulent then go for several bottles of MajesticLouis Jadot 2012 Mâcon Rouge 'Les Roches Rouges'. Louis Jadot is one of my favourite negociants and produces good standard quality wine.
If you are cooking such a big bird, I am assuming that you are having lots of guests and that is why I recommend several bottles.
If you are cooking the Turkey with sweet and acidic sauces then I do not recommend red Burgundy as it is a little bit too delicate. Try the Turkey with several bottles of a Rhône red such as Côtes du Rhône 2011 Vidal-Fleury also from Majestic. Better still, forget about the Cranberry sauce and use the juices of the Turkey instead and pour in a glass of the red wine for an extra kick.
Alternatively, you could try a Pinot Noir from Australia, New Zealand or Washington State each of which is more fruity than red Burgundy.
Christmas is the time of year when you might be invited to a party by someone who cannot cook and will serve up a dry Turkey. You probably know this will happen but you go along out of politeness but in the mood for some conviviality. In this case I recommend beer. Waitrose do some good beers and for Turkey I recommend Goose Island India Pale Ale from the USA or St Peter's Golden Ale and these will at least quench your thirst.
Most restaurants will also ruin Turkey especially at Christmas and the work party will be spoilt as far as food is concerned. So, unless you have been invited to a Michelin starred restaurant I would stick to bog standard Côtes du Rhône or better still a nice lager. If you are going to a top restaurant how about a bottle of Chambertin provided the sauces are savoury?
Turkey is of course a traditional American dish and if you are guaranteed that the Turkey will be cooked properly then why not push the boat out and buy a bottle or two of Qupé. This is one of my favourite wines and should go well with a free range Turkey. It really will add a bit of class even if it is a bit expensive. It will also go well with red meat. Try 2010 Qupé Syrah, Central Coast, California from Berry Brothers.
http://www.bbr.com/products-9298-2010-qupe-syrah-central-coast-california
http://www.bbr.com/products-9298-2010-qupe-syrah-central-coast-california
You are not just limited to red wine with Turkey so why not try a good "oaked Chardonnay" from Australia or Chile. I am also certain that White Burgundy will go with Turkey . You will also need white wine to baste your Turkey with to stop it getting dry.
Winejaw food and preferences for Christmas and New Year
Luckily my wife and I have similar tastes when it comes to food and wine and I shall have little difficulty persuading her to eat one of the following for a main course:
Rare roast rib of Beef,
Game birds,
Roast Duck or Confit de Canard from a tin.
My favourite would be the Confit de Canard from a tin but I know that my wife will think that it is not special enough for Christmas day especially if we have guests.
So here is my ideal menu:
Starters: Oysters washed down with Chablis from Jean-Marc Brocard.
Main Course: Rare roast rib of Beef - it is difficult to choose a red wine but I have a bottle of Torres 2006 Mas La Plana Cabernet Sauvignon from Catalonia which is the perfect red wine for beef. This red wine is of really superior quality and is not that expensive - oh well it is the festive season. It can compete with the top cru of France.
We could also try a bottle of Coriole 2005 Lloyd Reserve Shiraz; this is great wine from South Australia. If you can find it, it is a real treat. Forget about points scores and "The Ashes" as this would go in my top 100 wines. It is made from very old vines in McLaren Vale - as the Australians would say it is a "beut".
If my wife insists that we go for French wine, which is quite likely, then 2008 Château de Pressac St Emilion Grand Cru. This is an award winning wine and although it is cheaper than my other main course selections I expect that it will be of similar quality.
Cheese: It really is better to have the cheese after the main course and not at the end of the meal. We shall probably have Ossau-Iraty, Brie de Meaux, Long Clawson Red Leicester and Long Clawson Stilton. Good English cheese can easily rival good French cheese. The Long Clawson Red Leicester is one of the best cheeses I have ever eaten. If all the main red wine is gone we shall probably drink Red Burgundy - Epineuil.
http://www.britishcheese.com/members/long_clawson_dairy_ltd-18
http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Dairy-farmer-given-royal-approval/story-12083681-detail/story.html
If Prince Charles gives his seal of approval to a cheese then you know it will be good.
http://www.britishcheese.com/members/long_clawson_dairy_ltd-18
http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Dairy-farmer-given-royal-approval/story-12083681-detail/story.html
If Prince Charles gives his seal of approval to a cheese then you know it will be good.
My Wife's Apple Tart and Vanilla ice cream: I shall insist that my wife makes an apple tart and she will not get away with anything else: delicious. Our next door neighbours have supplied us with a lot of cooking apples from their garden. Try Apple Tart or Tarte Tatin with vanilla ice cream and Château de Monbazillac sweet white wine from the Dordogne.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tarte_tatin
http://www.chateau-monbazillac.com/uk/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tarte_tatin
http://www.chateau-monbazillac.com/uk/
Wine Prejudice
You may well think that I am prejudiced towards French wines and of course I am; my wife is French and I spend a good proportion of my time in France. My French family serve up great food and wine. I buy most of my wine in France.
My next blog will have a good list of excellent wines which are not French. I am also planning a blog on an antidote to Christmas fare which was inspired by one of our good friends who is fed up of eating dry Turkey and Brussels Sprouts every year; so more to come.
Three cheers to conviviality and happy wine drinking and happy eating.
Three cheers to conviviality and happy wine drinking and happy eating.
Wednesday 4 December 2013
Barolo DOCG Piedmont Italy
1Barolo DOCG Piedmont
Italy
Why not put Barolo on your Christmas wines list especially if you intend to to ignore the fashion of eating Turkey and opt for Wild Boar instead or a heavy stew? Barolo reds are very well structured and full of concentrated fruit flavour. They are high in tannin and have to be left to mature for a good number of years. They are well balanced for acidity, alcohol and sweetness or rather dryness. They have long length on the palate. They are usually high quality wines which rival the best from France and the USA. You will have to pay much more than you normally do at the supermarket but if you cannot spend a few shillings more at Christmas or New Year when can you do it?
Geography
Barolo wines are located in the
Piedmont region of Italy. The Barolo appellation is located to the south of
Turin and Alba. The appellation is situated on the hills surrounding the two
tributaries of the Tanaro river; the Talloria dell ‘Annunziata and the Talloria
di Castiglione. The hills rise to about 400 meters and some of the newer vineyards
are too cool for the Nebbiolo grapes to ripen fully. There are two soil types
which are derived from calcareous marls. In the north west of the region the
soil is higher in magnesium and manganese salts but in the south east of the
region the soil is higher in iron salts.
The wines from the north west are
reputed to be more elegant than their fuller bodied counterparts in the south
east. The south eastern wines have a stronger structure of tannin which
requires a longer period of ageing before they become accessible.
There is around 1700 hectares of
land under vines. There are many domaine grower producers and the system of
wine growing is similar to the system in Burgundy where domaines are passed
down through the families.
Production is centred on 5
communes belonging to the towns of Barolo, La Morra, Castiglione Falletto and
Serralunga d’Alba and the northern part of the commune of Monforte d’ Alba.
The grape is of course matched
with the terrain and climate; the Nebbiolo tends to be late ripening.
Some history
From the first century AD the
Romans were writing about a grape variety that resembles the Nebbiolo grape.
And Pietro di'Crescenzi a, a writer on agriculture, recognised the grape in the 14th century.
Before the mid nineteenth
century, Barolo was a sweet wine. The Nebbiolo grape starts to ripen late in
October as temperatures are starting to fall. This meant that the grapes did
not ferment fully during November and December and a high degree of residual
sugar was left in the wine before it was it was left to mature in wooden
barrels. The wine became unstable because
of this and became infected with yeasts and micro-organisms which spoilt the
wine.
This situation was changed when the Count Cavour commissioned a French oenologist to improve wine making techniques. This winemaker was reputed to be Louis Oudart of Reims but quite possibly it could have been Comte Alexandre-Pierre Odart. One of the first modern Barolos was produced by Giulietta Falletti the Marchioness of Barolo. Improved usage of yeasts, controlled temperatures and winemaking hygiene produced a more stable product and a dry red wine which formed the basis of modern Nebbiolo.
This situation was changed when the Count Cavour commissioned a French oenologist to improve wine making techniques. This winemaker was reputed to be Louis Oudart of Reims but quite possibly it could have been Comte Alexandre-Pierre Odart. One of the first modern Barolos was produced by Giulietta Falletti the Marchioness of Barolo. Improved usage of yeasts, controlled temperatures and winemaking hygiene produced a more stable product and a dry red wine which formed the basis of modern Nebbiolo.
The new dry style of wine quickly
gained popularity among the winemakers of the region and the new style of wine
won the approval of the nobility of Turin and the House of Savoy. The wine
became a favourite with King Victor Emmanuel the second. Barolo became “the
king of wine and the wine of kings”.
Count Cavour went on to become
the first prime minister of the newly unified Italy in March 1861 – such is the
power of wine!
In 1848 the first bottle of
modern Barolo was bottled by the caves at Castello Grinzane and in 1873 Barolo started winning
prizes. In 1879 the wine connoisseur and agronomist Louis Fantini catalogued
the wine domaines of Barolo and termed the wine “The King of Wines”.
