This wine is from South Africa. We drank half a bottle of it with Paella one evening and the other half the next night with veal and it was quite good. When I opened the bottle, which was sealed with a screw cap, I covered the label so that my wife could not see where it was from. I asked her to guess where the wine came from.
My wife is pretty good at guessing where wine comes from but on this occasion she was flummoxed even though I gave her some clues. She guessed that it was not from Europe: not bad. I tried to research this wine without much success. I surmise that it is not a wine produced in a single estate but that it is blended wine from different vineyards. The quality is not good enough to give you much of a clue about its provenance. This is not to say that it is not good wine. It went well with the fish and it had a fresh citrus fruit taste. What I liked about it was the fact that it did not have an overpowering taste and smell of green fruits and "cat's pee" which is common to some wines from some cool climate producers, who make white wine from Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc grapes. The wine was rather palatable and it would go down quite well with fish at a barbecue or party.
You can buy this wine from a Sainsbury supermarket discounted at £6.00 a bottle which is about what the wine is worth in the UK.
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/sainsburys-price-comparison/white_wine/clear_springs_sauvignon_blanc_750ml.html
However, you can buy much better quality white wine from Bordeaux made primarily from the Sauvignon Blanc grape for a similar price in a French supermarket. The wine however will probably not he labelled as Sauvignon Blanc. If you live in the south of England this is a good reason for making a short trip to France to buy your wine.
There is nothing wrong with drinking Clear Springs Sauvignon Blanc 2013 and it makes a pleasant change especially on "warmish" summer days in a Kent backyard. I recommend it.
Thursday, 30 July 2015
Friday, 24 July 2015
Age UK and drinking problems
According to Age UK problem drinking in the middle classes and in the over 50's age range is a hidden phenomenon.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/23/harmful-drinking-among-middle-class-over-50s-is-a-hidden-phenomenon
Age UK have produced a new study :
"Socioeconomic determinants of risk of harmful alcohol drinking among people aged 50 or over in England" using from meta data from other studies especially the "English Longitudinal Study Of Ageing". http://www.elsa-project.ac.uk/.
This study is telling me nothing that I do not know already and I wonder what its usefulness will be. The verbosity of its title is a real give away.
Some of the conclusions of the report are almost unintelligible drivel:
“Our findings suggest that harmful drinking in later life is more prevalent among people who exhibit a lifestyle associated with affluence and with a ‘successful’ ageing process. Harmful drinking may then be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people. Consequently, and based on our results, we recommend the explicit incorporation of alcohol drinking levels and patterns into the successful ageing paradigm.”
What is a "successful ageing process"? Surely that would mean mental good health as well as good physical health and wealth?
What is a "successful ageing paradigm"? Does this mean that older people are to be patronised with another anti-drinking campaign?
“Because this group is typically healthier than other parts of the older population, they might not realise that what they are doing is putting their health in danger.” Surely, this statement is a contradiction of terms.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/23/harmful-drinking-among-middle-class-over-50s-is-a-hidden-phenomenon
Age UK have produced a new study :
"Socioeconomic determinants of risk of harmful alcohol drinking among people aged 50 or over in England" using from meta data from other studies especially the "English Longitudinal Study Of Ageing". http://www.elsa-project.ac.uk/.
This study is telling me nothing that I do not know already and I wonder what its usefulness will be. The verbosity of its title is a real give away.
Some of the conclusions of the report are almost unintelligible drivel:
“Our findings suggest that harmful drinking in later life is more prevalent among people who exhibit a lifestyle associated with affluence and with a ‘successful’ ageing process. Harmful drinking may then be a hidden health and social problem in otherwise successful older people. Consequently, and based on our results, we recommend the explicit incorporation of alcohol drinking levels and patterns into the successful ageing paradigm.”
What is a "successful ageing process"? Surely that would mean mental good health as well as good physical health and wealth?
What is a "successful ageing paradigm"? Does this mean that older people are to be patronised with another anti-drinking campaign?
