Casablanca Sauvignon Blanc 2002

Made by Joseba Altuna in Chile's Casablanca valley I had high hopes for this - despite Sainsbury's discontinuing it! However despite looking the part (straw with a touch of green) and having aromas of gooseberries and apricots, once in the mouth it sadly failed to deliver - it wasn't a bad wine, it just wasn't very good either - it was a touch too tart for my liking and tasted sour which was a great shame - however that is life and sometimes things taste good and sometimes they don't!

Les Traverses 2001 - Paul Jaboulet Aine'

A Cote de Ventoux, which is sometimes a source of good value Cote Du Rhone and at other times a source of cheap rubbish, however this happily falls into the former category - I bought a couple of these a few years ago and the first one I tried then was lovely, and was bought to try and replicate what I'd been drinking on my honeymoon - which thankfully it did! This time round it was a different wine - the colour had moved towards being tawny, and whilst the spice and oak were still present the fruit had transformed into dried fruit and liquorice flavours. Personally I preferred the younger wine, and this might had just been left too long whilst not being stored particularly well!

Montana Sauvignon Blanc 2005

This is currently on offer in Tesco at just £4.99 a bottle - and it's a real bargain at that price - decent quality New Zealand Sauvignon can be pretty pricey and I bought this 10 minutes after buying a Cloudy Bay Sauvignon from the local wine merchants who had a few bottles left - straw coloured with a hint of green in in, it displays youthful aromas of tropical fruits (passion fruit) and gooseberries and has flavours of sweet gooseberries (still dry though) with a hint towards grapefruit, this is high in acidity making it crisp and clean and is surprisingly full bodied. Made by Julia O'Connell from Montana this is a masterpiece at this price - a wine which in 1990 won the Marquee de Goulaine Trophy for best Sauvignon Blanc in the world. Comparison with the Cloudy Bay will come when I get around to tasting it!

Unwins goes under!

Unwins the wine merchants, which has been around since 1843 has ceased trading with the loss of 1400 jobs and closure of 350 stores. Whilst part of the blame can be laid at the door of increased competition from the supermarkets, it would be fair to say that all the off license chains and independents that are doing well also suffer from this same competition. The fault lies elsewhere, for the last month my local store has had virtually no wine on the shelves and distribution and cash flow have been cited as part of the reason. How can a chain that has grown so large go so badly, the buyers need to take some of the blame, an inability to differentiate themselves is part of the story - in order to get customers to visit the store rather than go to a supermarket they needed a unique selling point - which from the outside looks like they failed to have. Oddbins sell better, more interesting wines than the supermarkets with staff who know their stuff, Majestic have a similar strategy but by getting cheap premises and having a minimum order of one case have made it work. From my visits to Unwins, the range tended to be small, (something a specialist cannot afford to do), uninspiring, and very ordinary - it appeared they wanted to compete head on with Tesco in a battle they were destined to lose - too many wines in the £5 price point and not enough in the £9 plus bracket.

Back after the Christmas break

Well I'm back after a short break over Christmas, and I'm ashamed to say that I haven't recorded all the wines sampled during the festive season, however I will be adding over time some of the backlog of wines I've tasted over the last year prior to starting this Blog.

Champagne in a can

Napa aristocrat Niebaum-Coppola has released a Champagne-like wine – in an elegantly decorated pink can.Sofia Mini Blanc de Blanc – named after actress-director Sofia Coppola, daughter of the renowned Godfather director and winery proprietor – blends 70% Pinot Blanc, 20% Sauvignon Blanc and 10% Muscat Cannelli to create a Champagne-like wine sold in cans, and supplied with a straw. 'It does really well in the summer, particularly with women,' New York-based winery spokeswoman Jennifer Mitchell told decanter.com. With the winter holidays coming, the small 187ml can is also a perfect choice for parties, she said, as it's 'easy to pass around on a tray.' The Washington Post has already noted the success of the canned fizz, particularly among young people across the country, in an article earlier this month. Although the sparkling wine has been on the market for a year, at US$19.99 for four cans (the equivalent of a bottle), as a result of occasional explosions the can will be reissued with a thicker base. 'It has not been a serious problem, but strengthening the can's base will prevent accidents,' Mitchell said.

