I was looking for some wine on the racks the other day when I found a 2012 bottle of Madiran and a 2012 bottle of 2012 Irancy red. Both wines were bought in French supermarkets for very reasonable prices years ago.
Terasses D'Autan Madiran Red 2012 AOC
Madiran is a village in the South West of France in Gascony between the towns of Pau and Auch. The red wine produced here is made primarily from the Tannat grape and it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The wine is strong in tannin and wine producers allow micro oxygenation of the wine to soften the tannin.This is termed micro-bullage in French. This wine was still going strong after 8 years in the bottle and would probably age for years more. It is a style of wine rich in red and black fruits but dry and with full body.the taste lingered on the palate for a long time. It was concentrated and complex and well balanced and had all the hallmarks of a very good wine that will keep for a long time. This wine had a taste of the regio. It is a wine that was designed to be consumed with good food. We had it with a shoulder of lamb from Devon. Have you never heard of it? You can still find the latter years of it on the web and in a supermarket. I highly recommend it. It is exceptional value for money.
https://www.e-leclerc.com/catalogue/rayons/alimentaire/boissons-avec-alcool/aoc---madiran-terrasses-d-autan,1153404310
Heimbourger Irancy Red 2012 AOC
Irancy is one of my favourite Burgundy wines, it is produced in the Auxerrois area in the Yonne Department in the far north of the Burgundy region. The village or commune is not far from Chablis and the kimmeridgian based soils are highly suited to the production of red wine from the Pinot Noir grape. Winemakers are permitted to use up to 10% of the César black grape which is rich in tannin. I was not expecting this wine to last so long but it aged very well. It still had the cherry flavour typical of wines from the village. But the wine had matured to develop a flavour of plums as well. The wine was dry on the palate with a medium body and it still retained its complexity and concentration and unique taste of the region. We drank it with free range roast chicken but it would also go down well roasted red meats. You can buy this wine in the Leclerc and Carrefour supermarkets. My father-in-law was born not far from the commune of Irancy and this is one of the reasons why we can identify wines from the area without seeing the label. We enjoyed so much of this wine with my late father-in-law and it brought back so many fond memories. This made us forget about Covid-19 for a while. It is difficult to find this wine in the UK, but in France you can buy it for a reasonable price. It is excellent value for money.
https://www.domaine-heimbourger.com/en/vins/irancy.html
https://www.carrefour.fr/p/vin-rouge-irancy-2014-domaine-heimbourger-3531518980043
So, there you have it there are many unexpected pleasures if you keep your wine in a cool dark place. And you do not have to spend a fortune.
Tuesday 21 April 2020
Monday 6 April 2020
Alain Mathias - Chablis 2018
The last two weeks we have been "social distancing" like everybody else in the UK even though we believe that we have both had the Covid 19 infection. I felt the infection in late January and it ran on until the first week in February and my wife had a weaker set of symptoms in early February. We cannot prove this but I certainly feel that I had the virus before the furore started. Many other people that I know experienced something similar. At one point my temperature reached 37.9C and I was about to 'phone the doctor but it fell the next day to 37.4 C, and I felt in the clear. At one point I felt as if my lungs were under attack even though I could breathe properly. We will never know whether we caught the virus or not until a test is available; up until then we shall remain vigilant.
I feel a little bit awkward writing a wine blog and still enjoying a good glass of wine with the good food which is still available - but for how long? We are lucky we have plenty of room and a back garden where we can exercise and a nature reserve just up the road where we can run or walk everyday. We don't feel as if we are under house arrest as many people do if they are living in a flat and can't get outside. If they are living in overcrowded conditions with frustrated children. If they are living with an abusive partner. My wife and I get along really well ,and there have been no arguments; we could carry on like this for months if needs be -as long as we can enjoy good food and wine.
The health care and public services people are heroes, they are putting their lives at risk by working without the protection they should have been provided with. So I drink a toast to them and to all those patients who have recovered and also to the unfortunate dead and their family and friends.
