Stellenbosch Zalze Shiraz/Mourvèdre/ Viognier 2019 red

 It bought this red wine from the local supermarket with a sense of excitement as it had been award prizes in South Africa.. However, I did not know what to make of it. It had all the hallmarks of a good quality wine even though it had a strong flavour of malo-lactic conversion which made the wine smell a bit buttery. Malo-lactic conversion is used to convert the malic acid in the wine to lactic acid which is softer on the palate.

The wine was young and lively with fruit and spice taste and seemed to be well integrated. We drank half a bottle with roast duck and the wine went well with it, however at the end of our meal I still had half a glass left over. Usually, when this happens I sip the glass before tea or coffee to finish it. This time I couldn't finish the glass the wine did not taste right and I could n't put my finger on what was wrong. Maybe, we were drinking it too soon and it should have left the bottle to mature for another year or so, but these days wines such as this are designed to be drunk young. Maybe it was to blend of grapes or the strong smell of malo-lactic conversion or maybe it had not been stored correctly. perhaps the style wasn't to our liking.

 We saved the remaining half of the bottle until the next day to drink with our roast pork. I thought that a little bit of oxidation, overnight, would improve matters but it didn't:  we were a little bit disappointed but finished the half bottle all the same as it went down quite well with the food. To finish things off I opened a bottle of Burgundy red from our favourite producer; a couple of glasses of that alleviated our disappointment.

Others, may find that this wine is perfectly satisfactory and that they enjoy it very well , so I am not going to mark it down in anyway. In the future, I might buy another bottle and we will then really enjoy it - who knows?  But, then again we could have been spoilt by drinking too much Burgundy red.

https://www.waitrosecellar.com/zalze-shiraz-mourvedre-viognier

Late Frost Bad News for the Wine Harvest

 This year's late frosts have done severe damage to the vines in France. The damage is so severe that government assistance will be required. One severe weather event cannot be attributed to climate change and global warming, but climate scientists have been warning us for years that global warming not only affects rainfall with increasing temperatures, but it also causes unexpected fluctuations to the weather. It is quite possible that winters could become colder and wetter and summers could become warmer and drier. All sorts of unexpected variations are possible within the range of average global temperatures going up. What happens now, if this year the wine growers of France and other European areas experience severe heat and drought in summer? They could have a disaster on their hands, and a run of 4 or 5 bad growing seasons could ruin the wine industry. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/09/french-winemakers-frost-government-freezing-temperatures-crops-vines

It is not just France that has been affected, as many UK vineyards have been badly damaged too. Can UK growers expect generous government subsidies too? I shall leave you to answer that one.

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2020/05/uk-vineyards-grapple-with-late-frost/

The Northern vineyards of Italy have also had their frost problems.

https://www.winespectator.com/articles/frost-strikes-vineyards-in-leading-italian-wine-region

Climat change needs to be tackled urgently, wine lovers do not want to taste wine that stems from grapes being grown under cloches or irrigated or artificially heated. Vines need nature; we can nurture the grapes but in the final analysis the vines need an equitable climate. Poorly grown grapes will produce poor wines.

It is ironic that research is being done to see how wines mature in space. What next, will research be done to see how grapes will grow without gravity and without weight to stretch the roots and the vine canes. Are some wine growers foreseeing a future where man leaves the planet Earth to inhabit Mars complete with his agriculture? This is a  pie in the sky future. It might be best to look after our own planet first  and reverse the damage of man made climate change. Let healthy vines produce healthy grapes and healthy wine.

Outer space wine

 Some samples of Bordeaux wine were sent up into space to age  for 14 months in the space station and then returned to earth for sensorial tasting by wine experts. The wine was the super expensive Chateau Petrus.

The wine experts noticed differences in taste between the "outer space aged wine" and the earthling wine. 

https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/petrus-wine-space-research-project-455239/

Of course the wine experts noticed differences but where they able to definitely able to identify the wine which had been aged in space from the earth based wine. How was the tasting organised? Was it a peer reviewed double blind experiment? How many samples of wine were tasted by how many tasters and were the results analysed by a statistician?