Bordeaux Prices tumble

Property prices across Bordeaux are at their lowest on record as the region struggles with the crisis hitting the French wine industry. In what is becoming a buyers market the prices are now 30% less than 2003 with tougher conditions expected in 2006. As a result some smaller producers are going out of business or are being bought up by larger producers. However the best properties and appelations are less effected, although in some cases this is true. This news comes in the same week at 3rd Growth Margaux Chateau Cantenac Brown was sold - the question on everyone's lips now is - how much for?

Cantenac Brown Finally Sold

Bordeaux insiders are reporting that 3rd Class Growth Chateau Cantenac Brown has been sold by AXA to an undisclosed individual for an "agreeable" price. The Chateau has been one of the less well performing Cru Classe' and it's terroir has at times been passed off as "not the best in Margaux". We await further news.

Ravenswood Sonoma County Old Vine Zin 2001

WOW! This is fantastic - come December and it's one of the best wines I've bought a bottle of all year! (I've tasted finer, but haven't bought many better bottles) at £12.49 a bottle this is thick and juicy and stood perfectly alongside pan fried duck breast in a cranberry and port jus with dauphinois potatoes. Edging towards garnet in colour with thick luxuriant legs. This is powerful stuff - though thicker and juicier than many, using French oak for 24 months (though only 35% of this is new) has given it roundness and allowed it to truly develop, whilst Joel Peterson has exercised his expertise and used oak as it should be, with care and discretion - not for him too long in new American oak. As Ravenswood claim this is a "No Wimpy Wines" zone, it is deep and dark and needs food that will stand up to it.(http://www.ravenswood-wine.com/home.htm)
This has flavours of cinnamon, cloves, raspberries and blackberries - it's enough to get you in the Christmas spirit - but I'd strongly advise against anyone wanting to try this with turkey - don't save it for beef or game (or even lamb) then you'll see it at it's best!

Whisky Tasting

It may not be wine; however Andy, a friend, and I went along to our local Sainsbury's to a whisky tasting last night - and I can report that trying to taste 10 whiskies, when there is not spitoon is a decidedly dangerous occupation. Getting enough to taste but not enough to end up paralytic was the toughest part of the evening. We started with a 10 year old Ardbeg - which both of us would usually drink and as expected found a powerful, dry Whisky. We then moved onto a 10y.o Balvenie which I was really looking forward to tasting and had often toyed with the idea of buying - now I'm glad I didn't - this was like very alcoholic desert wine with added honey - it was frankly grotesque and after a sip of it we soon decided that a third glass was needed to pour anything unpalatable into. Bowmore legend came next - this was nice - but perhaps a little to delicate for our liking. Thwe big surprise came next in the form of bog standard 12 y.o. Glenfiddich - now I'm not sure whether it's the amount of advertising or what- but it's the one malt sold everywhere - so something makes you think it won't be very good - but it turned out to be one of the better whiskies on offer - not as powerful as the Ardbeg - but enough to know it was there. 5th up was Glenfiddich Caoran Reserve 12 y.o. a new venture from Glenfiddich who you imagine have lost market share in the last 5 years from increased competition and knowledge from consumers - and this hits the spot very nicely indeed and was one of the discoveries of the evening. Both the Glenlivet 12 y.o. and the Glenmorangie 10 y.o. we thought could use a little more body, there was nothing bad about them but they were a little too gentle and uninteresting. Isle of Jura 10 y.o. again was nothing to write home about, but where I might find myself buying either of the previous two, I don't think I'd venture to buy a bottle of this, on the other hand I wouldn't give it to a raffle if I had a bottle (as I would the Balvenie). Prize for the night for best discovery was 10 year old Yamazaki Japanese single malt - this was lovely (although by this stage it has to be said I'm not sure how well my palate was behaving!) and is something that I may well return to. The nicest whisky of the night, we had saved until last - a 15 y.o. Highland Park which was fantastic - although at £10 a bottle more than the rest of the selection I'd probably plump for something else. Indeed when we then wandered (or staggered) across to Whisky section we ended up buying a bottle of Burgundy Wood Glenmorangie that was on offer rather than something we'd already gone for!

