This is a well made dry white wine with a fresh taste of citrus fruits: it went down very well with oysters. It is a good quality wine at a reasonable price -£6.74. This wine was discounted and I would be reluctant to pay the "full price" of £8.99.
The Vermentino grape variety is widely cultivated in Sardinia and is also cultivated in northern Corsica and northern Italy and the Languedoc-Roussillon region of the French mainland.
Vermentino based wines are best drunk young and fresh: you could easily drink it as an aperitif or with a fish starter or with fish soup.
La Vieille Ferme 2012
I have never been tempted to by this wine as it has got a brand name and I tend to avoid any wine that has got a brand name. Maybe I have become a wine snob. I am quite prepared to drink "Spitfire" or "Master Brew" ale. A friend brought it round: it is made by Perrin and fils who are reputable producers. It is made from the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault grape varieties and is from the Côtes du Ventoux appellation in the Rhône region of France on the slopes of Mont Ventoux.
Mont Ventoux is also famous as a region for cycling and the Tour de France mounts stages there but I digress.
I was wrong to be prejudiced about this wine. It is very fruity and went down well with grilled pork. It is not a wine for keeping but is of good quality and I recommend it at the price. There is even a rather "cheeky" video about the wine on this website. I wonder if Stephen Spielberg buys his wine from Majestic?
Rioja Reserva Cepa Sebrel 2009 - Dry Red
We drank this wine the week before Christmas with fillet steak and it went perfectly with beef. It is typical of the Rioja appellation and is instantly recognisable as such. It is a Reserva wine which is matured for three years with at least one year in oak barrels.
A friend brought this wine to us and although it does not have the absolute quality of a Gran Reserva from a producer such as Marqués de Murrieta it is nevertheless of very good quality and worth buying if you can find it outside of Spain.
I had difficulty finding information about this wine from the Internet but you can take my word for it that this is great wine and I doubt that it would be expensive if you can find it in Spain so it will be great value for money.
The wine is ready for drinking but you could cellar it for a year or two longer.
Export Series,Margaret River Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc 2010 from Western Australia; dry white wine from winemaker Adam Carnaby.
We drank this wine the week before Christmas with fillet steak and it went perfectly with beef. It is typical of the Rioja appellation and is instantly recognisable as such. It is a Reserva wine which is matured for three years with at least one year in oak barrels.
A friend brought this wine to us and although it does not have the absolute quality of a Gran Reserva from a producer such as Marqués de Murrieta it is nevertheless of very good quality and worth buying if you can find it outside of Spain.
I had difficulty finding information about this wine from the Internet but you can take my word for it that this is great wine and I doubt that it would be expensive if you can find it in Spain so it will be great value for money.
The wine is ready for drinking but you could cellar it for a year or two longer.
Export Series,Margaret River Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc 2010 from Western Australia; dry white wine from winemaker Adam Carnaby.
A fresh and zesty wine with flavours of citrus fruits. This wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks and is cool fermented after the harvest in cool night time conditions. It is fermented with selected yeast strains. It is not matured in oak so there is none of the sweet vanilla taste of "over-oaked" wines. Malo-lactic conversion has been blocked but the wine does not taste over acidic. A thoroughly modern wine with a clean and bright taste and of really good quality and exceptionally good value for money at £7.99 a bottle. I shall be going back for more.
We drank a half bottle of this one night with oysters and the second half the following night with roast chicken. It went very well with both. The wine was chilled.
It should be noted that Bordeaux white is made from a similar blend of grapes and of course it goes just as well with oysters from the Arcachon basin.
A friend gave me a bottle of this wine and I was so impressed that I bought another bottle. It has won prizes. When I first opened it I felt that the wine had been subjected to too much malo-lactic conversion where the wine maker encourages micro-organisms too convert harsher tasting malic acid to softer tasting lactic acid.
The lactic acid lends a "buttery" taste to the wine.
We drank half a bottle one night with steak and the second half the next night with roast chicken by which time the buttery taste had worn off to reveal a lovely fruity wine. I was not imagining things as my wife noticed this effect too without any prompting from me.
This wine will keep for a number of years by which time I expect tall the components in the wine to be fully integrated.
Who said that Argentina cannot produce very good qauilty wine at a reasonable price? It is readily available from Waitrose. I recommend that you try it but leave it to breathe for an hour or so before drinking and consume it with food..
The lactic acid lends a "buttery" taste to the wine.
We drank half a bottle one night with steak and the second half the next night with roast chicken by which time the buttery taste had worn off to reveal a lovely fruity wine. I was not imagining things as my wife noticed this effect too without any prompting from me.
This wine will keep for a number of years by which time I expect tall the components in the wine to be fully integrated.
Who said that Argentina cannot produce very good qauilty wine at a reasonable price? It is readily available from Waitrose. I recommend that you try it but leave it to breathe for an hour or so before drinking and consume it with food..