Just like Burgundy, negociants
dominated the wine market until the late 1960s with their blended house styles.
Modernity has seen a move to domaine based wine production and the marketing of
estate bottled wines.
Character of the wine
The wine can change rapidly from
plot to plot as in Burgundy. The vines are fussy about their soil so the
Nebbiolo grape variety is only really suited to the Piemonte region.
Barolos are high in tannin and even the modern
cuvees such as Renato Ratti reflect this. There are flavours of
cherry, spice, truffles, tar, flowers. They are complex and concentrated wines which must age to soften the tannin. The wines are full bodied and dry with
long length on the palate. They are designed to go with rich foods such as Wild
Boar and Truffles. They are weather and vintage
dependent.
Guyot training
The vines are cane trained to improve
canopy management and allow the sun through to ripen the grapes and to lower the yields
from pruning.
Wine making
Traditionally the wines were
subjected to maceration for long periods (20 to 30 days) in barrels. The wine
were stored in older and larger barrels. More modern techniques produce lighter wines
from a shorter period of maceration (7 to 10 days) at lower temperatures to preserve
the fruit flavour and pumping over also extracts the fruit character. The cellars
are then heated to encourage malolactic conversion to soften the harsher acid
components. Modern wines are matured in new French oak barriques to impart vanilla
spice flavour and softer tannins. This spice flavour can mask the floral
character of the wine.
Reputation
Barolo is one of the finest wines
of Italy and it competes internationally with French, Spanish and Californian
top cru. The best vineyards are located
on the slopes surrounded by the Langhe hills. The effects of terroir are
conditioned as much, however, by the vineyard and wine making techniques
deployed by the domaine and the producer. It is just as important to know the
name of a good producer in Piemonte as it is in Burgundy. But it is important
to bear in mind that a famous name does not guarantee a superior wine.
The producer must maintain high quality production year after year. The appellation laws (Goria Laws) dictate that lower yields are produced by domaines which claim single vineyard status.
The producer must maintain high quality production year after year. The appellation laws (Goria Laws) dictate that lower yields are produced by domaines which claim single vineyard status.
There are two camps; the
traditional camp and the modern camp. In the late 1980s there was a drive by
some producers such as Renato Ratti and Angelo Gaja to produce styles of wine which were fruitier with softer tannin;
wines which mature earlier than traditional styles.
Some of the traditionalist still
produced “dried out” wines which were very tannic because they were bottled to
order rather than when the wine was ready. However, the best of the
traditionalist wines can compete with the more modern producers, their wines
are more complex. Some of the best traditionalists are Giacomo Conterno and
Bruno Giacosa. There is room for both styles but
all Barolo should have strong structure.
Some Names
Renato Ratti, Angelo Gaja, Giacomo
Conterno and Bruno Giacosa,Gran Bussia, Rocche,Mascarello and Voerzio.
Websites
Thursday 28 November 2013
1996 La Croix de Chene Pomerol Red Bordeaux
We bought this wine in France, but I cannot remember where or when or how much we paid. The wine was perfect and fully mature, the tannin was nice and soft and there was a strong aroma of red fruits and plums on the nose. The wine tasted the same as the aroma. The flavours were concentrated and complex and the flavour remained on the palate for a long time after swallowing. It had all the hallmarks of a very good wine.
Another mark of a good wine is its ability to improve in the bottle. This wine has been in the bottle for 15 years. A cheap wine will not improve in the bottle for more than a few years. The wine was perfectly mature and all the components of the wine; the acidity, alcohol and tannin were well integrated and the wine was medium to full body. It was ready to drink now and will not improve for any longer.
It went perfectly with roast chicken one night and the other half of the bottle went well with roast pork the following evening. This is the reason why I love wine so much as you can find a really good bottle for a reasonable price if you take the time to study the subject a little bit.
If you find this wine in France then do not hesitate to buy it and kept it in a cool dark place for a few years on its side. It won't break the bank and will give you a good idea of what a top wine is all about.
A top Bordeaux such as Château Latour or Château Lafite-Rothschild will keep and improve in the bottle for much longer and this is one of the reasons why it is so much more expensive than La Croix de Chene. However, you are mainly paying for the brand name and some of their lesser cousins are just as good and a lot cheaper.
http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=635297
Another mark of a good wine is its ability to improve in the bottle. This wine has been in the bottle for 15 years. A cheap wine will not improve in the bottle for more than a few years. The wine was perfectly mature and all the components of the wine; the acidity, alcohol and tannin were well integrated and the wine was medium to full body. It was ready to drink now and will not improve for any longer.
It went perfectly with roast chicken one night and the other half of the bottle went well with roast pork the following evening. This is the reason why I love wine so much as you can find a really good bottle for a reasonable price if you take the time to study the subject a little bit.
If you find this wine in France then do not hesitate to buy it and kept it in a cool dark place for a few years on its side. It won't break the bank and will give you a good idea of what a top wine is all about.
A top Bordeaux such as Château Latour or Château Lafite-Rothschild will keep and improve in the bottle for much longer and this is one of the reasons why it is so much more expensive than La Croix de Chene. However, you are mainly paying for the brand name and some of their lesser cousins are just as good and a lot cheaper.
http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=635297
Tuesday 19 November 2013
Champagne -under attack in the UK
Champagne wine sales are well down in the UK and Prosecco sales are on the up. Prosecco is a competitor to Champagne mainly on price. You can get a bottle for around £10. It is not my favourite white dry or extra dry sparkling wine but I am not going to disparage it.
Most Presecco is made in stainless steel tanks by the Charmat method where secondary fermentation is made in the tank not in the bottle. The wine simply cannot match the quality of a Cava let alone good Champagne or English Sparking wine. The DOCG Prosecco which is of better quality is made by the tradition method like Champagne and Cava. So, if you see it for the same price as the standard fare snap it up.
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/global_search/home.jsp?bmForm=global_search&GLOBAL_DATA._search_term1=prosecco
It is produced in the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of North East Italy. Like Turkish wine it is becoming trendy to drink it in the UK, especially in cash strapped times. Despite the slight economic growth none of the extra wealth seems to have filtered down to the middle classes; no wonder Champagne sales are falling and are set to fall further with the dire economic reports from France.
Prosecco is used to make the famous Bellini cocktail.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Bellini-Cocktail
Do Not use Champagne as this will ruin the wine. Always use standard Prosecco.
Even though Presecco is relatively cheap, I see no reason to slosh it down with cod and chips on a Friday night . All sparkling wine should be used for a special occasion or when meeting absent friends or family again. To drink sparkling wine on a daily basis would mean that the wine will lose it allure . However, Winston Churchill used to have his Champagne bottled by Pol Roger in special pint sized bottles for almost daily consumption - oh well he deserved it.
My wife comes from Champagne so we know producers who produce very good wine for a reasonable price. We won't be drinking Prosecco or Cava for that matter on numerous occasions unless we suddenly become broke.
Most Presecco is made in stainless steel tanks by the Charmat method where secondary fermentation is made in the tank not in the bottle. The wine simply cannot match the quality of a Cava let alone good Champagne or English Sparking wine. The DOCG Prosecco which is of better quality is made by the tradition method like Champagne and Cava. So, if you see it for the same price as the standard fare snap it up.
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/global_search/home.jsp?bmForm=global_search&GLOBAL_DATA._search_term1=prosecco
It is produced in the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of North East Italy. Like Turkish wine it is becoming trendy to drink it in the UK, especially in cash strapped times. Despite the slight economic growth none of the extra wealth seems to have filtered down to the middle classes; no wonder Champagne sales are falling and are set to fall further with the dire economic reports from France.
Prosecco is used to make the famous Bellini cocktail.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Bellini-Cocktail
Do Not use Champagne as this will ruin the wine. Always use standard Prosecco.
Even though Presecco is relatively cheap, I see no reason to slosh it down with cod and chips on a Friday night . All sparkling wine should be used for a special occasion or when meeting absent friends or family again. To drink sparkling wine on a daily basis would mean that the wine will lose it allure . However, Winston Churchill used to have his Champagne bottled by Pol Roger in special pint sized bottles for almost daily consumption - oh well he deserved it.
My wife comes from Champagne so we know producers who produce very good wine for a reasonable price. We won't be drinking Prosecco or Cava for that matter on numerous occasions unless we suddenly become broke.
Wine from Turkey- why not?
We bought this red wine Pamukkale Diamond 2011 at Waitrose supermarket. it is lovely wine at a reasonable price. it is on offer at £6.99 a bottle rather than £9.99. It is made from Syrah (Shiraz), Merlot, Kalecik Karasi and Bogazkere black grapes.
http://www.waitrosedirect.com/product/pamukkale-diamond/846535
The wine does exactly what it says on the bottle; the tannin, sugar, alcohol and acidity are well balanced and it has a concentrated red fruit flavour. It not a particularly complex wine and does not leave a long taste on the palate.
Our friends had difficulty guessing where the wine from but they thought it came from the southern Mediterranean - not bad.
Half a bottle went down well one night with grilled chicken and cheese and the other half went down well with roast pork the following evening.