Enzo Boglietti Barbera D'Alba 2003

This is a vibrantly coloured blood red wine with the most amazing aroma of cherries and plums and slight hints of aniseed. The first thing that hits you when you taste this wine is a burst of acidity at the front of your mouth - as you would expect from an Italian wine - this should without doubt be served with either acidic foods - such as a tomato based pasta dish or an oily food where the acidity will cut through the oil. The flavours in this wine of vanilla and plums are very pleasing, although I found that sadly they did not live up to the aromas.

Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau

At one minutes past midnight on the third Thursday in November, all in Beaujolais are awake sending over a million cases of Nouveau off to Paris before it is shipped all the way around the world. This is a strange ritual only seen in this part of France, and by the time it is over, more than 65 million bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau will have been drunk globally. Locally there are races to see who can be the first to serve this newly made wine, and this sees cars, motorbikes and aircraft employed to get it to it's final destination. Just a few weeks prior to this, grapes were still hanging on their vines and the local vignerons were preparing for harvest.
Georges Duboeuf is the largest producer in Beaujolais and he alone will produce 4 million bottles and works tirelessly to promote it around the world - and it is down to him that this one time local custom has developped into a world wide phenomenon.
Georges Duboeuf says of the 2005 harvest :-

"To give you an impression of this year’s wine, I must first remark on its color. It is without a doubt the finest palette of colors I have seen in a glass of Beaujolais. There is sumptuous beauty within the glass made up of dazzling red with violet highlights, a deep ruby red with hints of garnet. In the Crus there are deep purple reds that are somber, like the blue of night. This is an impressive livery that is sure to enrobe and embellish 2005’s wine. Beyond its impeccable appearance, the 2005 vintage also contains some of the most remarkable aromas. They breathe a refreshing complexity of black currant, blueberry, blackberry, black cherry and kirsch, intermingled with violet, cocoa, coffee, pepper, licorice and warm spices."

"The taste of the 2005 Beaujolais Nouveau lives up to the standards set by its color and aroma. The palate gives the impression of intense concentration. This is a warm wine, bold and fleshy. It is harmonious, voluptuous and seductive. It is the sort of wine to help you rediscover the aromatic palate. The succulent fruits are held together by supple tannins that create the lavish expression of a high class wine. This is the mark of a formidable vintage that will be discussed for years to come. "

Having never tasted any Nouveau I decided that the time had come to take the plunge and managed to pick up a bottle for £4.99 from Waitrose (they had about 3 bottles left) In appearance the wine was a great deal deeper than I expected, definitely red and pink colours rather than purples but with a slight mauve tinge. The nose was clean and youthful as you would expect with the pear drop aroma you would expect from a product of carbonic masceration and some banana and strawberry aromas - so quite where Georges gets his fruit garden of aromas from I'm not sure. On the palate the wine is dry with little or no tannin but plenty of acidity giving it some structure. Very light bodied you could almost mistake this for a white wine if blindfolded - and certainly a Rose' as delicate strawberry comes through. All in all - what's the fuss about - to be honest I'm not really sure - the wine is certainly drinkable but beyond that, it's a little bit dull and ,for me, lacks the WOW factor. Would I buy it again - probably but only to be part of Nouveau phenomenon, if it weren't for that I'd leave it well alone.

French Winemakers go on the rampage - Again!!

In the early hours of Wednesday morning (8 December) members of the FNSEA union (Fédération Nationale des Syndicats d'Exploitants Agricoles) and its regional arm the FDSEA arrived at the Bordeaux trade body's HQ near the Place de Quinconces and - using breezeblocks and mortar - built a wall across the main doors, blocking them entirely. The action is a continuation of the long-running protest against falling prices of barrels. Last month the unions put forward a plan to withhold AOC (Appellation d'Origine Controlé) certificates from producers who do not sell their barrels for the minimum price of €1,000.

Argentina to Open UK Wine Office

Argentina will open a dedicated wine office in the UK before the end of next year. The country currently accounts for just 1.5% of the UK market, whilst it is the 5th largest producer in the world. The country traditionally sees some growth on the back of discounting and good vintages but fails to maintain momentum and slips back to their starting point. This move is seen as essential in opening up a more cohesive attack on the UK market.