The power of suggestion can influence the results of a tasting all too easily it is very much a subjective exercise.

It concerns me that some wine entrepreneurs will see the profit potential from selling wine that has been "aged" in space to wine investors.

One of the tasters believed that the wine aged in space was "two to three years more " evolved. According to time dilation theory, astronauts who have spent months of time orbiting at high speeds in the space station return to earth younger than if they had remained on earth, albeit by milliseconds. Why is wine so different in this aspect?

https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/12/07/65014/how-does-time-dilation-affect-aging-during-high-speed-space-travel/

Brazin Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel 2018 Californian red

 We bought this wine from the local supermarket with a 25% discount £12.25 instead of £15. It was simply superb and one of the best Californian wines I have ever tasted. We drank it with steak as recommended. Usually, we only drink half a bottle of wine with our meal but we savoured this wine over the course of a whole evening.

The wine was full of fruit flavour but so well balanced for tannin, acidity, sweetness and alcohol at 14.5 % not 15%. It was full-bodied and concentrated and the flavour rested on the palette. The wine was distinctive and showed Zinfandel produced wine at its best. At this price it competes with the best in the world. I highly recommend this wine and it is still on offer. Despite the lockdown British wine lovers can go down to Waitrose buy this wine and a steak and find some relief from the wretched virus.

It is not often that I agree with  a supermarket's hype about  a wine. In this case if you take away the hype  you are left with a description of an exceptionally good wine at great value for money. You can probably buy it from their website. American readers can probably find this wine easily  so it is really worth searching out as the value for money will be even greater than in the UK.

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/brazin-old-vine-zinfandel/712311-101235-101236

My wife is a member of the  Wine Society and this is what their wine lovers have got to say about it, and I couldn't agree more.

https://www.thewinesociety.com/shop/productdetail.aspx?section=pd&pl=&pc=&prl=&pd=US9321

Waitrose Own Brand Albariňo 2109

 I don't buy "own-brand" supermarket wines very often, but I fancied a bottle of Albarino to go with the evening's supper: the supermarket, Waitrose, did not have any recognisable domaine produced wine so I settled for  Waitrose Own Brand Albariňo 2109. I was not disappointed this wine had all the flavour and character of a domaine produced wine, it was nutty with apple and citrus fruit flavours. It was dry and well balanced for acidity and sweetness. It goes perfectly with fish such as Sea Bass, Sea Bream, Hake, and of course Sardines. It was concentrated on the palate. It was typical of a Spanish  Albariňo produced in the Rías Baixas region of Galicia on the Spanish border with Portugal. The wine is made of Albariňo grapes so it is varietally labelled - I can forgive the Galicians for this, just like I can forgive the Alsaciennes. Albariňo cannot be made by anyone else or anywhere else and it has its own unique taste. Riesling from Alsace deserves the same accolade.

However, it is not just Spain that makes "Albariňo" it is made on the other side of the Minho, Miňo -in Spanish, river in Portugal but it is called Alvarhino. The Spanish claim their wine is best and the Portuguese claim theirs is, but I think they are both equally superb. They are both classics of the Iberian peninsula and are very closely related.

 After writing this I am going to Waitrose supermarket to buy some more Albariňo and some Alvarinho if I can find it. The Supermarket has got a 25% discount on six bottles. The wine will go well with tonight's chicken broth.