“Because this group is typically healthier than other parts of the older population, they might not realise that what they are doing is putting their health in danger.” Surely, this statement is a contradiction of terms.
I happen to be in the group of people that Age UK are concerned about. As far as I am concerned I am perfectly capable of looking after myself and I do not need to be told how many glasses of wine I should or should not drink. As a matter of course I do not usually consume alcohol for at least three days a week and usually I have at least 2 consecutive days a week when I do not drink. My wife does the same and we have no intention of ever becoming dependent on alcohol or letting it ruin our health. The same applies to most of our friends in this age bracket and those that glug more than half a bottle of wine or so per day know that it might not be doing them any good.
The Age UK study portrays some people over 50 as socially inept loners who do not contact their family and friends or join in other social activities. It then tries to draw conclusions from this by using statistical techniques such as Markov Chains and Stochastic reasoning. None of the conclusions of the report seem to be based on evidence collected in the field. It seems to predict that if you are affluent and over 50 then your health is in danger because you will drink too much without knowing it. Everyone already knows that if you drink too much you will damage your health.
The problem is how do you get the point across to someone who is a problem drinker that they should cut down? You will not do it by producing fancy named reports or by patronising people. You won't do it either by doing this: "the explicit incorporation of alcohol drinking levels and patterns into the successful ageing paradigm.”
One of my friends has multiple sclerosis, he does not drink too much but whenever I visit him we share a bottle of wine over a meal. He realises that even drinking one glass of wine goes against the grain of the official medical advice. His view is that if he cannot enjoy a glass of wine over meal with a friend then his life would not be worth living:so good on him.
The whole of life is about balancing risks against benefits. I go for a nice long run three times a week but every now and then I trip up and get scratches, bruises and sprains for my efforts. It is my view that it is worth a few bruises to improve my blood circulation and it might even be worth a broken arm - if I am unlucky.
Having a glass or two of wine with a meal on a few occasions per week may not do my physical health any good but it sure cheers me up; nothing that Age UK can say will change my behaviour. If ever I feel that having a couple of glasses of wine could damage my health then I shall have to good sense to stop.
The full report can be read here.
Tuesday, 21 July 2015
2001 La Rioja Alta Rioja Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial
This is especially good red Rioja which has won prizes and no wonder. The 2001 is ready for drinking now. We drank ours over lunch with family with some Kent lamb roasted until it was reasonably well done on the outside but rare in the middle.
This wine is a perfect example of a fine Rioja and its quality competes with the finest of the region. It is full of fruit flavour with a hint of vanilla from the oak maturation. The wine is of full body and is completely dry and the tannin is beginning to soften. It has all of the complexity and concentration of a great wine. It is one of my favourites and worth every penny that you have to pay for it at around £25 a bottle in the UK.
Some other great red Rioja wines that I have tasted are:
Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial
Marques de Riscal Gran Reserva
R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva
This wine is a perfect example of a fine Rioja and its quality competes with the finest of the region. It is full of fruit flavour with a hint of vanilla from the oak maturation. The wine is of full body and is completely dry and the tannin is beginning to soften. It has all of the complexity and concentration of a great wine. It is one of my favourites and worth every penny that you have to pay for it at around £25 a bottle in the UK.
Some other great red Rioja wines that I have tasted are:
Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial
Bodegas Muga Reserva
Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial compares favourably with all of these great wines.
Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Wine and "The Placebo Effect" and "Experienced Pleasantness"
I have no doubt that there is a placebo effect related to wine tasting and that many people fall victim to this including myself.
It is worth reading the controversial articles below. I have been at wine tastings where the tasters have almost refused to believe that a wine was faulty. The wine in question was a Bollinger Vintage Champagne: there was nothing wrong with the wine when it was put in the bottle but the cork was faulty and the wine therefore had the bitter and earthy taste of a corked wine. I was on a wine course and many of the students refused to accept that such an expensive wine could be at fault. To me and some of my fellow students the wine tasted spoilt and eventually we were able to convince the rest that the wine was in fact spoilt. We had to make allowance for some of the tasters who were completely insensitive to the taste of "corked" wine.