Red Wine Offers

Across the supermarkets the big brands are on offer, Asda have Jacob's Creek Shiraz-Cabernet at £3.98 a bottle, Lindeman's Bin 50 Shiraz £3.98, Wold Blass President's Cab Sauv £7.98, and a whole range of wine at £3.72 a bottle or 3 for £10 including 35 South and Banrock Station.
At Co-OP Peter Lehmann Wildcard Reserve Shiraz 2004£7.99 - £3.99, Spain: Muriel Rioja Gran Reserva 1996£9.99 - £5.99. Oddbins have 20% off one bottle of many wines, 25% off 3 and 30% off 6. Morrisons : Gran Eneldo Rioja Reserva 1998£7.99 - £4.99, Hardy's Stamp Shiraz-Cabernet 2003£5.79 - £3.99, Jacobs Creek Reserve Shiraz 2003*£7.99 – £5.99, Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Shiraz 2002£6.99 - £4.89. Sainsburys : Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Shiraz 2003*£6.99 - £4.99, Era Costana Rioja Reserva 1999£8.99 - £4.99Faustino I, Rioja Gran Reserva 1995*£13.99 - £11.99, Lindemans Bin 50 Shiraz 2004*£6.49 - £3.99, Wolf Blass President's Selection Shiraz 2000£11.99 - £8.99, Tesco : Offers this week are all a little dull, they don't cut prices by more than than their competitors and they seem only to have the big brands on offer or their own brand wines. Waitrose : Côte de Beaune-Villages 2000 Louis Jadot £9.99 - £7.99, Barolo 2000/01 Terre da Vino£12.99 - £9.99, Wither Hills Pinot Noir 2003 Marlborough£14.99 - £11.99

Christies and Langtons to offer joint online auctions

Christies and Australian auction house Langtons are to team up over online wine auctions, using technology Langtons have developped. A date has been set for next may when an auction will be jointly held in Hong Kong and via the web. Both parties have previously worked together on a small scale however this is the first time they have worked on something of this scale.

Wine International and IWC under review

Following the sale of Wine International magazine to William Reed Publishing; the magazine will cease in it's current format, and will instead merge with sister publication Wine and Spirit International, to form a new trade only magazine, Wine and Spirit. It will be edited by the current editor of Off License news and the information I have is that Charles Metcalfe and Robert Joseph, the figureheads at Wine International are still under discussion though it is unlikely that they will continue as associate editors.

The International Wine Challenge is also part of the discussions taking place and the current plan is to offer a "Challenge Package" to include spirits and beers. What is ceretain is that the magazine will be completely re-vamped and be unrecognisable from the current offering. The new magazine will be solely aimed at the UK trade with no space dedicated to the trade in other countries. We await to see whether the IWC will continue to hold such gravitas in the UK and world markets.

Offers Offers Everywhere! - Whites

Wiht the festive season, so come all manner of offers from retailers to entice you to pick them for your Christmas tipples. Waitrose has Puilly Fume' Arnoud de Lasalle 2004 reduced from £10.99 to £6.99, Chablis Blaison de Bourgongne 2004 at £6.99 from £10.49 and Puilly Fuisse' - Bouchard Aine' et Fils 2004 at £7.99 from £11.99 . Tesco have Wolf Blass President's Selection Chadonnay 2003 (£7.99 from £9.99) and along with Waitrose have the Yellow Label Chardonnay reduced (Tesco £5.49 , Waitrose £5.61). Sainsbury's the prize for most tempting offer with IWC Golod Medal Winning Lous Jadot Meursault 2002 "Pretty pale straw gold. Very complex nose, with golden apple, roast almond and mineral aromas. The palate is crammed with tangy lemon fruit, its supple, silky texture a complement to the rich, opulent flesh. A sensational wine drinking very well now. IWC 2005" reduced from £18.99 to £14.99. Almost all the chains have put the big brands on offer, so it will be no surprise to see Jacoob's Creek, Wolf Blass, Hardy's, Kendermann's and Kumala on offer at several of them, often across the entire range.

Christmas Champagne!

