Domaine de Pouzac, Grand Jacquey, 2013, Languedoc, France
Domaine de Pouzac and its Grand Jacquey is a solid red wine from the Languedoc.
Dry with firm but soft tannins and aromas of black fruit and and earthiness, that at first puts you off but taste it and its a different matter. That smoothness is what puts this part from the rest. I had this with a tapas meat selection and it was a great balance.
At £15 a bottle its not cheap but its pretty good.
Domaine De La Desoucherie, Cheverny, 2013, Loire Valley, France
This white wine from the Domaine De La Desoucherie in the Loire Valley is typical of the whites from the region.
Its subtle and easy drinking, there are aromas and flavours of citrus and its about Eur8 a bottle. We picked this up when visiting the Loire Valley and its a shame in many ways that we can’t get this in the UK. Its a great white for the summer to just drink in the sun.
Brand’s Laira, Blockers, Shiraz, 2013, Coonawarra, Australia
Coonawarra produce great, bold, flavourful red wines and this is good, not outstanding but it wont embarrass you if you served this with a chunk of red meat. With aromas and flavours of red and black fruits, pepper and oak. Its bold and pretty dry but 7 years on its smoothed out and is easy drinking. Have it with red meat or game bird and I’m sure you will enjoy drinking it, its worth taking your time and at £12 a bottle its OK value.
Chianti, Chianti, Chianti, the more I drink of it the more I see the point and this one from Cantine Leonardo da Vinci is pretty reasonable. Its a typical dry red with a chuck of tannins and plenty of red fruit flavours, raspberry, strawberry, cherry with vanilla and oak notes that have decent length. The taste is more pronounced that the aromas which I thought let it down a bit but the dryness is more than the fruit which for me, I would prefer the other way round.
Its £11 a bottle and that’s decent value, no outstanding but not bad.
Cantine Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo, Chianti Riserva, 2013, Italy
I love Port and this offering from C da Silva with their Presidential, LBV Port, 2013 is better than most, excellent in fact. Made with 33% Touriga Franca, 33% Touriga Nacional, 34% Roriz there are aromas of wood and spice with flavours of plums and sour cherry, a richness with long lasting tastes make it better than most LBV Ports. At £15 a bottle it’s worth paying extra.
C da Silva, Presidential, LBV Port, 2013, Portugal
Bulgaria makes some very wines, lets get that straight and this blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc is not bad at all, not outstanding though. There are aromas of black fruit and smokeyness with spice as you would expect. Its a reasonable purple colour, very dry and flavours of black fruit, spice and pretty smooth. there are tannins but they don’t suck your mouth dry. The problem I have with it is it should have been drunk a few years ago, everything finishes too early or its too light in the smell or flavour. My fault in reality.
At Eur15 a bottle its not cheap either, better 7 year old reds out there for that money.
Minkov Brothers, Oak Tree, 2013, Bulgaria
Chinese wine is not rubbish. Said it, drunk it and really liked it.
Ribena is what you smell, concentrated and with sweet tannins. Flavour is much less than the aroma, you get a little blackcurrant, but lots of dryness. Normally I would say this was simple and one dimensional. A cheap wine that’s best as the last bottle of a party BUT the length is reasonable and the smell is great and given that its 7 years old its OK.
This would have best at 4 years ago when it would have been vibrant in colour and just fruity. If the chinese can do this in the few years they have been producing then in 10 years time the french had better watch out.
Chateau Ningxia Saint Louis Ding, Farsight, Merlot 2013, China