There have been many experiments performed where tasters were asked to identify a particular wine or type of grape or to be able to differentiate between white wine and red wine at a blind tasting. It seems that it is much more difficult to assess a wine when you cannot see its colour or see the label.
Scientists have also put red dye into white wine and asked the tasters to describe the wine. Often the tasters describe red wine tastes.
It is quite easy to fool the most experienced tasters and even Masters of Wine, heaven forbid, at a blind tasting. Experienced pleasantness is a phenomenon which is easily influenced by the mind's eye - we often assume that a product is better because it costs more.
Price is also an influential factor apart from brand name. The students tasting the Bollinger were unable to accept that such an expensive wine could taste so awful. Unfortunately the fungus that causes wine taste does not recognise price, reputation or brand name; it acts just like the flu virus.
Top price wines with a particular brand name may not be in fact be top quality wines. We must all beware of the placebo effect and keep our feet on the ground when describing wine and its quality. We must also not become wine snobs and dismiss cheaper brands. Blind tasting is a great equaliser.
Our sense of taste and smell can easily be influenced by the suggestion of others and our beliefs for we are not completely rational. I have often been influenced by others at a tasting into ignoring my initial impressions. Quite often, as a naïve student, I have tasted or smelt none of the fruit or floral flavours that my fellow tasters were describing but I have written down that I have actually tasted such flavours - all in a kind of King's New Clothes effect. I have known better for years not to fall for it.
All is not lost , however, the other night my wife described the taste of a red wine exactly as the producers had described it on the rear of the bottle. My wife could not have read the description prior to the tasting and she could not have known what wine I was going to pull from the rack before I opened it - this is good tasting indeed and she hasn't passed any wine exams.
Identifying a good wine is not just about tastes and fruit flavours. We need to asses the wine for its acidity, sweetness, tannin, concentration and complexity and its length on the palate and how well the wine is balanced. You may think that the placebo effect is too simple to affect our judgement of all this - not so.
You may ask what is the point of wine tasting and buying good wine or even studying it?. Well it gives great pleasure to many. Many people have found pain relief from the placebo effect in medicine. So the placebo effect does help to make life better. However, we should be aware of the dangers when something is marketed to be what it is not especially if money is tight. You should also be aware of the placebo effect when invited to a tasting as part of a wine investment promotion.
Despite all, you can imagine how good I feel when I can identify a wine blind, even though this rarely happens, but no placebo effect here. This skill can be learnt to some extent but familiarity helps. At a blind tasting in England my wife was easily able to pick out the English sparkling wine from the Champagne. Being born in the region helps as she has been familiar with and drinking Champagne wine for years.
http://palatepress.com/2009/10/wine/the-placebo-effect-and-wine/
http://www.pnas.org/content/105/3/1050.full
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/baba-shiv-how-wines-price-tag-affect-its-taste
It is not just wine enthusiasts who can be fooled by the placebo effect. I was once in a cosmetic shop in France with my wife who bought some face cream, which was being marketed on the basis that after application, of the magical potion, one's face would defy the laws of gravity and all the crinkles would disappear. The shop assistant could not understand why I laughed. When we left the shop I mused that Isaac Newton would be laughing too; my wife explained that despite all this the cream made her feel better. Perhaps, this is what life is all about.
It is not just women who fall for this sort of marketing. One of my other interests is Hi-Fi which is a past time dominated by men. Some "audiophile" enthusiasts believe that paying more is better. They even believe that electrons flow through wires better when they are connected up in a certain way, and the manufacturers have put arrows on the cables to show which way round they should go. Think about it for a few seconds, they actually believe that this improves the sound and they actually hear the difference. Of course it is only cables which costs hundreds of pounds per metre which react in this way. Your average electron from Maplins knows nothing about this and just flows from negative to positive polarity. Just like cork taint fungus electrons do not recognise cost or brand name and reputation.