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-vina-taboexa-albarino-spanish-white-wine/713697-350237-350238

https://vinepair.com/articles/albarino-and-alvarinho-theyre-the-same-thing/

Who said that English Wine cannot be as good as French or Californian Wine - Eglatine North Star

 I was given a bottle of 2014 North Star dessert wine from the Eglatine Vineyard in South Nottinghamshire. This wine is superb and has won prizes. It had been sitting on the wine rack for ages just waiting for the right moment  to be opened; over the Christmas period of 2020. There was little to celebrate except the wine: friends and family could not join us. We drank the wine with one of my favourite desserts: apple tart and vanilla ice cream. Apple tart is one of my wife's specialities. Immediately, upon opening the wine, which had been chilled, I could smell pineapple and exotic tropical fruits. On the nose and palate the taste was extremely complex and concentrated. The sweetness of the wine was balanced to perfection by the acidity. The taste of the wine rested long on the palate. It was one of the best dessert wines I have ever tried and it easily rates favourably with a good   Monbazillac from the Dordogne.

I looked at the back label and the vineyard described the wine as tasting of pineapples and other tropical fruits. It is a rare occasion when my judgement concurs with the wine makers.

The wine was just about starting to turn a golden colour and I guess that it  will keep a good few years longer; provided it is stored well in the dark.

I have no idea how much a half bottle of this wine cost but whatever it was it was worth it. This is one of the best wines I have tasted and it  is from England. I shall be searching out this wine when I am allowed to visit my sister in North Leicestershire, we can then celebrate the end of restrictions with a decent bottle of wine and some good food.

https://www.eglantinevineyard.com/#Flavor

The world's best wine

 So now we a have it; Mouton Rothschild 2018 Bordeaux Premier Cru Red is the best wine in the world. Rare Champagne 2008 is the best Champagne. Penfold's winery is the best in the world. 20,000 wines were tasted by 130,000 professional tasters and amateurs who voted over a 3 month period. One of the wines voted best in the world was a Merlot. But, wait a minute, Merlot is not a wine it is a grape variety; the Merlot had to be identified by the producer who made it. 

http://bwwcompetition.com/

https://redon.maville.com/actu/actudet_-bordeaux-le-titre-de-meilleur-vin-du-monde-attribue-au-chateau-mouton-rothschild-2018_54135-4472074_actu.Htm

It is fun to read about such competitions but I do not take them too seriously as a guide to the best wines in the world. I am looking for quality versus value for money.

I have never tasted the 2018 Mouton Rothschild, and probably never will unless a rich uncle opens a bottle but I am too old to have any rich uncles that are alive.  I have no doubt that I would find the wine to be excellent along with all the other wines that were voted best in the world. However, other wine producers might feel a little aggrieved;  there is no doubt that Château Petrus believes that it produces the best red wine in the world and who is to say that it doesn't. 

All judgements about wine are in the main subjective; you can learn to identify wines which are distinctive but which also represent the style of their area. However, many Champagne Houses blend wines from many different parcelles of vineyard.  Some Champagne houses, in the more renowned north of the region, blend in wine from the less renowned south of the region into their house brands. It's my opinion that the best Champagnes come from small growers who make their own Champagne. These grower-makers hardly get onto to lists for judgement. However, I would never refuse to drink Pol Roger non-vintage Brut.

It is also possible to be trained or educated to recognise wines that can be kept for many years or decades to improve in the bottle. The 2018 Mouton  Rothschild will do this and also it is renowned as an investment wine, and some of this wine will never be opened, but will rest in a cold, dark cellar.

One thing is certain, the price of any wine that gets on the Best Wine in the World list, will go up.

Today, we will be celebrating my wife's birthday with a bottle of Champagne from a grower-maker whose prize winning Champagne has not been on anyone's list for popularity, but it will be our Best Wine in the World, and no-one else's opinion will affect our judgement.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bww-2021---best-wines-of-world-have-been-selected--chateau-mouton-rothschild-is-the-winner-301212995.html#:~:text=In%20BWW%20Competition%202021%2C%20the,Rothschild%202018%2C%20Bordeaux%2C%20France.&text=The%20Best%20Winery%20of%20the,awarded%20to%20the%20Penfolds%2C%20Australia.&text=BWW%20warmly%20welcomes%20all%20vineyards,wine%20for%20the%202022%20competition.