The health professionals are always going on about drinking too much. My wife and I do not count the wine bottles we drink, but today I looked into the recycling bin and calculate that we have drunk 6 bottles of wine in just over two weeks. This is below the health advice which we have been ignoring - it is unconscious common sense.
One of the best bottles of wine that we drank was Alain Mathias Chablis 2018. We visited his caves last year in the charming town of Tonnerre in the Yonne department of Bourgogne. We bought half a case so the remaining 5 bottles will be kept. This is superb wine which is typical of the Chablis growing area. We drank this wine with farm reared chicken - roasted. The remaining chicken was made into a "cawl" soup which we ate the following night with the remaining half bottle. Superb wine which must be kept and superb value for money.
http://www.domainealainmathias.com/
Another great wine was a half- bottle of Mathieu Antunes Chablis 2014. This originates from the Yonne and we often drink this wine when we visit restaurants in the area. We were given this wine by our cousin who lives in the Yonne -so three cheers for her. We fear that we won't be seeing her and her family again for a while. This wine went down so well with oysters which taste better for me with chablis rather than vodka.
https://www.vivino.com/antunes-matthieu-chablis/w/1556200?year=U.V.
We are on a semi-mediterranean diet to keep our weight and blood pressure down and it's working, I think. However, we cannot resist laying off the fish and white meat once a week to eat some high quality beef and lamb from our local butcher. What better way to eat good roast beef other than with a bottle 2017 Château Jansenant, Cotes de Bourg Red AOP. This is excellent prize winning wine which shows all of the character of one of my favourite regions.
These wines are well worthy of any accolades that they have been given. I wish everyone good health.
I feel a little bit awkward writing a wine blog and still enjoying a good glass of wine with the good food which is still available - but for how long? We are lucky we have plenty of room and a back garden where we can exercise and a nature reserve just up the road where we can run or walk everyday. We don't feel as if we are under house arrest as many people do if they are living in a flat and can't get outside. If they are living in overcrowded conditions with frustrated children. If they are living with an abusive partner. My wife and I get along really well ,and there have been no arguments; we could carry on like this for months if needs be -as long as we can enjoy good food and wine.
The health care and public services people are heroes, they are putting their lives at risk by working without the protection they should have been provided with. So I drink a toast to them and to all those patients who have recovered and also to the unfortunate dead and their family and friends.
The health professionals are always going on about drinking too much. My wife and I do not count the wine bottles we drink, but today I looked into the recycling bin and calculate that we have drunk 6 bottles of wine in just over two weeks. This is below the health advice which we have been ignoring - it is unconscious common sense.
One of the best bottles of wine that we drank was Alain Mathias Chablis 2018. We visited his caves last year in the charming town of Tonnerre in the Yonne department of Bourgogne. We bought half a case so the remaining 5 bottles will be kept. This is superb wine which is typical of the Chablis growing area. We drank this wine with farm reared chicken - roasted. The remaining chicken was made into a "cawl" soup which we ate the following night with the remaining half bottle. Superb wine which must be kept and superb value for money.
http://www.domainealainmathias.com/
Another great wine was a half- bottle of Mathieu Antunes Chablis 2014. This originates from the Yonne and we often drink this wine when we visit restaurants in the area. We were given this wine by our cousin who lives in the Yonne -so three cheers for her. We fear that we won't be seeing her and her family again for a while. This wine went down so well with oysters which taste better for me with chablis rather than vodka.
https://www.vivino.com/antunes-matthieu-chablis/w/1556200?year=U.V.
We are on a semi-mediterranean diet to keep our weight and blood pressure down and it's working, I think. However, we cannot resist laying off the fish and white meat once a week to eat some high quality beef and lamb from our local butcher. What better way to eat good roast beef other than with a bottle 2017 Château Jansenant, Cotes de Bourg Red AOP. This is excellent prize winning wine which shows all of the character of one of my favourite regions.
These wines are well worthy of any accolades that they have been given. I wish everyone good health.
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