Lots "audiophiles" spend all their money on such frippery and some of them get themselves into debt trouble - all as a result of the placebo effect: I hope some of them have got some money left to spend on a decent bottle of wine.
http://coconut-audio.com/rcainterconnects.html
It is worth reading the controversial articles below. I have been at wine tastings where the tasters have almost refused to believe that a wine was faulty. The wine in question was a Bollinger Vintage Champagne: there was nothing wrong with the wine when it was put in the bottle but the cork was faulty and the wine therefore had the bitter and earthy taste of a corked wine. I was on a wine course and many of the students refused to accept that such an expensive wine could be at fault. To me and some of my fellow students the wine tasted spoilt and eventually we were able to convince the rest that the wine was in fact spoilt. We had to make allowance for some of the tasters who were completely insensitive to the taste of "corked" wine.
There have been many experiments performed where tasters were asked to identify a particular wine or type of grape or to be able to differentiate between white wine and red wine at a blind tasting. It seems that it is much more difficult to assess a wine when you cannot see its colour or see the label.
Scientists have also put red dye into white wine and asked the tasters to describe the wine. Often the tasters describe red wine tastes.
It is quite easy to fool the most experienced tasters and even Masters of Wine, heaven forbid, at a blind tasting. Experienced pleasantness is a phenomenon which is easily influenced by the mind's eye - we often assume that a product is better because it costs more.
Price is also an influential factor apart from brand name. The students tasting the Bollinger were unable to accept that such an expensive wine could taste so awful. Unfortunately the fungus that causes wine taste does not recognise price, reputation or brand name; it acts just like the flu virus.
Top price wines with a particular brand name may not be in fact be top quality wines. We must all beware of the placebo effect and keep our feet on the ground when describing wine and its quality. We must also not become wine snobs and dismiss cheaper brands. Blind tasting is a great equaliser.
Our sense of taste and smell can easily be influenced by the suggestion of others and our beliefs for we are not completely rational. I have often been influenced by others at a tasting into ignoring my initial impressions. Quite often, as a naïve student, I have tasted or smelt none of the fruit or floral flavours that my fellow tasters were describing but I have written down that I have actually tasted such flavours - all in a kind of King's New Clothes effect. I have known better for years not to fall for it.
All is not lost , however, the other night my wife described the taste of a red wine exactly as the producers had described it on the rear of the bottle. My wife could not have read the description prior to the tasting and she could not have known what wine I was going to pull from the rack before I opened it - this is good tasting indeed and she hasn't passed any wine exams.
Identifying a good wine is not just about tastes and fruit flavours. We need to asses the wine for its acidity, sweetness, tannin, concentration and complexity and its length on the palate and how well the wine is balanced. You may think that the placebo effect is too simple to affect our judgement of all this - not so.
You may ask what is the point of wine tasting and buying good wine or even studying it?. Well it gives great pleasure to many. Many people have found pain relief from the placebo effect in medicine. So the placebo effect does help to make life better. However, we should be aware of the dangers when something is marketed to be what it is not especially if money is tight. You should also be aware of the placebo effect when invited to a tasting as part of a wine investment promotion.
Despite all, you can imagine how good I feel when I can identify a wine blind, even though this rarely happens, but no placebo effect here. This skill can be learnt to some extent but familiarity helps. At a blind tasting in England my wife was easily able to pick out the English sparkling wine from the Champagne. Being born in the region helps as she has been familiar with and drinking Champagne wine for years.
http://palatepress.com/2009/10/wine/the-placebo-effect-and-wine/
http://www.pnas.org/content/105/3/1050.full
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/baba-shiv-how-wines-price-tag-affect-its-taste
It is not just wine enthusiasts who can be fooled by the placebo effect. I was once in a cosmetic shop in France with my wife who bought some face cream, which was being marketed on the basis that after application, of the magical potion, one's face would defy the laws of gravity and all the crinkles would disappear. The shop assistant could not understand why I laughed. When we left the shop I mused that Isaac Newton would be laughing too; my wife explained that despite all this the cream made her feel better. Perhaps, this is what life is all about.
