Dourthe Réserve 2012 Bordeaux White Sauvignon Blanc

I am a lover of Dourthe wines. They are made by a good winemaker without pretension and the Réserve 2012 Bordeaux White Sauvignon Blanc is no exception.

This white wine  is typical of the region. It is not too fruity and does not have an overwhelming taste of gooseberries and "cat's pee". It has a nutty citrus fruit flavour. It has a medium body with a well balanced acidity and of course it is dry but the wine is slightly richer in flavour. White Bordeaux wines are produced to be drunk with food and of course the region is renowned for its shell fish especially its oysters. Plenty of Atlantic wet fish are also landed in this region including hake, cod and sea bass. This wine goes well with all of them.

The climate and soil are admirably suited to the growth of Sauvignon Blanc grapes. I am afraid to say that the New World rarely makes best use of this variety. So Bordeaux whites rate very highly in my estimation. In comparison, I often find New World varietal "Sauvignon Blanc" too fruity and the wines lack the elegance of good white Bordeaux.

We drank our wine with fish, of course, and I recommend it  highly.

Dourthe is a well known name in the Bordeaux region and the company makes the finest of wines. All of their wines are good value for money.

Château Belgrave is a top red wine from the Haut-Médoc and competes well with some of the world's finest wines. If you select Dourthe wines you cannot go wrong but they should always be consumed with a good meal.

http://www.dourthe.com/en/vineyard/1-chateau-belgrave#more

http://www.bbr.com/producer-1112-chateau-belgrave

Lindemans Bin 40 Merlot 2013

The other day we prepared a pasta dish with a tomato ragu. I fancied a bottle of wine with it and thought a good basic Australian red would go well. I hadn't read the back of the label but Lindemans 2013 Merlot went down very well with my culinary concoction.

This wine is made predominantly from Merlot grapes grown in a variety of vineyards across the South East Australia region.  It cannot claim to have a pedigree by originating from a single vineyard. I know that I rant about varietal labelling; so calling it Bin 40 goes some way to meeting my objections.

Because, the wine does not have a pedigree it would be dismissed by some wine experts. But, why be snobbish about perfectly acceptable wine? The Lindemans Merlot is a well crafted wine with a medium body and soft tannin and with a lovely fruity taste. It is little bit sweet but it is not "jammy" tasting. It is ready for drinking young which is just right for a spur of the moment decision. It goes well with food or it can be drunk on its own.

Of course, I would love to drink a top Australian wine on every occasion - from Charles Melton or Penfolds etc. - if I had the choice and the money. However, it  is good to try an unpretentious wine every now and then to bring yourself down to earth. Bin 40 could have been produced anywhere in the world, as it is part of a standardised production process, so its quality is assured. The screw cap seal means that you are almost completely guaranteed that it will not be corked.

You know what you are getting and I knew that it would go with a tomato based dish without looking at the back label.  I wouldn't choose to drink it with the finest roast beef and on a special occasion but for every day drinking it is fit for purpose.

There is nothing wrong with consuming processed food and drink every now and then and that is why I love baked beans on toast on the odd occasion and regard it as a bit of a treat.

Owing to to duty costs Lindemans Bin 40 Merlot  is rather expensive but this does not stop it from being a popular wine. It gets faint praise from some wine commentators - even the winemaker!

https://www.lindemans.com/en-gb/our-wines/bin-series/bin-40-merlot?&lang=

http://www.drinksdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Lindemans_Bin_40_Merlot_75cl.html

Champagne Albans D'Aulbe Côte des Bar

Just before Christmas we paid a visit to Buxeuil to meet friends of our family who make some of the finest Champagne. Jean-Michel Diligent is a grower maker or  a "recoltant manipulant". With his wife Francine  he farms 5 hectares of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes in the Bar-sur-Seine district of the Aube which is south east of Troyes.

You may never have heard of the Aube and its Champagne but you  have almost certainly drank some of this lovely fizz which is quite often blended into the sparkling wine of the more prestigious houses located further north in Epernay and Reims.

The vineyards of the Aube were not granted full Champagne status until 1927 after much resistance from the producers of the north. The northeners claimed that the soil is different in the Aube and of course it is. The soil in the Aube is based on the limestone marls of a  Kimmerigian band of  earth stretching from the Loire valley, through the Chablis and Tonnerre districts of northern Burgundy to the Côte des Bar in the south of the Champagne region.

The finest Champagnes of Epernay and Reims are grown on chalk but not all of the vineyards in the north of the region possess soil which is rich in chalk.

The soil of the Aube contains chalk as well as other limestones. It is my belief that although the soil does influence the quality and taste of a wine there are other influences which are just as strong. The quality of the grapes themselves, the climate and weather and the skill of the winemaker are just as important.

The wines from the Aube are less acidic and perhaps taste a little stronger and fruitier and more "forward" than the un-blended wines from the north of Champagne.

