Whilst waiting for a plane to Montpellier at Gatwick Airport the other day my wife treated me to some smoked salmon and a glass of dry white wine at the Caviar House wine bar; she must have been feeling rich.
I took one sniff of the wine and guessed correctly, blind, that it was Chablis as it had all the mineral and stony flavour consistent with wine from the region.
How did I get it right first time? I can't do this with many other wines. Well Chablis has the distinctive and inimitable taste of the appellation. No other wine region in the world can mimic this taste even if they use Chardonnay grapes and have a cool climate. It is something to do with the unique soil and climate of the Chablis area and the way the wine is made. This is why I love Chablis it has the distinctive taste of its own and it goes so well with fish and fowl. Chablis has no need for varietal labelling.
Being able to recognise a wine also stems from familiarity with it. My wife's family come from the region and we drink the wine so often.. We can also recognise other wines from the area such as Irancy and Epineuil just by giving them one sniff. Our taste buds and sense of smell are no better than anyone else but familiarity with a distinctive tasting wine helps.
This is why I love Chablis, Irancy and Epineuil so much; they have a style and quality all of their own which no other wine producing area can copy.
Thursday, 13 March 2014
Monday, 17 February 2014
Le Pécharmant 2010 les oenologues expert club pour la region sud ouest
Le Pécharmant is a red wine made in the style of Bordeaux red in the Bergerac region surrounding the Dordogne river in South West France. The wine is very similar to Bergerac rouge but is of higher quality. I recommend that everyone tries it for it is exceptionally good value for money.
The bottle of 2010 that we tried could be kept for several years longer. It was bottled by " Les oenologues expert club pour la region sud ouest" and specially selected by them. My researches revealed nothing about this wine. All I can tell from my senses is that it was well balanced for tannin, alcohol and acidity and has medium to full body. It was dry of course and the taste lingered long on the palate. It had concentrated and complex fruit flavours so it had all of the hallmarks of a good wine. We bought it in the Dordogne region and it went down very well with confit de canard.
Pécharmant is difficult to find outside of France but it is readily available in French wine outlets and supermarkets. The next time you are in France why not search it out?
This wine proves that you can still find excellent quality wine that will not empty your wallet and that the best wines do not always come from Bordeaux or Burgundy.
This wine made Valentine's evening a special occasion.
http://www.pays-de-bergerac.com/vins/
The bottle of 2010 that we tried could be kept for several years longer. It was bottled by " Les oenologues expert club pour la region sud ouest" and specially selected by them. My researches revealed nothing about this wine. All I can tell from my senses is that it was well balanced for tannin, alcohol and acidity and has medium to full body. It was dry of course and the taste lingered long on the palate. It had concentrated and complex fruit flavours so it had all of the hallmarks of a good wine. We bought it in the Dordogne region and it went down very well with confit de canard.
Pécharmant is difficult to find outside of France but it is readily available in French wine outlets and supermarkets. The next time you are in France why not search it out?
This wine proves that you can still find excellent quality wine that will not empty your wallet and that the best wines do not always come from Bordeaux or Burgundy.
This wine made Valentine's evening a special occasion.
http://www.pays-de-bergerac.com/vins/
Thursday, 13 February 2014
Irancy Red and London restaurants
Not so long ago I saw a bottle of Irancy Burgundy Red on the menu of a London restaurant priced at £35 a bottle; naturally I have declined to order it. Why was that? I can buy the self-same wine for about 7 Eur a bottle in a French supermarket.
Irancy is exceptionally good wine at a reasonable price but hardly anyone in the UK knows of its existence . Its production is small and the vineyards are tucked away in a rather remote area near Auxerre in the Northern most part of the Burgundy region. Obviously wine lovers in Britain are being taken for a ride on this one. It pays to have a little bit of knowledge.
When I tackled the wine waiter or the "Sommelier" about this price discrepancy he shrugged his shoulders in true Gallic style even though he was not French. He gave the diplomatic answer that "he did not set the price policy " and no doubt he had been trained to say this.
The price of wine is often marked up considerably more than the wholesale price justifies in the UK, in both restaurants and some wine merchants. A little bit of knowledge helps and what better use for a tablet computer or smart phone could there be than to look up the price of a wine on Wine Searcher.
Restaurants should really only mark up wine by a maximum of 2 and 1/2 times the retail price. Most restaurants give you a fair deal.
