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Another Domaine Pichard 2004. Leather and dark fruits; savoury, earthy, with good acidity - very tannic still. Serious and brooding. This is better than the last bottle.
Edit- +24hrs, this has really mellowed out, all those mature/tertiary flavours/smells are much smoother; even the grippy and chalky tannins have smoothed out a bit. Lovely and eccentric
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https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/bin-012-mando-rosado-2021
With Risotto: arborio rice, chicken stock, red onion + celary sofrito, broad beans, prawns, lemon+ parmesan.
Got to admire this wine, it’s improved greatly since Aug 2022. There are some very attractive honeyed notes which were not there last year.
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Getting some Grillo Sibiliano on the Cardiff Wine Passport. Peachy, hint of grip / smoke, gently veering towards off dry. Goes well with my anchovies, devilled egg, and other Venetian tapas, etc.
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Mine’s named Marco ( after the explorer ) 
Anyway, this here tonight ( with a wild boar steak, etc)…
…a Szekszard ‘Bonsai’ Kadarka 2020, Vida Peter.
The rear label describes it accurately ‘A charming wine, complex with light elegance, red berries, fresh acidity and spices’. In addition, it also has a lithe and supple texture and a subtle savoury undertow on tasting. Not a million miles away from a basic Bourgogne in style and flavour. Which is fine by me.
As for the food, which looks a bit scorched and burnt, I’d like to think of it as a successful attempt at creating the ‘Maillard reaction’ 
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I have very fond memories of Yarra Yering when it was owned by Bailey Carodus. Stocked years ago by Bennets of Chipping Camden. Personally I preferred the No2 - Rhône inspired. Would be interested in your assessment - it’s been years since I bought or tasted a bottle of YY.
Living in the past, someone else’s past, this evening through the power of the mystery wine bottle (two actually).
This first. I shamefully lost it in the fridge in amongst the condiments, having been handed it on 25th Feb!! It remained hidden despite three separate forays into the top two shelves. I gave up and assumed it had ‘evaporated’.
I mistook it for a Fino, I think any of the delicate flavours had long since departed. Still pretty tasty though - I finished the glass in very short order.
Next up a glass of this, just 2 days old.
Don’t know anything about it, not knowingly had a Portuguese Mencia before (mencia was my second guess). I was quite impressed by this - a lot of flavour and a lot of fun.
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Anybody else remember “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”? The great line from the chief “Ah, Juicy Fruit”.
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That’s either a massive fridge or lots of condiments! 
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Been doing my best on this front too…in my case, reducing the wine cabinet stock a bit to allow the remaining cases in the garage to go in it, before I get another lot out Reserves prior to invoice date!
Have three reds on the go just now with Coravin…
Seems a little less assertive than previous bottle. Very pleasant, just not as memorable.
This is in a very good place right now. Lots of fruit still but some nice complex secondary notes now. Not quite as fleshy as some Tollot Beaut can be, more spine to it, so expecting it to go on for quite a while yet. 4 bottles left of it (plus about a third of this one).
Pleasantly surprised after fairly disappointing previous bottle. Rasping raspberries, but the tannins didn’t dominate, and the fruit stayed unlike last time. Good food wine, steak perhaps. Looks quite youthful still.
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God; I’ve drunk so much Pinot, Garnacha and cool climate Syrah as of late that I absolutely forgot what a big bodied wine was like
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Château Batailley from half bottle.
Deep colour colour maturing red at the rim.
A rich dark fruited nose with hints of cedar.
The taste is much better than the Cantemerle I had last weekend. Good depth of flavour, with brighter acidity and more complexity.
**** or 94 points and plenty of life ahead of it.
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A couple of glasses last night, and a couple of glasses tonight.
Not nearly as concentrated or interesting as the 2019 (or indeed the 2019 Castello di Verduno iteration either), being really quite straightforward sweet sort-of-stewed-strawberries. Little in the way of spice or other woody notes that I normally get from Pelaverga.
It’s probably too small a sample, but this perhaps tells it’s own story about the relative merits of the two vintages.
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The name of the wine is particularly amusing 
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Haha, just googled it
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LANGLOIS Saumur-Champigny Vieilles Vignes 2017 £12.50
First Saumur I’ve had. Great nose (perhaps the impact of the new Spiegelau glasses). Dark fruit to cola. Good acidity, some oak, plenty of focus and finish. An elegant, lingering, Cabernet Franc
Smashed expectations price wise.
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The definition range makes a big difference. I had a few experiments and the aromas are definitely amplified in the Definition
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I agree. My benchmarks are Zalto universal and Gabriel Glas. The aroma is focused so well in this larger bowl. Perhaps not for every wine
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Having a 150ml glass of Monteagudo Oloroso in Vermut. £6.50. That’s a steal and a half for a premium Oloroso.
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Agree. I had the 2013 Xinomavro Rose from Thymiopoulos in the Burgundy glass and it didn’t work
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