Jean-Michel Diligent makes his Champagne from the finest grapes and he pays a great deal of attention to his wine making to produce excellent non-vintage cuvées . He does not blend his Champagne with the products of any other vineyard.

He makes three types of Champagne.

Cuvée Brut Tradition which is made from the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay noble grapes. This has a taste of ripe fruits and fresh flowers. It has a finely balanced acidity. It is great as an aperitif wine.

Brut Rosé which is made primarily from Pinot Noir grapes; this wine is one of my favourite pink Champagnes. It has an intense nose of raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants; it tastes fruity and it has a long length on the palate . Usually, I do not choose to drink pink Champagne but I did not hesitate to buy half a case when I tested this fine wine.

Cuvée Brut Elégance is my favourite of his Champagnes. It is made from 100% Chardonnay. It is a well structured wine with a balanced acidity. It is fruity and rich with a long length on the palate. This wine goes well as aperitif on its own or with a dessert - even though it is brut or very dry.  I have also drunk this wine with a main course. Good champagne can be enjoyed on its own and with every course of food. Champagne is so good perhaps you don't need any other wine.

Jean-Michel makes the finest Champagne which easily competes on quality, taste and finesse with the wines from the north of Champagne. The next time you are in the region why not pay a visit to the lovely town of Troyes and then head south east on the N71 to the  Côte des Bar, where some of France's finest wines await you.

http://www.champagne-buxeuil.fr/

1995 Château Prieuré-Lichine Margaux 4th Growth - well suited to roast beef on Christmas day.

What better wine to go with our rib of organic beef for Christmas day? We weren't disappointed. The beef was nicely prepared, the French way, with garlic inserted into the flesh, an onion on top and a knob of butter and salt and pepper. I also opened a bottle of dry white to pour some over the beef three quarters of the way through the cooking.

After putting the beef in the oven I decided to decant the wine. Stupidly, I used a wine-waiter's corkscrew to open the bottle and the cork broke. There was no way I could extract the rest of the cork without some crumbs of cork getting into the wine. I now had to decant the wine using a tea strainer to filter out the bits of cork but inevitably some of the cork remained in the wine. Luckily, I avoided getting sediment into the wine as well.

After decanting the wine I tasted some of the wine remaining in the bottle. The sediment does you no harm. The wine tasted wonderful and there was no harm done but I should have used a screw pull model. I am not too bothered by a little bit of cork in my wine and my wife isn't either provided that the wine is good.

Our beef was cooked perfectly and we used some of the juices to make a sauce. The beef was medium on the outside but pink in the middle.

The 1995 Château Prieuré-Lichine was perfect as it was fully mature and ready for drinking. It was just starting to turn a burgundy colour and it had a nose of plums and black currants. It had medium to full body, with softening tannin and well balanced acidity and it was dry. It tasted similar to its smell but it had the typical flavour of  the spice and vanilla of a Bordeaux matured in oak. The wine was complex and concentrated but with the silky feel of a Margaux in the mouth. In my opinion this wine is worthy of more than a 4th growth classification. The wine was a truly wonderful accompaniment to the food. If you want to know what a top wine is really about then buy a bottle of this one. In the UK it will cost you £44 or so but in France you can find it a lot cheaper. You could pay ten times as much for a 1st growth Bordeaux but a first growth will not taste that much better even though it might keep longer.

I spent a little more on this wine than I am normally prepared for good Bordeaux (about £20) but it was well worth it. 1995 was a good vintage in Bordeaux.

I'ts the festive spirit

Another Christmas has passed and as the years go by they seem to be coming up faster and faster. For an 18 year old a year is a long time but as you get older and older a year makes up an increasingly small proportion of your life. All the more reason to enjoy every moment and to drink a decent bottle of wine  and eat good food whenever you get the opportunity. The days of drinking poor wine are over for me.

The festive season is full of dangers as far as food is concerned. Many restaurants see it as an opportunity to serve up terrible grub at excessive prices. The dreaded Christmas lunch with your work colleagues can often be a culinary disaster.

I experienced this when we went to a small local café which got out of its depth with the number of punters. For some reason they got our orders wrong and I ended up eating a turkey sandwich after waiting for over an hour and a half. The only saving grace was that the company was good and the wine was also palatable and reasonably priced. However, by the time my lunch arrived I had drunk a little too much so I had to wash down the the turkey with water. The turkey was well garnished and tasted good! I did not complain as the café was trying hard and was not trying to rip anyone off. They also had realised the mistake of getting out of their depth. It was good that I was able to see the funny side of the experience.

For Christmas eve my experience was completely different when we ate locally, in Orpington, which is not far from where we live. We go to Osteria da Fabrizio fairly regularly and we knew that the food would be good on Christmas eve with no corners cut and that the quality would be maintained and that the prices would not be shoved up. We were not disappointed.

After  the amuse-gueule accompanied by a glass of prosecco we ate:

Wild boar sausage, venison and beef carpaccio,

Taglioni pasta with marinated lobster,

A rack of lamb,

Chocolate fondant.

