Aromas and flavours of citrus with tropical notes and no gooseberry notes. There’s minerality and freshness and this got a silver medal from the IWSC. It’s nice but I’m not sure it’s a Silver medal, then again at £5 a bottle this might be the wine if the year if you want an easy drinking white wine.
Yellowwood Mountain, reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2018, South Africa
From Aldi this is a cheap Shiraz from Australia. It’s cheap and cheerful and pretty good. Aromas of red and black fruits, tobacco and spice with a bit of earthy undertone. The flavours following with additional jamminess. Dry and a bit heavy on the tannins for well under £10 it’s good value. I would eat a chunk of meat with this wine though, just to help soften the tannins.
Iron Horse Shiraz, Australia
We went to this winery in 2018 and got a case of mixed wines sent back, via the distributor in Luxembourg.
There are aromas of citrus but with oak undertones. There’s extra thickness on the texture with pineapple and lychee first coming through and hints of lime and lemon.
Hartenberg, unoaked Chardonnay, South Africa
Desert Wine, this is a desert wine in a full size bottle, its christmas and all things seem good by the end of this bottle. I like desert wine very much, just sipping it, tasting all those rich flavours.
This has aromas of ripe pineapple, lychee and and heavy thick texture that helps those flavours which are added to by condensed citrus and honey.
This is a little lighter than you may get from a traditional desert wine buts its really rather good and at under £10 a bottle, great value.
Bouvet Ladubay, Coteaux Du Layon 2013, Loire Valley, France
Aromas of ripe citrus, esp pineapple with added oak on the taste buds and a little oiliness. This is a full textured wine, yet it has a light lemon colour making you think that its going to be light and friskie. This is a great example of what Chardonnay can be. It got a bronze at the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2018 which I think was mean, for me silver, solid silver. Fantastic.
Coward & Black, Chardonnay 2017, Margaret River, Australia
Rich in colour and aroma. The texture is heavy, thick but works with the richness that is first apparent on the first smell. Aroma and flavours of ripe citrus and oak overtones make this quite heavy in comparison to most commercial Chardonnays out there. That said it’s perfect with a roast turkey and all the trimmings.
At £35 a bottle it’s not cheap, is it worth it? Maybe but I think it’s worth trying and making your own mind up.
Quails Gate, Chardonnay 2013, Okanagan valley, Canada
Spain produces a lot of wine and some regions get better attention than others. Rioja is probably the most well known, mainly for cheap, red easy drinking wine. Ribera del Duero wines are a little less known but very accessible and affordable with many well under £10 a bottle. A decent one can age for 7+ years. This is a decent one. Deep purple in colour and high in alcohol seem fairly standard for a red wine from a hot region. On the aroma and flavour front theres lots going on, black cherry, vanilla, tobacco which are quite intense on the nose. Undertones of licorice, and sweet spice with hints of smokeyness come through on the taste. The balance and structure are very good with tannins that are softer than you may expect and sweetness that’s welcome.
This for me was an easy drinking wine but a wine that I wanted to savour, not guzzle. Excellent.
Lambuena, Crianza, Ribera del Duero 2015, Spain
If you like red wine then Zinfandel is a hard variety to beat. With aromas of black cherry, blackcurrant and white pepper this is a smell sensation. Flavours of cherry, plum and oak join the aromas with firm medium tannins. If you want to drink this consider red meat or if you are prepared to sip it in front of an open fire it’s great. At £17 a bottle not cheap but good value.
Edmeades, Mendocino Zinfandel 2015, California, USA
Trebbiano Di Soave is a major Italian grape that has a lot of characteristics of Chardonnay. The major issue I had with this wine was you need to allow it to warm up. When cold it’s very neutral on the aromas and you taste Oak, very little other flavours. Give it an hour out of the fridge and you get citrus, floral notes and some creamy undertones.
It’s a nice white wine from Italy but at a little under £25 a bottle it’s very overpriced. £10 is more like the right price to me.
Zenato Lugana 2016, Trebbiano Di Soave, Italy
Moldova use to make 80% of the USSR wines. They have little history in wine making. This is a lovely sparkling rosé, it’s aromatic with rose and flora notes, dry with excellent acidity.
It’s not champagne, there’s a lack of toasty notes and that’s great. Enjoy this sparkling wine for what it is sparkling summer in a bottle.
Curvee de Purcari, Rose Brut, 1827, Moldova