In the UK for £28 a bottle you expect something quite special. This is made from the Nerello Mascalese grape. You get smells of red and black, hints of oak and spice. The flavours are fruity with herbaceous undertones and an earthy nuance, all of which have decent length. It’s a very nice wine, esp with food. We had it with a Quorn Bolognese and it complemented it well.
I would have expected it to be a little smoother and a bit more refined for £28 a bottle. That said, nice bottle.
France does some wine so much better than other countries.
Drink this a little on the warmer side to release the aromas and flavours. The first glass I had was far too cold, an hour out of the fridge and it really opens up. Its a lovely dark lemon colour, not gold but more than the usual lemon. You get smells of ripe pineapple, lemon, peach and vanilla. Taste wise its dry, medium body with a good hit of acidity. Its the peach and lemon flavors that come out first with a bit of oak, vanilla in the background.
Its got excellent length and at about £15 a bottle is very good value.
This would go well with baked Camembert, wrapped in Palmer ham, shortcrust pastry and branston pickle, see the bringoutthebranston Instagram page for their take on baked Camembert.
Domaine Louis Clerc, Condrieu Viognier 2015, France
From one of the most respected Rhone families and before the winery became part of Skalli Family Wines, this is 34 years old french perfection. Well it was 34 years old before we drank it. Was is perfect in today’s world of wine?
Its 34 years old and wine at this age is not like the stuff you get in the supermarket or wine merchant. It needs to wake up, to open up and to be slipped, not gulped. The last bit was a challenge to me! There’s delicate aroma’s of redcurrant, oak and light spice notes. These follow in the taste, but you smell and taste these once its been left opened for about an hour, esp the spice notes. Tannins, what tannins. Silky smooth hints are found but I felt joy when sipping this wine. I don’t like heavy tanniny wines, this is such delight to drink.
This probably should have been drunk a bit earlier but its held up very, very well and I think every wine drinker should have the chance to taste older wines and appreciate the changes they go through and what a powerful wine turns into.
These older wines are not cheap and the cheaper Chateauneuf du Pape wines don’t really age well, spend £30+ on a younger wine and leave it somewhere cool and dark for 15 or 20 years to do its thing, in our case, a wine merchant to a wine fridge.
Made with 75% Tempranillo and 25% Graciano this is a limited edition of only 84,320 bottles! its got a herbaceous and red fruit aroma. There’s a plum and cherry hit on the taste buds, more cherry but subtle background flavours of other fruit, mainly plum but also a little redcurrant which have a good length. There’s definitely tannins, a little rough though which obscure the spice notes.
Have this with food and its better, you need food with a bite, a bit spicy to help soften the tannins and match the little bit of spice in the wine, in my case veggy fajitas.
At £13 a bottle its a bit pricey. A bronze medal winner at the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2019, its good but it should be under £10.
From the north east of Italy this is a pretty standard italian white wine ready to drink sooner rather than later.
This is a light wine in smell and taste, there’s a decent amount of fruit, tropical fruits flavours of lemon, pineapple and a good hit of acidity but the fruit helps off set the acidity making it easy drinking. This is a good drink now wine, ideal with fish or shell food or just on its own. At about £6 a bottle its fantastic value.
Sacchetto, Il Bianchetto, Sauvignon Trevenezie 2018, Italy
Tokaji is well known for sweet desert wines but it also does dry wine rather well.
Dry, light with a distinct nod to french Chenin Blanc this is a great wine. Appley, with stone fruit flavours and hints of elderflower. Its well structured, good length with balance in all respects. I could give a greater description but I’m liking the wine too much.
At £15 a bottle spot on the mark for quality and price.
From the oldest vineyard in Kent this was my first Ortega white wine.
Its a medium wine in most respects, a fair bit of fruit, peach, apples, a little grapefruit and flora hints. Its got high acidity and has reasonable length. There is better english wine out there, tI would call this a pleasant wine and it was nice to try a different grape. At £12 a bottle is OK value.
Biddenden Vineyards Gribble Bridge, Ortega Dry 2014, Kent, UK
Chilean wine has a good reputation, wine is consistency good, very few bad bottles. Sure some is average but you get some crackers at great prices. This is not one of them. No only joking.
Its fantastic and at £15 a bottle really good value for what you get.
You get a smell of ripe black fruits with spice, chocolate and herbal notes. This feeds into the taste and is joined with dry, firm tannins. Its more in your face than it maybe could be, not quite gold medal standard but it has received a solid silver medal from IWC which is well deserved.
Luis Felipe Edwards, LFE 900 Single Vineyard Shiraz 2014 blend, Chile
Another french red malbec! I always thought it was in short supply yet and Argentina had the market share but I’ve been drinking quite a lot of french Malbec recently.
I couldn’t quite get a big aroma hit, there are very subtle notes of cooked red fruit and a spice under tone. The taste opens it to more red and black fruit fruits. The tannins are a little harsh and quite oaky with leather poking through.
Have this with food or drink it in 5 years when it hopefully softens, its not smooth enough yet for me. At about £14 a bottle its a bit pricey, a Malbec from Argentina is likely to be better at this price, sorry France.
Grand Reserve should mean so much, yet in most countries , like Chile, it means only that its the better wine from that vineyard.
On the nose and taste of you get plum and red cherry. Then next day with a little air you get leather, oak and vanilla. Its got a fair bit of tannins and its pretty dry and not particularly refined which at £15 I’m a little disappointed. Its a decent wine but over priced which is unusual for a chilean wine.
