What wine are you drinking today ?

From the Sunday Times Wine Club - Corsiero Nero Purosangue 2014.

A rich, smooth, almost black, red from Puglia ............... yum. 

OK,

First up was a rather nice glass of Chateau Larrivet Haut-Brion rose & rather good with lunch in Pons on our way to Barsac

Next was some white Graves at Chateau Jouvente. Nice bouquet, quite nice first impression but dreadful after that - almost undrinkable which is rare for me to say.

The red wasnt much better, having been finished in new oak thus far too much tannin & most of that went in the crachoir.

Finally out came the Chateau Roumieu 2009 Sauternes - wow, what a fabulous wine. My wife distinguished herself by correctly identifying the aroma of quince & we both got a hint of almonds with finishing hints of very ripe pineaple.

Finally dinner was acompanied by a Pessac Leognan and very good once opened up.

Today, its chateau Pierrail which I have enjoyed for over 15 years, first up is the Sauvignon & very well balanced it is, not too 'sharp' (although an ugly word to describe the taste of the wine) with a good finish.

Next up is Les Hautes du Naudon 2015 excellent, I really like this wine, the last time I bought it I spent some time deliberating that it was an equal to the Pierrail, anyway; blackberries, blueberries & cassis. This is no 'second wine' its an award winner for many years in its own right & well deserved.

Finally, 2014 Pierrail; complex, ripe fruits & everything a good red wine should be, punches well above its weight & well controlled tannin - superb & rightfully acompanied by a fair clutch of awards.

I'm informed Pierrail is now available in St Austel as well as Giddings (Devizes) & I think somewhere in London - a Bistro in Paris takes a pallet of Naudon every month!

My sincere thanks again to Madame Demonchaux for a lovely afternoon.

Finally dinner at the hotel (Domaine de Valmont), the excellent Roumieu 2009 with foie gras & a bottle of Jouvente 2007 - what a difference. Clearly there was something wrong with last nights offerings, this bottle was much better, so well done & another wine around the £10 a bottle mark thats above its station.

Good, reliable stuff this, and great value for money:

This is probably my favourite red wine - at sensible prices anyway - and it's currently on special offer at Waitrose. A fantastic Valpolicella. 

Adoro 2007 red blend.

real vibrant upfront ripe juicy berries that tastes as fresh as a daisy, with smooth subtle sophisticated aromas. When the mood takes for this type of wine, this is a winner.

2008 Clos des Ursules Burgundy from Louis Jadot, posing in front of my kitchen Qb. (I do decant most red Burgundy, I personally think it works.) Lovely classy young wine, nice nose of earth, raspberry and cherry, similar sweet fruits on the palate with some lovely spiciness. Good acidity (I like wines with a good backbone of acidity, others might reach for the Rennies when I say that), quite light and lacks a bit of length on the palate, while leaving a lovely red fruit perfume. I picked this up as the last bottle my local merchant had, wish I'd picked up a few more earlier, nice early drinking wine that'll improve for another year or so and last 5 or more, at a reasonable price for Burgundy.. 

2004 Anima Negra Son Negra.    Mallorca winery.

great big but subtle peppered spices. Very smooth finish. Huge violet burst with burnished leather aromas.

Mallorquín wines can be fantastic and Ànima Negra is one of the best producers. It's a shame that generally you have to go to the island to find them, and certainly I never see them in France..!

Of course the most famous producer is Viñas Nadal, because it is Rafa's family!

And probably the absolute best is 4 Kilos, although they are limited and expensive.

Like this wine, they are often made from grape varieties that only grow on the island (Callet and Mantonegro)

If ever you are in Mallorca, a trip too the wine producing heartland, around Binnisalem, is well worth it (as is the town itself).

Waitrose own label Aussie dry white. Hitting the spot, at a fiver. You calling me cheap?!

Chris, I'm sure it's just the thing.  

Right now I'm finishing off a bottle of 2013 Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon.  It's nothing special but it's a nice inexpensive wine that's probably one of the better examples for the price - in fact I'm sure there are some Cabs at 5 or 6 times the price that are no better, and possibly worse.  I bought a case a couple of years back and can't remember now what it cost, but it probably wasn't very much.

Image courtesy of Cellartracker.

Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cab. Which he bought from me in Oddbins Islington Green (next to his office)

A bottle most days. But he frequently came into the shop to reward himself with something special, at the end of a chapter or after a particularly funny bit.

He was a great guy to chat to. We even got to go to a couple of his parties. 

rodwsmith posted:

Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cab. Which he bought from me in Oddbins Islington Green (next to his office)

A bottle most days. But he frequently came into the shop to reward himself with something special, at the end of a chapter or after a particularly funny bit.

He was a great guy to chat to. We even got to go to a couple of his parties. 

