What wine are you drinking today ?

I am not exactly an oenologist, but even I haven't done any of those!

wait, wait. hold on a damn minute. nothing wrong with #11.

at the moment: 2013 Joseph Swan Vineyards Russian River Valley pinot noir. (silent T.) California wine isn't normally my jam, despite living in the USA, but this is pretty good! not overdone.

#11     I'll take a Styrofoam cup  ;-)     Filled with Petrus  :-)

This was fun!

A nice little lineup Rod.

A tough day at the office, Rod?

(me, I'm just a little jealous...)

Tony2011 posted:

I’m sure most people are guilty of at least one of these “sins”  listed below and I must confess, living in the UK where temperatures are very rarely over 10C, I never found the need to refrigerate a bottle of the red stuff.

The UK's top 20 wine-drinking faux pas:

3-Drinking from the bottle

 

Rod did upgrade from blue nun to the good fizz, but always made no 3 look classy.

rodwsmith posted:

This was fun!

Very nice Rod. How was the 2002 Cos? I have one in the cellar, 750ml format. Will it be ready for this Christmas?

It was an interesting tasting of 'odd' vintages.

Here is what I wrote at the time:

Tasting at Cos d'Estournel

27 /11/17

Pagodes de Cos 2011
55 CS 45 M
Spicy warm oak, black fruit. Rich and full. Generous for the vintage. Some green hints 17

Cos d'Estournel 2011
70CS 27M 2CF 1PV
Much richer, sweeter oak aromas, more youthful looking. Spices. No green. 17

Cos d'Estournel 2008
78CS 22M
Earth, spice aromas, some coffee. Opening to reveal violet and black fruit.
Blackberry, cream, serious dry tannins. Opening. Approachable, youthful. 17.5

Cos d'Estournel 2003
65CS 27M 8PV
Warm earthy spices, some smoke, tea. Violets scorched black fruit. Dry tannins on finish. Not jammy, not hot. Ready. 18

Cos d'Estournel 2002
65CS 45M
Savoury and smoky. Pencil shavings and cedar. Smoke and spices. Dry fruit. Fairly classic. Delicious although lacks huge weight and complexity 17.5

Cos d'Estournel Blanc 2013
80S 20Sm
Oak and vanilla aromas, some smoke, rich honeyed flavour, crisp acidity and lemon. Bit over oaky 16

rodwsmith posted:

(A bit like 1976 in southern England, if you are old enough, or were there to remember that)

 

As I recall 1976 was a good year for claret. I can still remember a bottle of Harvey's No. 1 Claret from 1976. Not expensive, either.

2017 is a weird and small vintage in France (and in Europe) and by coincidence in most other places too

If you draw a line from Pau to Luxembourg, then anywhere east of it seems to have had a good vintage, with few of the frost problems that plagued pretty much all the vineyard areas west of it, and some on higher ground everywhere, even in Spain (where frost at budding time is virtually unheard of). Chablis and Champagne, for example, have lost nigh-on 50%, and for the third time in a row.

But where I live in Provence (and where you are too by the sound of it) it was such a mega-heatwave that the ripening will have been speeded up and the harvest was one of the earliest on record. This is mixed news. No Autumn rain to ruin anything, but sugar developing faster than flavour is uneven at best - the wines will either have the right amount of alcohol and be under-ripe tasting, or taste good, but be 15% a.b.v. monsters. A bit like 2003.

West of this line, including Bordeaux it looks like a pretty terrible vintage, continuing the theme that if it ends in a -7, ignore it (true since 1957).

But the combination of frost in Spring and hot dry summers have meant that this is one of the smallest harvests on record (and not only for grapes), and for the first time in ages there may actually be a shortage of wine (as in more demand than there is product rather than anyone really actually running out).

I think we can all guess what that will provoke!

From my local Wine shop (Borough Wines). Very earthy and not so sweet as most Ports and it comes from  a small winery in the Douro Valley. 

Martinborough Pinot, drinking at cellar temperature today in dew frosted glasses. 25 Celsius this evening. 4 years old with meaty, iron notes. Round and luscious in mouth with crisp acidic finish.

Norwegian wine from Kelowna, B.C.

Jan-Erik Nordoen posted:

Norwegian wine from Kelowna, B.C.

Ah, the water of life!  Does it stand up against proper Scandinavian Aquavit?  I doubt this bottle passed the equator twice on a ship between Norway and Australia and back.  Could you tell?

Nothing sadly!  A recent healthy lifestyle drive implemented by my beloved means  it is a dry house we live in at the moment unfortunately my Irish heritage and her German heritage mean that our drinking can border more on the binge rather than the moderate one glass at dinner type drinking and so needless to say in this environment even a bottle of Lambrini would go down an absolute treat.

Yours

Very, very thirsty of Hove!

Florestan posted

Ah, the water of life!  Does it stand up against proper Scandinavian Aquavit?  I doubt this bottle passed the equator twice on a ship between Norway and Australia and back.  Could you tell?

It's very good and even convinced my Norwegian mother - she's 87 - who usually only swears by Linie. Instead of passing the equator twice, it strengthens its character by crossing the rockies, oil sands, fields of grain, large bodies of water and the French-language barrier. The fruit alcohol base leaves a clean finish reminiscent of poire william...

steve

Often taken by labels that promise some devilishness.

This Argentinan blend from 2014 drinks like the promise first blend Malbec once tasted like back some couple of decades ago.

Bob the Builder posted:

Nothing sadly!  A recent healthy lifestyle drive implemented by my beloved means  it is a dry house we live in at the moment unfortunately my Irish heritage and her German heritage mean that our drinking can border more on the binge rather than the moderate one glass at dinner type drinking and so needless to say in this environment even a bottle of Lambrini would go down an absolute treat.

Yours

Very, very thirsty of Hove!

Same here Bob. My current medication doesn't permit the consumption of any alcohol, so that's it. A real shame - I've got a reasonable collection of good bottles which now my visitors will enjoy without me.

Euro 3,50

Worth every cents

We were over at The Chapel Down Vineyard yesterday for lunch and had two interesting and contrasting Chardonnays, both from the 2014 vintage. The first was the straight Chapel Down Chardonnay: Described as "An elegant unoaked Chardonnay with aromas of apple, white peach and kiwi fruit with background aromas of fresh hay. The palate is fresh and linear with pineapple and citrus characters leading to a mineral finish."  I'd go with that.  I like this one very much, and it seems to be particularly good value too.

Next came a Chapel Down Kit's Coty Chardonnay.  This was more in the Napa style with use of oak. I had heard great things about this wine - the 2013 having arrived to a lot of fanfare - so expectations were high. Straight away it was obviously a richer wine than the straight Chardonnay, however, the balance was frustratingly just short of ideal.  It just needed a touch more fruit and acidity for me, and I felt the oak, while not excessive, had just tipped over the balance.

It was, however, impressive, of a quality that was probably unthinkable a couple of decades ago for an English wine.  I still have to pinch myself to remind me that these are wines being made practically on my doorstep.

It's that time of the year again! 

(Will publish my thoughts on the Up and Down 2017 vintage, and let you know) But for this, and Sauternes in general, it's a stunner...