This Christmas many of us will celebrate with a nice glass of something fizzy, and the supermarkets have gone all out to win us over with offers. Tesco lead the way with Andre Carpentier NV Brut at a staggering £9.99 until December 6th. Asda have their offer on until January 8th at £9.98 a bottle for a bottle of Hubert Laurent NV Brut, whilst Morrisons go for Jean D'eperon Brut NV at the sub £10 mark. Other offers worthy of mention include Canard Duchene 2000 Brut down £15 to £14.99 at Majestic. around the stores Nicolas Feuilette NV Brut is heavily discounted, with £14.99 being the best price I found at both Majestic and Morrisons. Other brands to keep an eye out for are Lanson NV Black Label (16.79 in Somerfield from December 21 to January 3rd) and Piper Heidiseck NV Brut (£13.99 until 1st January in Coop)

Graham's 1975 Vintage Port

1975 was declared a vintage and although not one of the very best it is still very good indeed. And Graham's made probably the best port in this particular vintage. I was fortunate enough to have 6 bottles bought for me before I could walk (or certainly soon after!) and have bottles now remaining. Age has given it an amazing tawny colour with a great deal of sediment - the flavours are intense sweet flavours of dried fruits, particularly sultanas and dried figs. It has a bouquet like liquid Christmas cake. There is definately nothing harsh in this and it is absolutely ready to drink now, in fact if you have any bottles of this anywhere (and I still do!) then this Christmas and thereabouts is probably the time to go about drinking this before it really starts to go downhill. It may last a few more years, but let's be honest - I'm not sure I'm willing to take the chance having waited 30 years to see what it ends up like!

French Winemakers Get Violent

A group of balaclava wearing French winemakers attacked the Montpellier offices of Onivins, France's wine trade body, smashing up computer equipment and injuring three members of staff. In another attack in Sete further South, an export depot was attcked, including wine storage tanks, allowing 100,000 litres of wine to spill onto the tarmac. No group has claimed responsibility for this, although the militant disaffected wine producers group CRAV have carried out attacks this year including a dynamite attack on the La Baume winery in the Languedoc.

Goosecross Cellars Launch Podcasting

the Napa Valley Based Goosecross Cellars have launched Napa Valley Wine Radio, covering wine education, appreciation and entertainment as a podcasting service. This is the first such service, clearly aimed at the ipod generation. Working as a subscription service the MVWR offers a "personal experience" describing aromas and flavours and making food pairing suggestions. More info at www.goosecross.com

French Getting themselves in a spin

News that the French health ministry is planning to label all wines with a health warning has unsuprisingly gone down badly with producers, there are already plans for labels to be added warning pregnant woman of the dangers of drinking alcohol, and these plans take the same theme further to labels similar to those seen on cigarette packets. Roland Feredj of the Bordeaux Wine Trade Council said "You are trying to create an atmosphere of fear. But a policy of fear and bans does not work."

Chateau Moncets 2001

This is a Pomerol taste alike from nearby Lalande de Pomerol and is made right up against the Pomerol border, this vintage is soft and succulent with a bouquet of almonds, chocolate, toasted vanilla and blackcurrent and has spice and red fruits on the palate. The 2002 which I have also recently tasted is less robust than this, is perhaps fruitier and less vegetal but I think is the poorer wine. Made by the team at Jean Pierre Moueix the kings of the right bank this has a long finish and is deep in colour and is medium to full bodied. (18/20)

Summertown Wine Cafe

The Summertown wine cafe in North Oxford (www.summertownwinecafe.co.uk) offers two different wine menus, a monthly selection and their "Superstars" list. For just £2 you can taste all 12 monthly wines, which I duly did (all in the line of duty!). Some of the wines tasted were : Mariner Pinot Gris 2004 is a subtle New Zealand number, light in body and flavour but with excellent flavour (16.5/20). Domaine Thibault Pouilly Fume' 2004 is quite frankly a poor example of this wine, it's astringent and lacks any of the gooseberry type flavours that Sauvignon from the Loire should posess, frankly it was a bit of an embarrassment being asked what I though about it (14/20). Kim Crawford Tietjen Chardonnay 2004 was toasty, perhaps a little too toasty in fact, it has too many burnt flavours, (15/20). Calera Pinot Noir lacked any intensity of flavour, it is clearly made in the Burgundian style, but lacks the flavours that Burgundians are so good at extracting. (15.5/20). Fayolle Crozes Hermitage Les Pontaix 2003 had lovely flavours but was being drunk 2 years too soon and had over active tannins which brought this one down (15/20 perhaps as much as 18/20 in 2 years or more). I also had the opportunity to taste a few of the Superstars, and briefly found Paul Jacqueson Rully 2003 to be a fine flinty example of a white burgundy (16.5/20) , Cuilleron Viognier 2004 smelt and tasted of peaches and cream and was fabulous (17/20) as was the impressive Poderi Aldo Conterno "Conca Tre Pile" Barbera D'Alba 2001 - this is probably the best wine I've tasted in 2005 - high praise indeed - and is easily worth 18/20 possibly up to 19/20 (I'll have to do a full tasting on that sometime!)