This was excellent dining.

All of these dishes were full of flavour and cooked perfectly. The rack of lamb was cooked to the correct strength and was seasoned perfectly and this is a good sign that the cooks know what they are doing. Well done the chef and his staff.

All this was washed down with a bottle of Valpolicella. The staff in the Osteria are from a variety of European countries and the are all friendly and polite and know how to treat the customers. No one ever calls us "guys". Being called "guy" in a restaurant is rude and borders on the insulting. In fact there is no reason to address anyone as "guy" unless he is actually named Guy. Why should I be treated as if I am about to be thrown on a bonfire? Would a waiter  or waitress like it if I I said, "come over here "guy"; I am ready to order?

When I go to a restaurant in France or Italy I am treated with respect because the waiters and waitresses know how to behave properly; it is a pity that the English cannot follow suit.

Any way, enough of this rant as we had a great meal at the Osteria. The boss is always friendly and plays great jazz records; even on Christmas eve so three cheers! We did not have to suffer "White Christmas" for the fiftieth time and anyway the outside temperature was 12 degrees celcius. We were set up nicely for a good culinary experience on Christmas Day. Osteria Fabrizio is highly recommended - if you are in the area.

http://www.dafabrizio.co.uk/

Domaine Toulal Guerrouane rosé 2014

Last weekend we visited France  and tried some Domaine Toulal Guerrouane rosé 2014 for an aperitif before we ate. I was quite impressed; some good wine is made in Morocco and Domaine Toulal is no exception it tasted just as good as a rosé from the Rhône valley that we tried the next day.

This wine is perfect for drinking in the garden on a hot summer's day which despite global warming is a rarity in Britain. This is probably why rosé sales are low in Britain and a nice warming Barolo is more suited to a British summer - it is better to stick to the South of France or Tuscany for garden parties.

Moroccan wine is very good value for money and even though it cannot compete with French, Italian or Spanish wine for absolute quality it gives the lower end wines a run for their money. I have never had a bad bottle and all the wines go with Moroccan food.

You can't find these wines easily in the the UK but an outlet can be found on short a short trip across the channel to a French supermarket. Domaine Toulal costs about 3.99 Euro a bottle and for that price why not buy a case? Moroccan red is generally good as well. So the next time you drive to France search some out all the major supermarkets who all stock wines from the Maghreb.

The wines of the Maghreb are produced on the slopes of the Atlas mountains in the north of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia where the Mediterranean influences the climate and produces conditions perfect for viticulture: there is also plenty of hot sun. The quality of wines from the Maghreb is improving all the time now that bulk wine production is being phased out. Export earnings from wine are on the up and France is the main export market.

A substantial proportion of the people who live in the Maghreb consume wine despite the restrictions of religion. Some of my Muslim friends assure me that it is OK for an adherent of Islam to consume wine provided that your character is unaffected by that consumption, so a glass of wine with a meal is not forbidden - this is a moot point and others would claim that a true adherent of the faith should not consume wine or any other form of alcohol for that matter.


http://www.cdiscount.com/vin-champagne/vin-rose/domaine-toulal-rose-x1/f-1293605-toulalrose.html

http://www.wine-navigator.com/wild-and-rare-in-North-Africa

Sonic Decanters and other methods of "improving" the taste of wine

I shall not be buying any of my wine lover friends a sonic decanter for Christmas. I would rather spend the money on a decent bottle for them. There may be many of you out there who are tempted to ask Santa to deliver me a sonic decanter  -  thanks a lot but I shall be putting them up for sale on E-bay and use the proceeds to buy a case of 2009 Latour.

There is lots of " hype" surrounding the ultrasonic treatment of wine and plenty of pseudo science to justify why you should give your wine a dose of sound waves.

Some people go for a cheaper solution and put their wine through a blending machine to add oxygen and ultrasonic sound to the treatment.

No one has come up with any good science why you should use ultrasonics or extreme oxygenation to improve any wine even a cheap one.

If you want to keep good or fine wine for any length of time to improve in the the bottle then it is best to avoid vibrating the wine. You should also prevent excessive oxygen from spoiling the wine by keeping it sealed with a cork which only allows extremely small amounts of oxygen to seep into the wine.

The best way to improve the taste of a cheap bottle of wine would be to allow it to breathe for an hour before serving or to decant it. This may well not improve the taste too much but it will not ruin the wine. This is a time honoured practice.

Most supermarkets and wine merchants do not stock poor wines. Occasionally you will buy a wine that is corked or has been oxidised because of a faulty seal. Ultrasonic treatment will not improve a faulty wine . It is best to take the wine back to the supplier for a refund.

There are good winemakers all over the world who make good wine to be sold at a fair price. Most of these winemakers are dedicated people who love their product. Does their wine really have to subjected to ultrasonic treatment for you to appreciate it? Just open their bottle with a good meal and play some Beethoven  - no ultrasonics are  needed to appreciate the  wine or the music.