This wine is just as good as wine from France or Italy at the same price. It is good quality wine which will keep a few years more and mature in the bottle.
It is priced just right at £6.99 a bottle. I do not think I would be prepared to pay £9.99 and I think it will remain on offer.
My wife and I visit Turkish restaurants quite regularly: we love the food and Turkish wine. We particularly like the TAS chain. We must have been setting a trend for Turkish wine is all the rage at the moment.
I recommend that you try it as it is a very pleasant change to French, Spanish and Italian wines.
http://www.tasrestaurants.co.uk/
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/sep/03/turkish-wine-waitrose
http://www.waitrosedirect.com/product/pamukkale-diamond/846535
The wine does exactly what it says on the bottle; the tannin, sugar, alcohol and acidity are well balanced and it has a concentrated red fruit flavour. It not a particularly complex wine and does not leave a long taste on the palate.
Our friends had difficulty guessing where the wine from but they thought it came from the southern Mediterranean - not bad.
Half a bottle went down well one night with grilled chicken and cheese and the other half went down well with roast pork the following evening.
This wine is just as good as wine from France or Italy at the same price. It is good quality wine which will keep a few years more and mature in the bottle.
It is priced just right at £6.99 a bottle. I do not think I would be prepared to pay £9.99 and I think it will remain on offer.
My wife and I visit Turkish restaurants quite regularly: we love the food and Turkish wine. We particularly like the TAS chain. We must have been setting a trend for Turkish wine is all the rage at the moment.
I recommend that you try it as it is a very pleasant change to French, Spanish and Italian wines.
http://www.tasrestaurants.co.uk/
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/sep/03/turkish-wine-waitrose
Friday 15 November 2013
The Great British Public and their wine and wine snobs
So 80% of the British public prefer a £5 bottle of wine to a £20 one, according to the London Wine Academy. Also, around 50% of Britons estimated that the £5 bottle of Aspen Hills Chardonnay from South East Australia was in fact more expensive than a £20 bottle of Gerard Thomas Saint-Aubin 1er Cru from Burgundy from France. Please note that they are both made from the same grape.
None of this surprises me. It does not surprise me that some Masters of Wine cannot do it either and I often get fooled myself. Wine tasting is not scientific and it cannot possible be so. There is no independent variable to test against and the human palate cannot measure the taste components of a wine to make objective comparisons.
From a wine tasting point of view all we can do is look for the overall balance of acidity, tannin, sweetness and alcohol of the wine. Also, its general flavour and taste complexity and the length of time that that flavour remains on the palate should be assessed. Wines which are better balanced and have more complex tastes and where the taste remains on the palate for a long time can be gauged to be better.
A £20 bottle of fine wine should also be able to keep and improve in the bottle for a number of years. But cheaper bottles can do this too. Some £20 bottles are inferior in quality to lesser priced ones. The trick and skill of wine tasting is to be able to identify a really good wine at a really good price: a wine which will improve in the bottle.
At a Christmas dinner party many years ago my family agreed that a bottle of the second wine of Château Pape Clement Red Bordeaux or The Clementin, bought at a bargain for £8 pounds a bottle, was of better quality than a £100 bottle of Echezeux Grand Cru Red Burgundy. And they were right.
You are entitled to get a really good bottle of wine for £20 and quite often you do not. I have never tasted Gerard Thomas Saint-Aubin 1er Cru from Burgundy from France so I cannot pass comment on this wine. However, if Majestic stock it it is probably very good wine.
For £5 a bottle you would expect a good wine too. In some respects the market for wine is buoyed up by the expectation that if a pundit scores the wine highly then the wine must be good and the price should go up. Well pundits can get it wrong. Ask yourself, how can a wine which scores 99 be that much better than a wine that scores 97? The whole concept of wine scoring is ridiculous. In my view there are only four categories bad, standard, good and outstanding. Good and outstanding wines should be able to improve in the bottle for a number of years despite their price.
Wine is made more expensive that it need be by wine experts offering lurid descriptions of wine and suggesting quality that may not necessarily be there. Hence the bitter irony behind the
"Château L'Ordure Pomerol, 2004" see the bottom link below.
With regard to taste why should a top quality wine have to taste so much? I often buy high quality cheese for a £15 or more a kilo and it does taste noticeably better than cheaper processed cheese. But the good stuff is not so expensive that I am reluctant to buy it. This is not the case with wine.
Sometimes, I like to open a cheap tin of baked beans and eat them on toast with bacon and egg. It is delicious. There is no need for snobbery about food or wine.
The great British public deserve to get a good bottle of wine for £5 and a top notch one for £20. So what if they prefer the cheaper bottle and if they value it more than the top cru then so what again?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/wine/10445719/Britons-actually-prefer-cheaper-wine.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2504531/20-fine-wine-5-plonk-Most-just-tell--people-prefer-cheaper-bottles-blind-taste-tests.html
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2013/jun/24/should-we-listen-wine-critics
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-tasting-junk-science-analysis
None of this surprises me. It does not surprise me that some Masters of Wine cannot do it either and I often get fooled myself. Wine tasting is not scientific and it cannot possible be so. There is no independent variable to test against and the human palate cannot measure the taste components of a wine to make objective comparisons.
From a wine tasting point of view all we can do is look for the overall balance of acidity, tannin, sweetness and alcohol of the wine. Also, its general flavour and taste complexity and the length of time that that flavour remains on the palate should be assessed. Wines which are better balanced and have more complex tastes and where the taste remains on the palate for a long time can be gauged to be better.
A £20 bottle of fine wine should also be able to keep and improve in the bottle for a number of years. But cheaper bottles can do this too. Some £20 bottles are inferior in quality to lesser priced ones. The trick and skill of wine tasting is to be able to identify a really good wine at a really good price: a wine which will improve in the bottle.
At a Christmas dinner party many years ago my family agreed that a bottle of the second wine of Château Pape Clement Red Bordeaux or The Clementin, bought at a bargain for £8 pounds a bottle, was of better quality than a £100 bottle of Echezeux Grand Cru Red Burgundy. And they were right.
You are entitled to get a really good bottle of wine for £20 and quite often you do not. I have never tasted Gerard Thomas Saint-Aubin 1er Cru from Burgundy from France so I cannot pass comment on this wine. However, if Majestic stock it it is probably very good wine.
For £5 a bottle you would expect a good wine too. In some respects the market for wine is buoyed up by the expectation that if a pundit scores the wine highly then the wine must be good and the price should go up. Well pundits can get it wrong. Ask yourself, how can a wine which scores 99 be that much better than a wine that scores 97? The whole concept of wine scoring is ridiculous. In my view there are only four categories bad, standard, good and outstanding. Good and outstanding wines should be able to improve in the bottle for a number of years despite their price.
Wine is made more expensive that it need be by wine experts offering lurid descriptions of wine and suggesting quality that may not necessarily be there. Hence the bitter irony behind the
"Château L'Ordure Pomerol, 2004" see the bottom link below.
With regard to taste why should a top quality wine have to taste so much? I often buy high quality cheese for a £15 or more a kilo and it does taste noticeably better than cheaper processed cheese. But the good stuff is not so expensive that I am reluctant to buy it. This is not the case with wine.
Sometimes, I like to open a cheap tin of baked beans and eat them on toast with bacon and egg. It is delicious. There is no need for snobbery about food or wine.
The great British public deserve to get a good bottle of wine for £5 and a top notch one for £20. So what if they prefer the cheaper bottle and if they value it more than the top cru then so what again?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/wine/10445719/Britons-actually-prefer-cheaper-wine.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2504531/20-fine-wine-5-plonk-Most-just-tell--people-prefer-cheaper-bottles-blind-taste-tests.html
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2013/jun/24/should-we-listen-wine-critics
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-tasting-junk-science-analysis
Wednesday 6 November 2013
L’Hôtel Château Cléry
My wife and I have just spent a great weekend near Boulogne at the Hôtel Château Cléry. The accommodation was fantastic but it was a bit expensive.
The food in the restaurant was exquisite but that was why we went to the Hotel in the first place.
The restaurant had a very wide range of wines. We chose a bottle of 2010 Domaine Faiveley Mercurey La Framboisière to go with our Filet Mignon de Veau - dare I say it, it was veal cooked rare with wild chanterelle mushrooms and ceps.
The meat was cooked perfectly and served perfectly by happy staff. The wine was typical of the Mercurey appellation and although Faively is a négociant he owns the Framboisière vineyard. The wine was heavily marked up but we did not care; the ambience, food, wine and company were top class. This was a memorable meal.
I highly recommend L’Hôtel Château Cléry and its food and wine.
http://www.clery.najeti.fr/
http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-20047-2010-domaine-faiveley-domaine-de-la-framboisiere-mercurey-cote-chalonnaise-france
http://ogourmandiz.over-blog.com/article-filet-mignon-de-veau-aux-champignons-100756202.html
The food in the restaurant was exquisite but that was why we went to the Hotel in the first place.
The restaurant had a very wide range of wines. We chose a bottle of 2010 Domaine Faiveley Mercurey La Framboisière to go with our Filet Mignon de Veau - dare I say it, it was veal cooked rare with wild chanterelle mushrooms and ceps.