It is not just women who fall for this sort of marketing. One of my other interests is Hi-Fi which is a past time dominated by men. Some "audiophile" enthusiasts believe that paying more is better. They even believe that electrons flow through wires better when they are connected up in a certain way, and the manufacturers have put arrows on the cables to show which way round they should go. Think about it for a few seconds, they actually believe that this improves the sound and they actually hear the difference. Of course it is only cables which costs hundreds of pounds per metre which react in this way. Your average electron from Maplins knows nothing about this and just flows from negative to positive polarity. Just like cork taint fungus electrons do not recognise cost or brand name and reputation.
Lots "audiophiles" spend all their money on such frippery and some of them get themselves into debt trouble - all as a result of the placebo effect: I hope some of them have got some money left to spend on a decent bottle of wine.
http://coconut-audio.com/rcainterconnects.html
Friday, 26 June 2015
Château Tour Saint Germain 2011 AOC Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux.
We drank this wine over a family supper and we were very impressed after drinking a bottle of bog standard Lambrusco as an aperitif - oh well. The 2011 vintage was very mixed in Bordeaux; it was too hot in June and too cool in July and August. The Château, however, was able to maintain its standards to produce a fruity well balanced wine which is now ready for drinking.
The vineyards are situated not far from the city of Blaye on the right bank of the Gironde. Blaye is a citadel city which is well worth visiting for its wine and its cuisine.
Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux is one of my favourite appellations. The wines are of a really good standard and they are unpretentious and they are exceptional value for money. Château Tour Saint Germain is a perfect example and it should drunk with good food.
We bought this wine in France but I cannot remember where or when or how much. All I know is that it is exceptional value for money and it puts to shame many branded names from all over the world including Bordeaux.
The wine is made from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec grapes and is matured in oak barrels. You can really tell that the winemaker is proud of his product. If you can find it buy it: you will not be disappointed.
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/tour+st+germain+cote+de+bordeaux+blaye+france/2011
http://tour-saint-germain.com/
The vineyards are situated not far from the city of Blaye on the right bank of the Gironde. Blaye is a citadel city which is well worth visiting for its wine and its cuisine.
Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux is one of my favourite appellations. The wines are of a really good standard and they are unpretentious and they are exceptional value for money. Château Tour Saint Germain is a perfect example and it should drunk with good food.
We bought this wine in France but I cannot remember where or when or how much. All I know is that it is exceptional value for money and it puts to shame many branded names from all over the world including Bordeaux.
The wine is made from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec grapes and is matured in oak barrels. You can really tell that the winemaker is proud of his product. If you can find it buy it: you will not be disappointed.
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/tour+st+germain+cote+de+bordeaux+blaye+france/2011
http://tour-saint-germain.com/
Monday, 15 June 2015
Lloyd Reserve Shiraz 2005 Red - Coriole Vineyards McLaren Vale
Lloyds Reserve Shiraz is an estate produced wine from the Coriole vineyards and is a really superior product which rivals most other wines that I have tried from France, Italy, Spain, the US and Australia. It has its own unique flavour. This wine is little known in England and I have never seen it on the shelves of a wine merchant: it was a present brought to me by some Australian friends. They could not have chosen a better gift.
The 2005 is now ready for drinking but you must drink it with good food to really appreciate it. We drank it with lamb from the Kent marshes, cooked rare with garlic, onion and rosemary. It went perfectly with a richly flavoured dish and the tannin in the wine refreshed the palate all the way through the meal: gorgeous.
The McLaren Vale in South Australia has a Mediterranean climate which is perfect for the growth of the Shiraz grape.
