West Fisher Springfield English Sparkling Wine

I bought this fine wine at a local farmers' market. It represents all that is best in English wine.  We served it as an aperitif and I saved a little for dessert.

The wine is made from  Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. The colour of the wine was almost golden. The bubbles were fine and the wine had a yeasty, tangy, fruity aroma with an umami flavour. Like all good wine it was complex and concentrated and had a long length on the palate. It had well balanced acidity. The wine was dry or brut.

My wife is from Champagne and could not resist making a comparison with her favourite aperitif. Springfield does not taste exactly like Champagne but it is very similar. We know producers who make a stronger tasting Champagne and many people from France like this style of wine. Springfield has got plenty of flavour and it suits my taste buds perfectly. My wife really thought it tasted great and so did our guests.

The West Fisher winery uses grapes from a number of vineyards  from the South East of England. This wine production model is also used in Champagne. The wine is blended and the wine maker obviously has a good palate and hopefully he or she can maintain a consistent house style over the coming years.

The improving climate, from a wine maker's point of view, and the soil are starting to produce really good conditions for growing sparkling wine grapes but provided that the winters do not become too mild. Hopefully, West Fisher wineries can produce great wines for many decades to come.

The price of the wine is around £17 a bottle and it is great value for money. You are getting a high quality wine with a distinctive taste and fine bubbles. This is a wine for a celebration. We shall be drinking another bottle with our family over the Christmas period.

When you see it do not hesitate as it compares favourably with the other superb English Sparkling Wines all of which need a brand name if they are to take off. I rather like Weald Wine.

http://www.westfisher.co.uk/

Duc de Montgerald Duché d’Uzès AOC 2103 Red Wine from Waitrose

Duché d’Uzès is a new appellation and 2103 was the first year of production for this newly promoted wine which was formerly a Vin de Pays. I can understand why the wine was promoted as it is simply wonderful.

The appellation rules dictate that the wine must be made from at least 40% Syrah grapes and at least 20% Grenache; Carignan, Cinsaut , and Mourvèdre  black grapes can also be used in the blend. The climate and soil in the Gard commune are perfect for the production of red wine with these grapes. The town of Uzès is situated at the source of the river Eure and it is not far from the Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct.  The scenery around the area is simply wonderful.

I was going to keep this wine for a couple of years before drinking it but I couldn't resist tasting what is for me a new wine. We drank it with friends. I should have opened the bottle an hour or so before I served it as I could smell the distinct  and over powering aroma of lactic acid resulting from the malo-lactic conversion used to soften the wine. The smell of the lactic acid seemed to mask the fruitiness of the wine. The aroma quickly disappeared however, and then the wine smelt and tasted much more fruity, spicy and complex. The wine was also very concentrated and had long length on the palate. After fifteen minutes the wine started to smell and taste faultless.

This wine merits keeping for a few more years and it should become more complex and the tannin will soften; it will improve further.

We bought the wine in Waitrose for £7.49 and it was very good value for money: we drank it with fillet of pork. There were four of us for dinner and we finished the bottle.

I have never seen this appellation in the UK before. We paid a visit to the area in early 2014 and we did not see it then either - not even in its Vin de Pay guise. It is indeed a hidden treasure.

The appellation also produces white and rosé wines but I have not tasted them.

http://www.uzes.fr/L-AOC-Duche-d-Uzes-officiellement-reconnue-par-l-INAO_a926.html

http://www.vins-de-pays.info/producteurs/vins-de-pays-igp.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malolactic_fermentation

Postscript

Lactic acid is excreted by human beings especially after exercise and its aroma attracts mosquitos.

http://insects.about.com/od/flies/a/how-to-get-mosquito-bites.htm

Côtes de Bergerac Rouge 2003

We went to lunch last Sunday at some good friends and they produced a bottle of Patrick Geneste's 

Côtes de Bergerac Rouge 2003 from the 

Domaine du Petit Paris.  We had brought this particular bottle to our friends years ago and they had laid it down.

When we got round to drinking it we were astonished at how good the wine was. It had maintained its ruby colour and had hardly lightened with age. The wine was full of fruit and was complex and concentrated and you could still feel the softening tannin on the the palate. The wine had long length.

Côtes de Bergerac Rouge  is made in the Dordogne region which is famous for Monbazillac dessert wines. The red wines are made in a similar style to Bordeaux reds and from similar blends of grapes. This particular wine is made from Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

We drank the wine with casseroled lamb and it went perfectly.

I cannot remember where I bought the wine but it must have been when I was visiting the region. You can buy Côtes de Bergerac Rouge for around  £8.00 in the UK but it is difficult to find.

Patrick Geneste's wine is of the highest quality and if you can still manage to find his Côtes de Bergerac Rouge 2003 then buy it and drink it immediately with good food. This wine encompasses all that I love about the wine industry as you can still buy exceptional quality wine for a very reasonable price. It has restored my faith in human nature. It is no wonder that this wine has won prizes.

http://www.vins-bergerac.fr/vignerons/domaine-du-petit-paris/

1998 Château Gruaud-Larose Saint-Julien Second Growth Bordeaux

Château Gruaud-Larose is one of my favourite red wines from Bordeaux. I drank a half bottle the other week with some friends in the Planet of The Grapes wine bar. The wine is from the village of Saint Julien in the Médoc. 1998 was not particularly good year in Bordeaux but you would not guess it after tasting this wine. As far as I was concerned this wine was superb and my two friends agreed.

The wine had all the complex and concentrated tastes of an exceptional Bordeaux and in my opinion it was still rather youthful and the fruit was still waiting to come out. If you want to find out what a top Bordeaux wine tastes like after it has matured for ten years or more then Château Gruaud-Larose is the wine to try. It will be expensive but not exorbitant. The quality of Château Gruaud-Larose is right up there with Château Latour. However, because it is not so highly renowned as an investment wine the prices have not gone through the roof.

The Château has a second wine Sarget de Gruaud-Larose and you will hardly notice any difference in quality but you will notice the difference in price and your wallet will be just that little bit heavier. The second wine will not keep as long, however.

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/gruaud+larose+st+julien+medoc+bordeaux+france/1998/uk

http://www.hewines.com/1998-chateau-gruaud-larose-saint-julien

http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=57378

Forget about scoring systems and florid descriptions this wine is produced by experts from vines which grow on the finest ground in the finest micro-climate. This is why it is such great wine.

It is a wine to savour with properly cooked beef or lamb - which is not overdone.