The meat was cooked perfectly and served perfectly by happy staff. The wine was typical of the Mercurey appellation and although Faively is a négociant he owns the Framboisière vineyard. The wine was heavily marked up but we did not care; the ambience, food, wine and company were top class. This was a memorable meal.
I highly recommend L’Hôtel Château Cléry and its food and wine.
http://www.clery.najeti.fr/
http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-20047-2010-domaine-faiveley-domaine-de-la-framboisiere-mercurey-cote-chalonnaise-france
http://ogourmandiz.over-blog.com/article-filet-mignon-de-veau-aux-champignons-100756202.html
Monday 14 October 2013
AOC Côtes de Duras BB de Berticot Rouge 2010
I have made an uncountable number of trips to the South West of France but I have never tasted this wine. The Côtes de Duras borders on the Bordeaux and Bergerac regions and uses similar grape varieties in the blend of wines and wine making techniques. The wines have a reputation for being unexceptional.
I discovered BB de Berticot Rouge 2010 in a French supermarket on a recent visit. This wine is made from the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grape varieties and the viticulture is being converted to organic methods.
My wife and I were completely surprised by the quality of the wine. It was very rich and concentrated and had a vivid flavour of red fruits and spice. My wife felt that it had a hint of chocolate on the palate. I could have been fooled into thinking that the wine came from further South as it was so full of fruit and full bodied. The wine also had long length on the palate which is another indicator of good quality.
The wine went perfectly with fillet of lamb and my wife's Lyonnais potatoes - yum yum. The wine and food combination was simply delicious.
The wine had a distinctive taste of its own but I cannot judge whether it is typical of the appellation. The vines are grown on calcareous soils mixed with some gravel.
At about 6 Euros for a bottle this wine is very good value for money as its quality is excellent for the price.
As and added bonus this wine will keep for several years longer as it has a good solid structure and the tannin will soften further.
The next time I am in France I shall treat myself to half a case as it represents much better value for money than anything I can find in a British supermarket.
http://www.berticot.com/organic-wines,us,3,26.cfm
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/classic-lyonnaise-potatoes-recipe/index.html
Post script
We did not drink the whole bottle on our first sitting but finished it the following evening. I discovered a sediment at the bottom of the last glass. The sediment is harmless and indicates that the wine maker has either applied moderate filtration or no filtration at all. This also indicates to me that the winemaker cares about the quality of his wines.
I discovered BB de Berticot Rouge 2010 in a French supermarket on a recent visit. This wine is made from the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grape varieties and the viticulture is being converted to organic methods.
My wife and I were completely surprised by the quality of the wine. It was very rich and concentrated and had a vivid flavour of red fruits and spice. My wife felt that it had a hint of chocolate on the palate. I could have been fooled into thinking that the wine came from further South as it was so full of fruit and full bodied. The wine also had long length on the palate which is another indicator of good quality.
The wine went perfectly with fillet of lamb and my wife's Lyonnais potatoes - yum yum. The wine and food combination was simply delicious.
The wine had a distinctive taste of its own but I cannot judge whether it is typical of the appellation. The vines are grown on calcareous soils mixed with some gravel.
At about 6 Euros for a bottle this wine is very good value for money as its quality is excellent for the price.
As and added bonus this wine will keep for several years longer as it has a good solid structure and the tannin will soften further.
The next time I am in France I shall treat myself to half a case as it represents much better value for money than anything I can find in a British supermarket.
http://www.berticot.com/organic-wines,us,3,26.cfm
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/classic-lyonnaise-potatoes-recipe/index.html
Post script
We did not drink the whole bottle on our first sitting but finished it the following evening. I discovered a sediment at the bottom of the last glass. The sediment is harmless and indicates that the wine maker has either applied moderate filtration or no filtration at all. This also indicates to me that the winemaker cares about the quality of his wines.
Tuesday 1 October 2013
Alain Mathias Côte de Grisey 2011 Epineuil Red and Confit de Canard
The other night we were pushed for time and we cooked some Confit de Canard accompanied by some pasta. Oh well, I opened the tin and my wife cooked it. It comes in very large tins which will feed four people but only three when I am around. The whole meal took about half an hour to cook.
Confit de Canard is one of my favourite foods; it would go in my top ten along with rib of beef and sea bass. There is a lot of salt in it, so I am sure that the diet dictators would not approve. But, if you have got a bottle of water handy and only eat it once a month or so, why worry? We are going to France this weekend so I hope that my sister-in-law has got it on the agenda.
Confit de Canard is made by curing the legs in salt and then cooking them in their own own fat. It is a speciality of Gascony in France. We buy it in large tins. My wife cooks it in the oven in some but not all of the fat. She does it to perfection and cooks it until it is almost going dry but not quite. The flesh literally falls of the bone. It goes perfectly with pasta or with potatoes cooked in the remaining fat.
Why worry about cholesterol when you can wash down this favourite with a bottle of Alain Mathias 2011 Côte de Grisey Epineuil Red? This wine is delicious and goes perfectly with duck, chicken and game dishes. It is produced in Burgundy not far from the town of Tonnerre. I always think that Pinot Noir based wines go so well with poultry and game and this wine is no exception.
The 2011 will keep for several years longer and if you are ever in the Tonnerre area why not search out some Epineuil and Domaine Alain Mathias in particular.
http://www.domainealainmathias.com/vins.htm
Confit de Canard is one of my favourite foods; it would go in my top ten along with rib of beef and sea bass. There is a lot of salt in it, so I am sure that the diet dictators would not approve. But, if you have got a bottle of water handy and only eat it once a month or so, why worry? We are going to France this weekend so I hope that my sister-in-law has got it on the agenda.
Confit de Canard is made by curing the legs in salt and then cooking them in their own own fat. It is a speciality of Gascony in France. We buy it in large tins. My wife cooks it in the oven in some but not all of the fat. She does it to perfection and cooks it until it is almost going dry but not quite. The flesh literally falls of the bone. It goes perfectly with pasta or with potatoes cooked in the remaining fat.
Why worry about cholesterol when you can wash down this favourite with a bottle of Alain Mathias 2011 Côte de Grisey Epineuil Red? This wine is delicious and goes perfectly with duck, chicken and game dishes. It is produced in Burgundy not far from the town of Tonnerre. I always think that Pinot Noir based wines go so well with poultry and game and this wine is no exception.
The 2011 will keep for several years longer and if you are ever in the Tonnerre area why not search out some Epineuil and Domaine Alain Mathias in particular.
http://www.domainealainmathias.com/vins.htm
Planet Of The Grapes and Albariño 2012 Rías Baixas dry white wine
The other day I was invited for lunch with a colleague and we went to one of my favourite wine bars in the City of London "The Planet of the The Grapes". I have no commercial connexion.
I arrived early and was recommended a glass of the Albariño 2012 La Liebre y la Tortuga white wine from
Rías Baixas.
La Liebre y la Tortuga - the Rabbit and the Tortoise what a lovely name for a wine. And a very apt name for having a leisurely and slow chat in the Cockney hinterland right underneath Bow bells. "Rabbit and Pork" means "Talk" in cockney rhyming slang and well tortoises are slow and leisurely. It must have been the wine - enough of this "Rabbit"!
http://www.cockney.co.uk/
Nine pounds for a glass is not cheap but you are paying, also, for the location and the knowledge and good service of the wine staff. The wine was well recommended so we we decided on a bottle to go with our lunch.
Albariño is a dry white wine produced in the Rias Baixas of Galicia in Spain. Rias Baixas is near to the Atlantic ocean and the wine reflects the climate and granite based soil of the region.They are lively wines with well integrated fruit and acidity. They go well with good food especially fish. They are a bit expensive but when matched with well cooked food they are worth it. They also go well with pie and mash.
http://www.riasbaixaswines.com/wines/index.php
The white Albariño grape is thick skinned and is resistant to the mildew caused by the moisture from the Atlantic. The grape and the soil combine together to give the wine a refreshing taste which is so characteristic of the appellation. It is quite easy to recognise this wine but it could easily be confused with Alvarinho which is produced from the same grape just across the river Miño or Minho in Portugal's Vinho Verdi region.
http://www.wine-pages.com/features/vinho-verde-alvarinho.htm
Whilst working on a project in Hamburg this wine was a team favourite when we dined at the Vasco da Gama restaurant and it was always drunk with fish -superb. And they had both the Spanish and Portuguese wines.
http://www.vasco-da-gama-hamburg.de/
Next time you are in the City then why not pay a visit to the Planet of the Grapes especially if you are feeling flush. And in the supermarket, why not buy a bottle of Albariño or Alvarinho if you can find it? So enjoy some happy eating and drinking
http://www.morrisonscellar.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/KeywordSearchResults?storeId=10701&catalogId=11802&langId=-1&fcd=set&Ntk=primary&N=0&Ns=Relevance%7C1&pageView=&sourcePage=keywordSearch&Ntt=Alvarinho&x=-1078&y=-69&gclid=CJS3ysux9bkCFeXMtAodxFgAfQ
I arrived early and was recommended a glass of the Albariño 2012 La Liebre y la Tortuga white wine from
Rías Baixas.
