Argamont, Reserva, 2016, Spain
This red eine from Argamont is a typical red that’s meant to be drunk and not thought too much about. It’s got decent aromas and flavours of cherry, plum, blackcurrant. It’s dry with good length and isn’t overwhelmed with tannins or it being to big and bold.
I’m not sure it it will any awards but it’s a very good wine and 6 years old it has plenty to offer.
Play the extra and get good German wine is what’s needed in the UK and this Riesling from Von Winning shows why. A medium dry wine that has a surprising amount of acidity. There are flavours of citrus, lemon, grapefruit with apple and peach. Mineral and stone highlights with a honey background coming through.
About £15 to £20 a bottle it more than you may want to pay, but that’s what you going to pay for decent wine in Germany.
Von Winning, Ruppertsberger Reiterpfad Riesling, 2016, Pfalz, Germany
Timo Dienhart, Spätburgunder Trocken, 2016, Mosel, Germany
Light, smooth and dry are 3 words to describe this Timo Dienhart, Spätburgunder from the Mosel.
There’s flavours of cherry, raspberry, with earthy notes and hints of pine and oak and a little coffee poking through. It went well with veggie home made pizza but its light enough to have with meaty fish or white meat.
Langlois-Chateau, Vieilles Vignes, Saumur, Loire, France
Purchased on our trip to the Loire this white wine from Langlois-Chateau in Saumur in the Loire. Made with Chenin its dry, light and acidic. Loads of aromas and flavours of yellow apple, pear and pineapple with notes of vanilla and hints of butter, a slight creaminess and a little honey in there.
At £20 a bottle its not cheap but its a quality wine. Enjoy with friends over a meal, went well with home made pizza.
NK MIP cellars, Red Meritage, 2016, Canada
I really do like a Canadian red wine, you never get a bad also that’s whats brilliant. This is made from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec which gives red fruit and vanilla notes on the nose and full blackberry and plum flavors with a bit of spice and dark chocolate. The tenants of the structure is good and with a long finish this went well with venison stew.
At £25 a bottle is not cheap, that is part of the Canadian wine issue, great wine but expensive.
Shawsgate, Rosé, 2016, Suffolk, UK
Shawsgate is based in Suffolk, in the UK and does a rather good red wine, but this time I’m trying Rosé which is actually really very good, not just for English Rosé but in general. This is fine stuff at £10 a bottle excellent value.
It has redcurrant and raspberry on the nose and this follows through in a taste with stone fruit and a ziggingness that is fresh, slightly on the sweetest side but it’s more of an undertone sweetness that makes this ready excellent summer drinking. If this was the only rosé I had all summer I would not be disappointed. It’s probably the best rosé I’ve had in 2021.
Pago De Orazu , 2016, Spain.
Made with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo this red from Spain got a commended at the Decanter international wine awards in 2020, I think they’re missing something.
Aromas of red fruit and oak with a hint of smokiness. It’s a dry wine with tannings easy drinking the favours maybe a little lacking but it’s very easy drinking and for a drinker on a summer’s day this is pretty good.
It’s €18 which is the biggest problem I have with it, it’s too much money for what it is. It’s good, it’s just not €18 good.
Château de Bellevue, Fleurie, 2016, France
Buy a good Beaujolais is my advice and this one from Fleurie from Château de Bellevue is one of them better examples and certainly one that you should start drinking so you know what to least benchmark against.
It’s dry, light with good acidity you get aromas of red fruit but when you taste it it there there flavours of raspberry strawberry but with hints of chocolate, liquorice and hints of caramel and oak but all nice to balanced.M
My biggest regret is only having one bottle of this as it’s a really good example and at around £10 Super value.
Coteaux du Vendômois, Montagne Blanche, 2016, Loire, France
Coteaux du Vendômois, Montagne Blanche is a rose from the Loire, France and it’s quite typical of the roses from the region this is not to say a bad thing but it does differ from the typical Provence roses that people see in the market in the UK. This has a copper colour which would normally indicate big bold flavours but the flavours quite subtle and you get hints of raspberry, strawberry and red currant but the crispness and dryness is what is immediate.
This is a drinking wine and probably should have been drunk a year or two ago so I’m not going to put it down too much. It’s a easy drinking summer wine either with salad or on its own.
Hacienda, Casa del Valle, Syrah, 2016, Spain
Red wine from Spain is a favourite of mine and this Syrah from Hacienda is great, but for all the wrong reasons!
Aged for over 6 months in French and American oak, it’s dry but quite light with lack luster aromas of red fruits that follows through in the taste. So what makes this great? Drink it, just that. No complexity, no messing around with amazing flavours and aromas. It’s a drink, enjoy wine and less chance of a hangover too. Some wines are wines for a moment and this is a drink and don’t think wine, which is what you just need after s crap day at work. Oh at £5 a bottle it’s great value.