The wine had a flavour of red and black berry fruits with a spicy edge typical of the Shiraz or Syrah grape. The wine was strong in alcohol and full bodied but the tannin was really beginning to soften. It was dry with a balanced acidity. It had none of the jammy flavour often associated with Australian red wines produced by the major brand names. All the components were well integrated and it had long length on the palate and this combined with its complexity and concentration of fruit flavours leads me to conclude that it is exceptional wine. If you can find it in the UK or the US it will cost you more than a bob or two or a considerable number of quarters. It is worth every penny that you can find and when compared to other good quality wines it represents a bargain.
Luckily my friends brought me two bottles and I am saving the other for another special family occasion. I am fortunate to have such good friends.
https://www.coriole.com/wines/reserves/lloyd-reserve-shiraz/ - none of this is "hype" as far as I am concerned.
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/coriole+shiraz+lloyd+reserve/1/-/-/a/26
The 2005 is now ready for drinking but you must drink it with good food to really appreciate it. We drank it with lamb from the Kent marshes, cooked rare with garlic, onion and rosemary. It went perfectly with a richly flavoured dish and the tannin in the wine refreshed the palate all the way through the meal: gorgeous.
The McLaren Vale in South Australia has a Mediterranean climate which is perfect for the growth of the Shiraz grape.
The wine had a flavour of red and black berry fruits with a spicy edge typical of the Shiraz or Syrah grape. The wine was strong in alcohol and full bodied but the tannin was really beginning to soften. It was dry with a balanced acidity. It had none of the jammy flavour often associated with Australian red wines produced by the major brand names. All the components were well integrated and it had long length on the palate and this combined with its complexity and concentration of fruit flavours leads me to conclude that it is exceptional wine. If you can find it in the UK or the US it will cost you more than a bob or two or a considerable number of quarters. It is worth every penny that you can find and when compared to other good quality wines it represents a bargain.
Luckily my friends brought me two bottles and I am saving the other for another special family occasion. I am fortunate to have such good friends.
https://www.coriole.com/wines/reserves/lloyd-reserve-shiraz/ - none of this is "hype" as far as I am concerned.
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/coriole+shiraz+lloyd+reserve/1/-/-/a/26
Friday, 12 June 2015
2001 Les Vignerons du Brulhois Château Grand Chêne, Côtes du Brulhois Red, France
We drank this wine a couple of weeks ago and it was simply superb. It had aged very well and still had a lot of life left in it. It will age for several years more was beginning to reveal itself.
The label on the back of the bottle described the wine as having a flavour of plums and red fruits and oak and with a flavour of roast coffee or Torréfaction in French. My wife guessed these flavours blind. Rarely does a wine taste exactly as it says on the bottle.
This is perfectly well integrated wine with a long length on the palate. I cannot remember how much it cost when we bought it in the region but it was probably less than 10 Eur per bottle. It is superb value for money and if you can find it then I recommend that you buy a case.
It went down really well with some roast beef cooked rare.
Côtes du Brulhois wines were once termed "black wines" on account of the strength of the deep black colour of the Tannat grape used in production.
The Côtes du Brulhois was granted appellation status in 2011.
http://www.thevineroute.com/southwest/les-vignerons-du-brulhois-in-the-land-of-black-wines/
The label on the back of the bottle described the wine as having a flavour of plums and red fruits and oak and with a flavour of roast coffee or Torréfaction in French. My wife guessed these flavours blind. Rarely does a wine taste exactly as it says on the bottle.
This is perfectly well integrated wine with a long length on the palate. I cannot remember how much it cost when we bought it in the region but it was probably less than 10 Eur per bottle. It is superb value for money and if you can find it then I recommend that you buy a case.
It went down really well with some roast beef cooked rare.
Côtes du Brulhois wines were once termed "black wines" on account of the strength of the deep black colour of the Tannat grape used in production.
The Côtes du Brulhois was granted appellation status in 2011.
http://www.thevineroute.com/southwest/les-vignerons-du-brulhois-in-the-land-of-black-wines/
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