La Liebre y la Tortuga - the Rabbit and the Tortoise what a lovely name for a wine. And a very apt name for having a leisurely and slow chat in the Cockney hinterland right underneath Bow bells. "Rabbit and Pork" means "Talk" in cockney rhyming slang and well tortoises are slow and leisurely. It must have been the wine - enough of this "Rabbit"!
http://www.cockney.co.uk/
Nine pounds for a glass is not cheap but you are paying, also, for the location and the knowledge and good service of the wine staff. The wine was well recommended so we we decided on a bottle to go with our lunch.
Albariño is a dry white wine produced in the Rias Baixas of Galicia in Spain. Rias Baixas is near to the Atlantic ocean and the wine reflects the climate and granite based soil of the region.They are lively wines with well integrated fruit and acidity. They go well with good food especially fish. They are a bit expensive but when matched with well cooked food they are worth it. They also go well with pie and mash.
http://www.riasbaixaswines.com/wines/index.php
The white Albariño grape is thick skinned and is resistant to the mildew caused by the moisture from the Atlantic. The grape and the soil combine together to give the wine a refreshing taste which is so characteristic of the appellation. It is quite easy to recognise this wine but it could easily be confused with Alvarinho which is produced from the same grape just across the river Miño or Minho in Portugal's Vinho Verdi region.
http://www.wine-pages.com/features/vinho-verde-alvarinho.htm
Whilst working on a project in Hamburg this wine was a team favourite when we dined at the Vasco da Gama restaurant and it was always drunk with fish -superb. And they had both the Spanish and Portuguese wines.
http://www.vasco-da-gama-hamburg.de/
Next time you are in the City then why not pay a visit to the Planet of the Grapes especially if you are feeling flush. And in the supermarket, why not buy a bottle of Albariño or Alvarinho if you can find it? So enjoy some happy eating and drinking
http://www.morrisonscellar.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/KeywordSearchResults?storeId=10701&catalogId=11802&langId=-1&fcd=set&Ntk=primary&N=0&Ns=Relevance%7C1&pageView=&sourcePage=keywordSearch&Ntt=Alvarinho&x=-1078&y=-69&gclid=CJS3ysux9bkCFeXMtAodxFgAfQ
Monday 16 September 2013
RESERVE DU MUSEE 1990 Claret AOC
We were given this wine by a friend who had kept it too long and we made the situation worse by keeping it for another three years ourselves. My wife cooked a superb fillet of pork and I though I would give the wine a try. It had lost all its fruit. The wine should have been drunk by 1995 or 1996 and not in 2013.
The wine had some of the attributes of a well matured wine; the tannin had completely softened and there was a slight taste of prunes rather than plums but that was it. I could drink one glass but no more and the rest could not really be kept for cooking as there was no flavour left.
It shows the real difference between a standard quality wine and a good one. A 1990 Château Gruaud Larose would still taste perfect after twenty years or so in the bottle and would have retained its fruit flavour; provided of course that it had been kept under favourable conditions. So, this is one of the reasons why it costs so much more despite its renowned name and rarity value.
If you get a chance to taste both types of wine after more than twenty years in the bottle and at the same sitting then jump at the opportunity. You will be amazed at the difference.
RESERVE DU MUSEE 1990 was produced by Benoit Valérie Calvet. Their website can be seen below
£3.59 supermarket plonk indeed which is as good as wine at 10 times the price. I'll let you decide.
This calls for a blog about self-proclaimed wine experts and pundits.
http://www.benoitvaleriecalvet.com/in-the-words-of-others/
The wine had some of the attributes of a well matured wine; the tannin had completely softened and there was a slight taste of prunes rather than plums but that was it. I could drink one glass but no more and the rest could not really be kept for cooking as there was no flavour left.
It shows the real difference between a standard quality wine and a good one. A 1990 Château Gruaud Larose would still taste perfect after twenty years or so in the bottle and would have retained its fruit flavour; provided of course that it had been kept under favourable conditions. So, this is one of the reasons why it costs so much more despite its renowned name and rarity value.
If you get a chance to taste both types of wine after more than twenty years in the bottle and at the same sitting then jump at the opportunity. You will be amazed at the difference.
RESERVE DU MUSEE 1990 was produced by Benoit Valérie Calvet. Their website can be seen below
£3.59 supermarket plonk indeed which is as good as wine at 10 times the price. I'll let you decide.
This calls for a blog about self-proclaimed wine experts and pundits.
http://www.benoitvaleriecalvet.com/in-the-words-of-others/
Domaine de L'Arjolle - exciting wines
On a recent trip to the Languedoc we paid a visit to Domaine de L'Arjolle hosted by one of the founders of the Domaine - Louis-Marie Teisserenc.
Domaine deL'Arjollle is part of the Indication Géographique Protégée of Côtes de Thongue Appellation. This appellation gives the winemaker more freedom to plant grapes such as the Zinfandel which would not be allowed for wine production under the rules of the Languedon-Roussillon Appellation d'Origine Protégée.
The Domaine is located in the attractive village of Pouzolles which is not far from the town of Pezenas. The Domaine has a wide range of soils and the grape variety is matched to the soil to produce some exciting wines which reflect the climate,weather and soil of the appellation.
Gravel soils are used for the production of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache grapes. The Syrah grapes used in the blend for their red Paradox wine are grown on calcareous marls and clay. Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes are grown on alluvial soils. Many of the Domaine's red wines are blended from grapes from the differing soils to add to the complexity of the blend.White grapes such as Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Viognier are grown on sandy marls which are mixed with limonite which contains iron oxide compounds.
At first we paid a visit to the modern winery and then tasted a full selection of the wines and some of these wines were tasted with the local cheeses.
My wife and I were completely impressed with all of the wines which we tasted as they had all of the concentration and complexity that one would expect of high quality wines. They were also bursting with fruit.
I could have bought a half case of each wine tasted but we were limited for space. So I selected two to take back to London.
The Paradox 2010 a blend of Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Grenache. This dry red wine was full of fruit with a hint of vanilla and spice and was concentrated and complex with a long length on the palate. Even though it had 14% alcohol it did not taste hot and all of the elements of the wine where well integrated. It had a high level of tannin which will soften with keeping and I shall not drink the first bottle for at least a couple of years. The wine is of exceptional value for money at 16.5 Eur a bottle.
Zinfandel 2010 another dry red wine with concentrated and complex flavours of red fruits: it was high in tannin which will soften and had medium acidity. It also had a flavour of liquorice and spice. All the elements of the wine were also well integrated. At 14.55% alcohol this wine did not taste hot either. I loved this wine. Despite difficulties with the wine authorities the Domaine has one hectare of Zinfandel planted in Pouzolles.
Both of these wines are really suited to be drunk with food and I would not recommend them for consumption on their own owing to the high alcoholic content.
The wine growing and making techniques combine all the best features of the old and the new to produce modern styled wines with more than a hint of classical quality.
The wines can be bought from the Domaine who will welcome you and if you cannot go to France you can obtain the wines from the Wine Society. If ever you are in the Pezenas area, a visit to Pouzolles is worth it as the village is dominated by a magnificent twin towered 15th century castle. My photograph does not do it justice.
http://www.arjolle.com/shop/wine-list-p1.html
Domaine deL'Arjollle is part of the Indication Géographique Protégée of Côtes de Thongue Appellation. This appellation gives the winemaker more freedom to plant grapes such as the Zinfandel which would not be allowed for wine production under the rules of the Languedon-Roussillon Appellation d'Origine Protégée.
The Domaine is located in the attractive village of Pouzolles which is not far from the town of Pezenas. The Domaine has a wide range of soils and the grape variety is matched to the soil to produce some exciting wines which reflect the climate,weather and soil of the appellation.
Gravel soils are used for the production of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache grapes. The Syrah grapes used in the blend for their red Paradox wine are grown on calcareous marls and clay. Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes are grown on alluvial soils. Many of the Domaine's red wines are blended from grapes from the differing soils to add to the complexity of the blend.White grapes such as Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Viognier are grown on sandy marls which are mixed with limonite which contains iron oxide compounds.
At first we paid a visit to the modern winery and then tasted a full selection of the wines and some of these wines were tasted with the local cheeses.
My wife and I were completely impressed with all of the wines which we tasted as they had all of the concentration and complexity that one would expect of high quality wines. They were also bursting with fruit.
I could have bought a half case of each wine tasted but we were limited for space. So I selected two to take back to London.
The Paradox 2010 a blend of Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Grenache. This dry red wine was full of fruit with a hint of vanilla and spice and was concentrated and complex with a long length on the palate. Even though it had 14% alcohol it did not taste hot and all of the elements of the wine where well integrated. It had a high level of tannin which will soften with keeping and I shall not drink the first bottle for at least a couple of years. The wine is of exceptional value for money at 16.5 Eur a bottle.
Zinfandel 2010 another dry red wine with concentrated and complex flavours of red fruits: it was high in tannin which will soften and had medium acidity. It also had a flavour of liquorice and spice. All the elements of the wine were also well integrated. At 14.55% alcohol this wine did not taste hot either. I loved this wine. Despite difficulties with the wine authorities the Domaine has one hectare of Zinfandel planted in Pouzolles.