Going on his reputation ... if he was in his office then he wasn't writing ... his reputation (as I recall from various biographies) was that he only really wrote when sequestered in a hotel room or other place away from distractions ... usually 3 months after his publisher's deadline!  :-)

Eloise posted:

rodwsmith posted:

Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cab. Which he bought from me in Oddbins Islington Green (next to his office)

A bottle most days. But he frequently came into the shop to reward himself with something special, at the end of a chapter or after a particularly funny bit.

He was a great guy to chat to. We even got to go to a couple of his parties. 

Going on his reputation ... if he was in his office then he wasn't writing ... his reputation (as I recall from various biographies) was that he only really wrote when sequestered in a hotel room or other place away from distractions ... usually 3 months after his publisher's deadline!  :-)

Wasn't it Adams who said "I love deadlines, I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by"?

Great little story Rod, thanks.  I shall toast yourself and Douglas Adams the next time I open a bottle.

Hi Rod,

thanks for sharing your story. The world is a poorer place without him.

Tonight the first taste of our 'Vrai Pineau' which is grape juice & Eau de Vie 60%  at 3 litres of juice :1 Eau de Vie ratio, left to settle for a week then syphoned into a 20 litre chestnut barrel to mature for 3-6 months. Its early days yet and still to clear fully but quite promising. Followed by a couple of glasses of 2015 Cote de Rhone.

Thanks Richard, Mulberry.

DA was just as witty and charming in person as you'd imagine. Although taller. Very tall indeed. He lived round the corner from our shop - one of those great victorian houses on Duncan Terrace (I'm not sure that the money didn't actually come from his wife Jane who if memory serves was a high-flying lawyer of some kind). The basement was one enormous kitchen, and the venue for the parties. After we'd supplied the booze for a couple of them, he started inviting us! He was always up for a chat whenever he came in, and a real wine lover. This was back when Australian wine was a novelty and often derided. Wolf Blass Cab is not the greatest wine in the world, but he told me he liked to drink the same wine when actually writing so he wouldn't get distracted by it. I think he found a lot of things distracting.

He ended up owning a vineyard as part of his place in the south of France, and I designed the label for him.

It was called Quarante-Deux. The name was the best thing about it (well, maybe except the label!!). I still have a bottle somewhere, but it would be completely undrinkable now, which wouldn't be much of a decline from its heyday.

Hardly a friend, but I was still shocked and moved when he died.

Yummy.

2 oz Reposado Tequila

1 oz Cointreau 

Juice of a lime

Pinch of salt

Barspoon of organic blue agave syrup

1 x dash of Oaxaca chocolate bitters

2 x dashes Regans orange  bitters

Orange zest

Add a ton of ice & shake to excess

Strain into a chilled Martini glass

Margarita de la muerte

Christopher_M posted:

Waitrose own label Aussie dry white. Hitting the spot, at a fiver. You calling me cheap?!

Waitrose new line of own label wines ( the ones with the blue and white labels) has some really good wines for the price. The Romanian Pinot Noir is especially good at £5.99. It wouldn't disgrace itself at twice that price.

Thank you Kevin. I will investigate. I've seen them but been put off by the labels. Their 'typical wines by country' at a fiver, with single colour labels and bold typography appealed more.

I have noticed the French red 'Plush' and French white 'Zesty' (I love them both) have disappeared from my local branch.

Feeling self-indulgent today, I opened the case of Lascombes 2000 I bought en primeur in those long gone days where a good claret from a fine vintage would cost under £20 a bottle when it came on the market, and I could afford to buy this class of wine  Very lovely it is too, dangerously easy to drink, classy dark red fruits on nose and palate, not the greatest concentration, but powerful enough to fill the mouth. In its sweet spot now, 2 or 3 more years at this lovely place. Just need to control myself to pace the 11 I have left. 

Eoink posted:

Feeling self-indulgent today, I opened the case of Lascombes 2000 I bought en primeur in those long gone days where a good claret from a fine vintage would cost under £20 a bottle when it came on the market, and I could afford to buy this class of wine  Very lovely it is too, dangerously easy to drink, classy dark red fruits on nose and palate, not the greatest concentration, but powerful enough to fill the mouth. In its sweet spot now, 2 or 3 more years at this lovely place. Just need to control myself to pace the 11 I have left. 

Very nice, its a shame prices have gone so daft, I recently saw Ch Giscours Margaux 2015 at a foire au vin for Eu189 a bottle, they were of course 'aving a larf.

naim_nymph posted:

Vegetarian Lasagne with cheese grated broccoli tonight, and while i'm waiting for the oven...

 

SALICE SALENTINO DOC, RISERVA, CANTELE 2013

"Dark cherry fruit on the nose with a delicate floral character, the palate is richer with plummy fruit, spices, even a wiff of smoke whilst the finish is smooth with sweet supple tannins."

13.0%
Italy
Style Full-bodied red
Grapes 100% Negroamaro
Less than 12 quid a bottle

I made a mistake buying a case of this, should have bought six cases! : )

Debs

...actually i did go back to buy more cases to stock my cellar.

Enjoying another bottle of this excellent wine tonight - before a pasta/cheese dish : )