Argento Malbec 2001

I've now tasted 3 vintages of this, and found the 2001 and the 2004 to be very different animals to the very disapointing 2002. This has bags of flavour, cherries, blackberries, cinnamon and nutmeg come through over slightly earthy undertones, but the fruit flavours burst forth with great power and the subtle tannins fold into the wine - it's a big brute of a wine and so is not to everyone's taste, but it is just what you want on a cold winter night and at just £4.39 from a great many outlets is worth a try, just to see what this great variety tastes like. (Incidentally Malbec was originally a French grape variety used in blending, but the Argentinians have made it their own - and I'm almost tempted to forgive them for beating us so often in the World Cup having tasted this! (16.5/20)

35 South Sauvignon Blanc 2003

A very clean crisp dry wine, that is very fruity and not in the least bit tart, weith flavours of gooseberry and hints at tropical fruits - this wine from the Lontue Valley in Chile's central valley is simply amazing value for money - when bought is was just £3.29- This is because it is from the largest vineyard in South America - a 3,000-acre monster sited on the flat valley floor of Lontué, which lies in the third of the four Central Valley sectors, Curicó. It makes a decent variatal wine, though it needs drinking young and was bought in Sainsbury's - however the supermarkets have caught on that this is good stuff and the price has slowly risen over the last couple of years to around £5 a bottle, however at whichever price this is highly quaffable for drinking everyday or with starters requiring a dry white (17/20)

Marques de Casa Concha Merlot

Made by the behemoth of Chilean wine, Concha Y Toro, I expected great things of this wine having been impressed with both the Cono Sur and Casillero del Diablo range from the same stable, yet I was left slightly disappointed. It's not that the wine was bad, but given that it was £9 rather than £5, I expected it to be a lot better than those named above - but to my mind it wasn't. It was very fruity, yet I found it to be both a little too acidic and a little too tannic - it probably needs a good couple of years more before it becomes any good. And with a quoted acidity of 5.48g/l (their Cabernet Sauvignon quotes 3.61) it's perhaps not surprising it was a little austere. The flavours themselves were good, but for my mind there are better ways to spend £9 than this. (16/20)

Ravenswood 2002 Lodi Zinfandel

This is glorious, made by California's "King of Zin" Joel Peterson, who certainly knows how to get the best from the grapes. This is one of the mid range Zins that Joel makes, (the top of the range are single vineyard, whilst the bottom of the range come from all over California) coming from the small town of Lodi. It's a lovely pink coloured wine, with a bouquet of vanilla, cinnamon, almonds, cedar and raspberries, it's full bodies, but incredibly fruity, yet complex and refined - this is no ordinary Californian Zinfandel. The finish is smooth and long leaving you feeling warm all over... and wanting another glass! (£8.49 Sainsbury's) (17.5/20)

Gerard Bertrand, Domaine de Villemajou Blanc 2004

Free Wine! Thanks to the lovely people at explore wine (see below) I now have 6 bottles of this lovely stuff to drink - fantastically vibrant tasting, off dry, youthful whilst being full bodied - this tastes of pinapples and melons and you can taste the heat of the summer in Corbieres. Available from www.explorewine.com at £7.19 a bottle. This is an unusual blend of 25% Marsanne, 25% Rousanne, 25% Bourboulenc, and 25% Grenache Blanc, harvested late to give it the extra sweetness (which in turn contributes to the hefty 13% Alcohol), barrel fermented and then aged for 6 months in new French oak barriques. This is simple wonderful stuff, and proof to me that the French can make really decent white wine in the very south of the country. (17/20)

Chateau Chevalier de la Garde 2004

This is totally different from the Medoc wine of Lalande D'Auvion, coming as it does from Fronsac on the other side of the Gironde and being 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc and of course just 12 months old. It's lighter fresher with just subtle hints of oak and vanilla, some pepper, leather and plums on the palate - it was again bought on a very decent buy one get one free offer and goes down very easily indeed. 16/20