Both of these wines are really suited to be drunk with food and I would not recommend them for consumption on their own owing to the high alcoholic content.
The wine growing and making techniques combine all the best features of the old and the new to produce modern styled wines with more than a hint of classical quality.
The wines can be bought from the Domaine who will welcome you and if you cannot go to France you can obtain the wines from the Wine Society. If ever you are in the Pezenas area, a visit to Pouzolles is worth it as the village is dominated by a magnificent twin towered 15th century castle. My photograph does not do it justice.
http://www.arjolle.com/shop/wine-list-p1.html
Thursday 5 September 2013
Château Maucaillou 2009 Red AOC Moulis
This red wine is a good solid example of Bordeaux dry red. It is typical of the Médoc and exhibits all the qualities of a good red wine. It is well balanced and the softening tannin is well integrated into the structure of the wine. It has complex and concentrated flavours of red and black fruits with a slight vanilla flavour derived from its maturation in oak casks It will improve in the bottle for a few years longer.
I use this wine as a reference point. Any red wine which tastes better will be of exceptional quality and will be of exceptional value for money if it costs less than £20 a bottle.
If I am paying £15 to £20 pounds for a bottle of red then I expect wine which is just as good as the Château Maucaillou and I would be disappointed if it did not live up to these standards.
Château Maucaillou should be drunk with a good meal and it goes perfectly with beef. You can buy it for about 23Eur a bottle in France. I rate this wine much more highly than Snooth does.
http://www.snooth.com/winery/chateau-maucaillou-moulis-en-medoc/
I use this wine as a reference point. Any red wine which tastes better will be of exceptional quality and will be of exceptional value for money if it costs less than £20 a bottle.
If I am paying £15 to £20 pounds for a bottle of red then I expect wine which is just as good as the Château Maucaillou and I would be disappointed if it did not live up to these standards.
Château Maucaillou should be drunk with a good meal and it goes perfectly with beef. You can buy it for about 23Eur a bottle in France. I rate this wine much more highly than Snooth does.
http://www.snooth.com/winery/chateau-maucaillou-moulis-en-medoc/
Friday 16 August 2013
Franck GIVAUDIN Irancy Rouge AOC 2011
We drank this wine in a tiny village on the N151 just south of Auxerre. Irancy is one of my favourite wines and Franck GIVAUDIN is a really good producer. You will not be disappointed if you find a bottle of this wine as it has all the regional character that you expect from an Irancy. It has a taste of strawberries and raspberries and an air of minerals.
The wine is elegant and matches Burgundian cuisine really well: we drank it with Bavette steak but it will go down just as well with roast chicken or game. the 2011 can be drunk now or kept to improve in the bottle for a few years longer.
http://www.irancy.org/vigneron.php?id_vigneron=8
I love drinking wines when I am in their actual region of production. This is why, whenever I travel in the major wine producing countries of Europe I order wine that is produced in the locality if possible.
I even like Retsina when I am Greece even though I cannot stomach it in the UK.
In the UK it is difficult to find a locally produced wine of any quality at a reasonable price. This means that we have to look for wines from all over the world to go with our food - this is adequate compensation provided that I am not forced to drink Retsina.
The wine is elegant and matches Burgundian cuisine really well: we drank it with Bavette steak but it will go down just as well with roast chicken or game. the 2011 can be drunk now or kept to improve in the bottle for a few years longer.
http://www.irancy.org/vigneron.php?id_vigneron=8
I love drinking wines when I am in their actual region of production. This is why, whenever I travel in the major wine producing countries of Europe I order wine that is produced in the locality if possible.
I even like Retsina when I am Greece even though I cannot stomach it in the UK.
In the UK it is difficult to find a locally produced wine of any quality at a reasonable price. This means that we have to look for wines from all over the world to go with our food - this is adequate compensation provided that I am not forced to drink Retsina.
Thursday 25 July 2013
Burgundy – One region but many styles of Wine
Burgundy
– One region but many styles of Wine
On a recent trip to Burgundy it was really brought
home to me how the styles and character of the wine differ from area to area.
This is what makes Burgundy so interesting for me; all of the good wines have regional
character. They have the much talked about goût de terroir.
My wife and I were visiting her family in north Burgundy
and because her father was born in Beines near the town of Chablis we have a
particular fondness for the wines of the area. But this fondness is not just
based on sentimentality as the quality of the wines from northern Burgundy can
be outstanding. The hospitality of our Burgundian cousins was also outstanding.
We drank two red wines:
Le Bourgogne-Côte-Saint-Jacques
2010
produced by Domaine Christophe Lepage from the commune of Champlay near to Joigny,
which is about 24 kms down river from Auxerre on the banks of the river Yonne.
The river Yonne to the south and the Othe forest to the north protect the vines
from excessive heat or cold in all seasons.
About 11 hectares of land is
under vine in the Côte-Saint-Jacques “appellation”. Since the late 1970s there
has been a revival in the fortunes of the Joigny vineyards. Grape production
almost disappeared here during the early part of the twentieth century owing to
infestation of the vines by the phylloxera pest which almost completely destroyed
the vineyards.
The soil here is composed of sand, flint, gravel and
clay overlying late cretaceous limestone and it is ideally suited to the
cultivation of the Pinot Noir grape. The vineyards here are the most northern
of the Burgundy Appellation so the red wines are not as rich as the wines
further south.
This wine tasted of cherry and red fruits with soft
tannins. It was of good basic quality and was fully mature but it would not improve
in the bottle for much longer
.
Côte-Saint-Jacques wines are not readily available
in the UK, it is best to pay a visit to the area. Joigny and Auxerre are towns
which are well worth visiting they are about 4 hours from Calais by car.
Bourgogne
–Epineuil Les Beaumonts 2009 Vignobles Dampt; this is a
prize winning red wine. Epineuil is one of my favourites: it is produced in the
eponymous commune near the town of Tonnerre.
The soil is based on Kimmeridgian calcareous outcrops
which lends a flinty or steely taste to the wine and this combined with the
cherry and red fruits flavours gives a completely distinctive character to the
wine.
This wine tastes much more complex than the Côte-Saint-Jacques.
It is the soil which makes the difference and even though Tonnerre is only
twenty five miles from Joigny the geology is completely different.
The wine was fully mature and ready to drink now but
I am certain that it could be kept for a few years longer.
The vineyards of Tonnerre suffered a similar fate to
those of Joigny and before the end of the 19th century it was
regarded as one of the most prestigious in France; it is now recovering its
reputation. Epineuil is set to become one of the princes of wine. It is also
difficult to obtain in the UK so a visit to the area is recommended.
We drank two white wines:
Chablis
Premier Cru Beauroy 2008 from Domaine Alain Geoffroy:
this is a good quality Chablis which had all the complex flavours that I would
expect from a premier cru wine. It tasted of peaches and citrus fruits with a
mineral flavour imparted by the Kimmeridgian soils.
This wine is 100%
chardonnay and was not matured in new oak barrels. It tasted fresh. We drank
this wine with fish at the start of a meal and chaource with the cheese course.
This wine is OK to drink now but it will keep and improve in the bottle for
several years longer.
Chablis is one of my favourite white wines as I am not
over fond of white wines which have too much oak flavour. Chablis is easily
obtainable in the UK but at inflated prices compared to France, so this is
another good reason to visit the north of Burgundy.
Saint-VéranTerra
Incognita 2008 White: the appellation of Saint-Véran is from
much further south in the Burgundy region in the Mâconnais district which
is west of the town of Mâcon. The climate is much warmer here and this is
reflected in the style and character of the wine: it is much richer than the Chardonnay
based whites form the north of Burgundy. The soil is also different to that of
Chablis as it is based on limestone marls.
This wine is so different in style to the Chablis
premier cru that you could be forgiven for thinking that they are from
completely different regions. It too had a flavour of stone fruits and peaches but there
was the distinct taste of vanilla spice. Unlike the Chablis it had been matured
in new oak barrels. There was none of the mineral flavour from the Kimmeridgian
soils of the Chablis sub-region. It was good quality wine but not outstanding.
The Mâconnais sub-region produces more dry white wine than the rest of Burgundy
put to together and is an ideal place to find and good quality White Burgundy
which is excellent value for money.
So there you have it, two good quality red and dry
whites which reflect the character of their sub-region and even their local
area. The Burgundy region covers just over 12,000 square miles and it is easy
to travel from part to another but there are many styles of wine. In some wine
producing countries you would need to cross a whole continent to find wines of
such distinctive character.
Monday 22 July 2013
Planet of the Grapes - Bow Lane London
I had time to spare for lunch with a colleague in Bow lane so I popped in to Planet Of The Grapes to see what it is all about. Normally, a name such as this which apes the name of a film would put me off- pardon the pun.
I was really impressed when I asked the waitress to recommend a real dry white wine and the answer was Domaine Vatan Pouilly-Fumé 2010. The wine was superb and I happily paid £10 for a glass. It had the distinct flavour of a Loire Valley white wine made from Sauvignon Blanc. It had green fruit and apple flavours and a gorgeous smokey, flinty aroma; this wine was typical of the area.