I quite often visit the Planet Of The Grapes in the City of London, their retail wines are a little bit more expensive than I would normally pay. I am prepared to accept this gladly because the staff really know about wine and care for it and I follow their advice. I am getting a genuine service for that little bit extra.
Of course wine in Britain will be more expensive than in California, France, Italy or Spain but quite often the extra mark up is not justified. You might be better off to stick to the house wine. The restaurants will then have to reduce their prices.
If you pay more than £30 for a bottle of wine in Britain you deserve to get something really special.
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/irancy
If you pay a visit to Northern Burgundy you can find Christophe Ferrari who is one of the top producers of Irancy. This is exceptionally good wine at a very reasonable price; around 9 Eur for a bottle. Why not buy some of this wine direct and enjoy a bottle of it at home with a good meal as it goes superbly with game birds.
http://www.irancy-ferrari.com/vin_bourgogne_irancy_chablis.php?id=47&id_ap=17
Irancy is exceptionally good wine at a reasonable price but hardly anyone in the UK knows of its existence . Its production is small and the vineyards are tucked away in a rather remote area near Auxerre in the Northern most part of the Burgundy region. Obviously wine lovers in Britain are being taken for a ride on this one. It pays to have a little bit of knowledge.
When I tackled the wine waiter or the "Sommelier" about this price discrepancy he shrugged his shoulders in true Gallic style even though he was not French. He gave the diplomatic answer that "he did not set the price policy " and no doubt he had been trained to say this.
The price of wine is often marked up considerably more than the wholesale price justifies in the UK, in both restaurants and some wine merchants. A little bit of knowledge helps and what better use for a tablet computer or smart phone could there be than to look up the price of a wine on Wine Searcher.
Restaurants should really only mark up wine by a maximum of 2 and 1/2 times the retail price. Most restaurants give you a fair deal.
I quite often visit the Planet Of The Grapes in the City of London, their retail wines are a little bit more expensive than I would normally pay. I am prepared to accept this gladly because the staff really know about wine and care for it and I follow their advice. I am getting a genuine service for that little bit extra.
Of course wine in Britain will be more expensive than in California, France, Italy or Spain but quite often the extra mark up is not justified. You might be better off to stick to the house wine. The restaurants will then have to reduce their prices.
If you pay more than £30 for a bottle of wine in Britain you deserve to get something really special.
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/irancy
If you pay a visit to Northern Burgundy you can find Christophe Ferrari who is one of the top producers of Irancy. This is exceptionally good wine at a very reasonable price; around 9 Eur for a bottle. Why not buy some of this wine direct and enjoy a bottle of it at home with a good meal as it goes superbly with game birds.
http://www.irancy-ferrari.com/vin_bourgogne_irancy_chablis.php?id=47&id_ap=17
Monday, 20 January 2014
Some Festive Season Wines
Le Stelle Vermentino di Sardegna 2012
Viñalba Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 - Dry red from the Mendoza Valley
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..
Friday, 3 January 2014
Faiveley Domaine de la Framboisière Mercurey 1er Cru Clos des Myglands 2011
Well I got my wish to eat duck for Christmas dinner, we got invited round to join some friends, and what better way to celebrate with a bottle of red burgundy from one of my favourite negociants and producers.
Faiveley's Mercurey 1er Cru Clos des Myglands 2011 was full of cherry fruit with all the flavour of the
Côte Chalonnaise terroir. The wine was perfectly balanced for acidity, tannin and sweetness ( or rather dryness) with a long length on the palate. The wine was complex and concentrated. It was the perfect foil for the game taste of the duck.
Faiveley's Mercurey 1er Cru Clos des Myglands 2011 was full of cherry fruit with all the flavour of the
Côte Chalonnaise terroir. The wine was perfectly balanced for acidity, tannin and sweetness ( or rather dryness) with a long length on the palate. The wine was complex and concentrated. It was the perfect foil for the game taste of the duck.
We bought this wine in France and at 25 plus Euros a bottle it is rather expensive. However, for me it was worth every penny. It is exceptionally good wine and compares favourably with its more illustrious cousins from the Côte de Nuits some of whom charge stratospheric prices for wine that is quite often no better.
The 2010 is fresh but it can be drunk now. But, it will mature for 5 years or longer when it will improve in the bottle. Why not spoil yourself for the New Year but wait until you go to France as it is much cheaper here than in the UK. Readers in the USA can probably buy bottles at a much more reasonable price than the UK.
Monday, 16 December 2013
The Antidote to Christmas lunch
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
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
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
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