Chateau Lalande D'Auvion 2001 - Cru Bourgeois Medoc

I bought some of this in France at E6.50 a bottle on a buy one get one free offer - and it's incredibly good at that price. Full bodied, and aging well it has bags of cherries, oak and coconut on the nose, with a pronounced flavour and smooth as you like tannins. I've tasted wines at £15 a bottle that taste similar - what a bargain and it would be superb with a rare fillet steak! Not a wine though for the timid, this is powerful stuff and Christian Bemillan the wine maker clearly knows his stuff and has gone all out for glory in a wine that lovers of oaked reds will love but many will find too much. If you see this - try it! 17.5/20

Les Trois Mas 2002 -Paul Jaboulet Aine'

A joy to drink, from just by the Southern Rhone, Cote Du Ventoux wines are often as good as Cote Du Rhone Villages but at a lower price - this was beautifully clear and bright, just starting to turn from pink to red with a bouquet of chocolate, dried fruits and a boozy fruitcake and tastes of red fruits and white pepper. Silky smooth on the finish, wines by Jaboulet are invariably good and this is no exception. Available from Majestic at £7.49 a bottle - what a treat!17.5/20

The London Wine Show Pt2

At the Wine Show, Explore Wine (www.explorewine.com) launched a fantastic new project - Speedtasting - you taste 3 wines from a selection of around 18 wines (you pick a number at each each tasting station) and have to identify the colour, grape, country and vintage of each of the three wines, whilst a clock is ticking knocking points off your potential score.
The downside to this was being in 2nd place overall and watching a group of lads send one through first to find out what the wines were (you are told the answer) and then passing the information to his two mates who then unsurprisingly won the prizes on offer.
However when I contacted the lovely people at Explore Wine to give them suggestions on how to fix this, they wrote back to thank me for my comments and are sending me a case of wine anyway - tasting notes to follow as and if they arrive!

Brown Brothers Barbera 2001

What a find! Barbera is native to Italy and some excellent wines are produced in Piedment in the North West of the country, most notably in Alba and Asti. I was introduced to this variety by an American friend with a £20 bottle of Barbera d'Alba from the Summertown Wine Cafe which was simply amazing and certainly the best £20 bottle of wine I've had. I then bought Il Monello Barbera d'Asti 2003 for about £8 in Oddbins and found the same exciting flavours and aromas - but without much finesse or complexity and a little too acidic for my liking.
So having tasted the Barbera from Brown Brothers briefly at the London Wine show (see below) I've bought a bottle and can report wonderful cherry and spice aromas which follow on the palate, cinamon and nutmeg waft at you as you inhale and at £6.65 a complete steal - so much so that the wife has declared it our new house red! Buy it from SH Jones or online. (www.shjones.co.uk) 17.5/20

The London Wine Show

I visited The London Wine Show with my extended family over the week-end and tasted all manner of interesting things - though my taste-buds were somewhat worn out by the end (as were my feet) I certainly didn't taste half the wines I would have like to, but given the amount there it would have been really hard. Highlights for me were a Louis Jadot Meursault tasted alongside an AOC Chablis and a Chablis Fourchaume from the same negociant which was great to do. The cheaper Chablis was fairly dull and uninteresting, the Fourchaume hit many high notes, has a steelyness and finess to it that I've rarely had the chance to taste and the Meursault was as expected fatter, nuttier and an altogether finer wine.
I also tasted a number of very nice Pinot Noir from New Zealand, 6 in total the best being a Mount Rosa Pinot Noir from Central Otago (www.lenzwine.co.uk).

I also tasted Brown Brother's Barbera for the first time, having avoided buying a bottle for fear that the finesse of the Italian grape would be murdered in Australia, however what I discovered was a wine that pressed the right buttons for a Barbera although it did lack a little in complexity.

Shaky Bridge Pinot Noir (http://www.nzwd.co.uk/uk/index.htm) - also from Central Otago was a great credit to the New Zealand wine industry and for me was a better bottle than the Mercurey and Santenay tasted on the Wines of Burgundy Stand.

Blog started

Well this is it - my first foray into blogdom and I somehow doubt anyone except myself will ever get around to reading it - but that's fine by me - it gives something constructive to do in my lunch hours!