I bought a bottle at £16 to take home and this represented tremendous value for money for such a good wine from a good producer. I shall share it with friends over a fish dinner.
The wine was made from grapes from selected plots of land where the soil is based on silaceous clay interspersed with flint stones. It was the perfect wine to drink on its own on a hot summer day but better with food of course.
It was a pleasant to find a wine bar where the waiting staff actually know something about wine and make a perfect recommendation. Of course, I cannot resist a rant about varietal labelling. Merlot is not a wine it is a grape. Merlot is used to produce grapes in almost every wine producing country. The "wine" is rarely 100% Merlot as it will have been blended with other black grapes. the same reasoning applies to Chardonnay.
I was in an Italian restaurant the other day and asked the waitress to recommend a red wine, she suggested Merlot. She was Italian; why did she know nothing about wine? I settled for a Sicilian red, she new where Sicily was but why did she not know that they produced some very good wine? Why should I be treated as an ignoramus?
Is it not time for all wine bars and restaurants to follow Planet Of The Grapes lead and employ people who know something about wine.
If you settle for "Merlot Wine" you will probably get poor quality bulk produced plonk from anywhere in the world but being sold at inflated prices. At Plane Of The Grapes I knew what I was getting and I was prepared to pay that little bit extra for the wine and the good service.
The range of wines from all over the world in Planet Of The Grapes was impressive and the wine knowledge of the manager, Fabio, was equally as impressive. A quick glance at the Bordeaux and Burgundy counters revealed that I had tasted a fair proportion of them . I could be worth a fortune now but I would not have enjoyed my life so much.
So three cheers for Fabio and his staff. I am going back.
http://www.edvwines.com/xq/asp/ID.21/qx/brands.html
http://www.planetofthegrapes.co.uk/
I was really impressed when I asked the waitress to recommend a real dry white wine and the answer was Domaine Vatan Pouilly-Fumé 2010. The wine was superb and I happily paid £10 for a glass. It had the distinct flavour of a Loire Valley white wine made from Sauvignon Blanc. It had green fruit and apple flavours and a gorgeous smokey, flinty aroma; this wine was typical of the area.
I bought a bottle at £16 to take home and this represented tremendous value for money for such a good wine from a good producer. I shall share it with friends over a fish dinner.
The wine was made from grapes from selected plots of land where the soil is based on silaceous clay interspersed with flint stones. It was the perfect wine to drink on its own on a hot summer day but better with food of course.
It was a pleasant to find a wine bar where the waiting staff actually know something about wine and make a perfect recommendation. Of course, I cannot resist a rant about varietal labelling. Merlot is not a wine it is a grape. Merlot is used to produce grapes in almost every wine producing country. The "wine" is rarely 100% Merlot as it will have been blended with other black grapes. the same reasoning applies to Chardonnay.
I was in an Italian restaurant the other day and asked the waitress to recommend a red wine, she suggested Merlot. She was Italian; why did she know nothing about wine? I settled for a Sicilian red, she new where Sicily was but why did she not know that they produced some very good wine? Why should I be treated as an ignoramus?
Is it not time for all wine bars and restaurants to follow Planet Of The Grapes lead and employ people who know something about wine.
If you settle for "Merlot Wine" you will probably get poor quality bulk produced plonk from anywhere in the world but being sold at inflated prices. At Plane Of The Grapes I knew what I was getting and I was prepared to pay that little bit extra for the wine and the good service.
The range of wines from all over the world in Planet Of The Grapes was impressive and the wine knowledge of the manager, Fabio, was equally as impressive. A quick glance at the Bordeaux and Burgundy counters revealed that I had tasted a fair proportion of them . I could be worth a fortune now but I would not have enjoyed my life so much.
So three cheers for Fabio and his staff. I am going back.
http://www.edvwines.com/xq/asp/ID.21/qx/brands.html
http://www.planetofthegrapes.co.uk/
Domaine Debray Auxey-Duresses AOC 2005 White Burgundy
We drank this wine after the Wolf Blass Yellow label sparkling wine but with our food- see my previous posting. This wine is typical of a white Burgundy form the Côte de Beaune area with a complex flavours of nuts, butter, fruits and spice. it is not dissimilar to its more illustrious brothe from the neighbouring commune of Mersault. It compares favourably.
The limestone marl soils and the climate here really suit the Chardonnay grape. This wine has the distinct character of the region. The Côte de Beaune produces some of the world's finest dry white wines with a subtle oak finish. In my opinion the New World still has a long way to go to beat even the modest wines from Debray who is a really good producer.
This wine went perfectly with casseroled chicken but it would go equally as well with fish especially smoked salmon. The 2005 vintage is ready for drinking now.
I can't remember how much I paid for this wine but now I think that we are talking about £16 to £20 pounds a bottle
http://www.domaine-debray.fr/vins-beaune/img/rvf-juin2010.pdf
http://www.burgundyeye.com/wine/winegrowers-merchants/beaune/domaine-debray-beaune/
The limestone marl soils and the climate here really suit the Chardonnay grape. This wine has the distinct character of the region. The Côte de Beaune produces some of the world's finest dry white wines with a subtle oak finish. In my opinion the New World still has a long way to go to beat even the modest wines from Debray who is a really good producer.
This wine went perfectly with casseroled chicken but it would go equally as well with fish especially smoked salmon. The 2005 vintage is ready for drinking now.
I can't remember how much I paid for this wine but now I think that we are talking about £16 to £20 pounds a bottle
http://www.domaine-debray.fr/vins-beaune/img/rvf-juin2010.pdf
http://www.burgundyeye.com/wine/winegrowers-merchants/beaune/domaine-debray-beaune/
Wolf Blass Yellow Label Sparkling Wine Brut and Buck's Fizz
The weather was so hot last weekend that we decided to eat outside. We had some friends coming round and one of likes sparkling wine. My wife suggested buck's fizz so I looked for a bottle of cheap wine to contaminate with orange juice. The best I could come up with was Wolf Blass Yellow Label 2009 white sparkling wine made for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
I thought for a moment and asked myself - "why should I ruin a perfectly good bottle of fizz as I would not do this with Champagne?".
The Wolf Blass was chilled and we all drank it and I was quite impressed. It was not as good as Champagne as it did not have the savoury taste and the complexity of flavours. It was full of fruit however and ready for drinking. Unlike most Champagne, the Blass was not blended from different years and was a real vintage wine.
The Wolf Blass, however, was blended from vines from different vineyards and I suspect that it has been produced in bulk. Unlike Champagne, this wine was probably produced by the transfer method whereby the wine is disgorged into a pressurised tank after secondary fermentation in the bottle. The sparkling wine is then filtered and has a "dosage" added to balance the acidity; it is then re-bottled. This method of sparkling wine production is sometimes termed "bottle fermented".
http://www.wolfblasswines.com/en/Our-Wines/Yellow-Label/Sparkling-Brut-Pinot-Noir-Chardonnay.aspx
Champagne and Cava are made from the traditional method so they are not disgorged into a tank after secondary fermentation. The "dosage " is added to the original bottle. The same bottle is used for the process of sparkling wine production and retained throughout. This traditional method is more expensive and is used for better quality wine.
The Wolf Blass Yellow Label does not in any way taste inferior and it is of good everyday drinking quality. As my Australian friends would say. "It is not a bad drop of grog". At around £8 pounds for a bottle it represents very good value for money and is an excellent wine to drink as an aperitif - but not mixed with orange juice please.
I always have cheap bottles of cognac and whisky available for when people ask for mixers. My wife has been known to use my Camus XO or Glenmorangie. As far as I am concerned it is complete sacrilege to drink mixers with the best spirits. It is also sacrilege to mix orange juice or kir with Champagne.
Some people have a different opinion and they deserve what they get.
http://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-and-Drink/saveur-100-cognac-cocktails
The same goes for beer; Shepherd Neame Master Brew cask conditioned ale does not improve the taste of lemonade if you order a shandy. It is better to stick to the cheapest beer the pub can offer or have a glass of water to quench your thirst.
So, lets keep our good sparkling wines unadulterated and reserve the real plonk for mixing.
I thought for a moment and asked myself - "why should I ruin a perfectly good bottle of fizz as I would not do this with Champagne?".
The Wolf Blass was chilled and we all drank it and I was quite impressed. It was not as good as Champagne as it did not have the savoury taste and the complexity of flavours. It was full of fruit however and ready for drinking. Unlike most Champagne, the Blass was not blended from different years and was a real vintage wine.
The Wolf Blass, however, was blended from vines from different vineyards and I suspect that it has been produced in bulk. Unlike Champagne, this wine was probably produced by the transfer method whereby the wine is disgorged into a pressurised tank after secondary fermentation in the bottle. The sparkling wine is then filtered and has a "dosage" added to balance the acidity; it is then re-bottled. This method of sparkling wine production is sometimes termed "bottle fermented".
http://www.wolfblasswines.com/en/Our-Wines/Yellow-Label/Sparkling-Brut-Pinot-Noir-Chardonnay.aspx
Champagne and Cava are made from the traditional method so they are not disgorged into a tank after secondary fermentation. The "dosage " is added to the original bottle. The same bottle is used for the process of sparkling wine production and retained throughout. This traditional method is more expensive and is used for better quality wine.
The Wolf Blass Yellow Label does not in any way taste inferior and it is of good everyday drinking quality. As my Australian friends would say. "It is not a bad drop of grog". At around £8 pounds for a bottle it represents very good value for money and is an excellent wine to drink as an aperitif - but not mixed with orange juice please.
I always have cheap bottles of cognac and whisky available for when people ask for mixers. My wife has been known to use my Camus XO or Glenmorangie. As far as I am concerned it is complete sacrilege to drink mixers with the best spirits. It is also sacrilege to mix orange juice or kir with Champagne.
Some people have a different opinion and they deserve what they get.
http://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-and-Drink/saveur-100-cognac-cocktails
The same goes for beer; Shepherd Neame Master Brew cask conditioned ale does not improve the taste of lemonade if you order a shandy. It is better to stick to the cheapest beer the pub can offer or have a glass of water to quench your thirst.
So, lets keep our good sparkling wines unadulterated and reserve the real plonk for mixing.
Stray''s of Newark - Great food but no Fino
My wife and I went to a family meal recently at Stray's of Newark. This is a fine old establishment in a fine market town.
Stray's specialises in Tapas and they have music performances. So what better way to spend a hot Friday night eating Spanish food and listening to some jazz with the family.
The menu had a wide selection of food but no Fino. I was a little bit surprised by this as Fino and Tapas are like Siamese twins that should never be separated. Fino or Manzanilla Sherry is the life blood of a Spanish Tapas bar.
When I spoke to the manager he told me that there is no demand for Fino - so why keep stocks of wine which will never be drunk and which should be drunk as young as possible. It did not make economic sense so point taken.
Fino is one of the finest wines and it has a completely distinctive style. It has a light to medium body with a complex flavour of nuts and yeast with a hint of acetaldehyde. It is a completely dry wine because the method of production encourages the growth of yeast or Flor on the surface of the wine in the cask. This Flor consumes any remaining sugar left over from fermentation and any glycerine in the wine.
The development of Flor in Sherry is a random and natural process which only occurs in the Jerez region of Spain. This combined with the Albariza soil and the Palomino grape variety produces one of the world's best fortified wines.
Anyone who does not drink Fino with their Tapas is missing out on a wonderful food and wine combination. Fino goes well with the whole range of Spanish food. It even handles food which is strong in garlic.
Millions of British people go to Spain for their holidays every year. Surely, some of you must have discovered Fino and Tapas or did you all stick to Omelette and Chips and Fosters?
I urge all food lovers to order Fino the next time you go to a Spanish restaurant or even to the wine bar down the road. It is great to drink at home as an aperitif and no-one who I know who likes wine has ever refused a second glass unless they were driving.
If there is no demand then bar owners will not stock it. You should always drink Fino chilled and the younger the wine is bottled the better. Because the wine is fractionally blended from different years in a Solera system there can be no vintage.
http://www.strayscoffee.co.uk/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/jan/19/sherry-guide-beginners-wine-spain
Stray's specialises in Tapas and they have music performances. So what better way to spend a hot Friday night eating Spanish food and listening to some jazz with the family.
The menu had a wide selection of food but no Fino. I was a little bit surprised by this as Fino and Tapas are like Siamese twins that should never be separated. Fino or Manzanilla Sherry is the life blood of a Spanish Tapas bar.
When I spoke to the manager he told me that there is no demand for Fino - so why keep stocks of wine which will never be drunk and which should be drunk as young as possible. It did not make economic sense so point taken.
Fino is one of the finest wines and it has a completely distinctive style. It has a light to medium body with a complex flavour of nuts and yeast with a hint of acetaldehyde. It is a completely dry wine because the method of production encourages the growth of yeast or Flor on the surface of the wine in the cask. This Flor consumes any remaining sugar left over from fermentation and any glycerine in the wine.
The development of Flor in Sherry is a random and natural process which only occurs in the Jerez region of Spain. This combined with the Albariza soil and the Palomino grape variety produces one of the world's best fortified wines.
Anyone who does not drink Fino with their Tapas is missing out on a wonderful food and wine combination. Fino goes well with the whole range of Spanish food. It even handles food which is strong in garlic.
Millions of British people go to Spain for their holidays every year. Surely, some of you must have discovered Fino and Tapas or did you all stick to Omelette and Chips and Fosters?
I urge all food lovers to order Fino the next time you go to a Spanish restaurant or even to the wine bar down the road. It is great to drink at home as an aperitif and no-one who I know who likes wine has ever refused a second glass unless they were driving.
If there is no demand then bar owners will not stock it. You should always drink Fino chilled and the younger the wine is bottled the better. Because the wine is fractionally blended from different years in a Solera system there can be no vintage.
http://www.strayscoffee.co.uk/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/jan/19/sherry-guide-beginners-wine-spain
Wednesday 10 July 2013
L'Homme De Bois - Honfleur
We went to the L'Homme De Bois in Honfleur last Monday evening. It is a very good restaurant not far from the port.
http://www.sammagenceweb.com/restaurant-lhomme-de-bois-honfleur-27721-honfleur
What do you do when you have a party of four and two are going to eat beef and the other two are going to eat fish? Do you order a bottle of red and a bottle of white and risk the wrath of the health authorities? Do you order two half bottles even though the choice is limited? Or, do you at least share a bottle of wine even if you are not sharing the food and order a bottle of Les Restanques du Moulin Bandol Rosé 2012.
Well I chose the latter and this was a superb wine which goes equally well with grilled Côte de Bœuf
and Grilled Sea Bass. Bandol is one of my favourite wines. The Rosé is made from a mixture of Mourvèdre, Grenache, Cinsault grapes.
This wine has a lovely aroma with a taste of raspberries, strawberries and other red fruits. At 28 EUR for a bottle in a Restaurant it was particularly good value for money. You can buy it on the retail market for around 10 EUR a bottle.
http://www.espritwine.com/index.php?target=products&product_id=29925
The food and service in the restaurant was also of high quality. Although I ate fish, I also tasted rather a lot of one of our company's Côte de Bœuf. The wine went extremely well with both. Perhaps my wine education was not wasted after all.
Sipping the wine also made me reflect on my good fortune to be able to drink such good wine in such favourable circumstances. Maybe the wine course made a philosopher out of me as well!
The restaurant was very good with customer service and the waitress ignored my wife's entreaties not to serve chips with my fish. Fish and chips is not just the preserve of the British, as the French, Belgians and Spanish love this combination too.
The restaurant had a nice mix of tourists and local people. It is well worth visiting the L'Homme De Bois and Honfleur too.
Bandol Rosé is not made from mixing white wine and red wine but from a special technique which only allows the skin of the black grapes a short period of contact with the fermentation must. Producing Rosé wine from blending red and white white is banned in France except for the Champagne region.
Bandol Rouge is also a very fine wine made primarily from the Mourvèdre black grape.
The Bandol region of Provence also produces some fine white wines.
If you have not tried Bandol then I strongly recommend that you do, especially the Red. You will not be disappointed.
http://www.sammagenceweb.com/restaurant-lhomme-de-bois-honfleur-27721-honfleur
What do you do when you have a party of four and two are going to eat beef and the other two are going to eat fish? Do you order a bottle of red and a bottle of white and risk the wrath of the health authorities? Do you order two half bottles even though the choice is limited? Or, do you at least share a bottle of wine even if you are not sharing the food and order a bottle of Les Restanques du Moulin Bandol Rosé 2012.
Well I chose the latter and this was a superb wine which goes equally well with grilled Côte de Bœuf
and Grilled Sea Bass. Bandol is one of my favourite wines. The Rosé is made from a mixture of Mourvèdre, Grenache, Cinsault grapes.
This wine has a lovely aroma with a taste of raspberries, strawberries and other red fruits. At 28 EUR for a bottle in a Restaurant it was particularly good value for money. You can buy it on the retail market for around 10 EUR a bottle.
http://www.espritwine.com/index.php?target=products&product_id=29925
The food and service in the restaurant was also of high quality. Although I ate fish, I also tasted rather a lot of one of our company's Côte de Bœuf. The wine went extremely well with both. Perhaps my wine education was not wasted after all.
Sipping the wine also made me reflect on my good fortune to be able to drink such good wine in such favourable circumstances. Maybe the wine course made a philosopher out of me as well!
The restaurant was very good with customer service and the waitress ignored my wife's entreaties not to serve chips with my fish. Fish and chips is not just the preserve of the British, as the French, Belgians and Spanish love this combination too.
The restaurant had a nice mix of tourists and local people. It is well worth visiting the L'Homme De Bois and Honfleur too.
Bandol Rosé is not made from mixing white wine and red wine but from a special technique which only allows the skin of the black grapes a short period of contact with the fermentation must. Producing Rosé wine from blending red and white white is banned in France except for the Champagne region.
Bandol Rouge is also a very fine wine made primarily from the Mourvèdre black grape.
The Bandol region of Provence also produces some fine white wines.
If you have not tried Bandol then I strongly recommend that you do, especially the Red. You will not be disappointed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)