Quite pleased with tonight’s readings.
Bearing in mind that it is a natural cellar with an old fashioned Ebac dehumidifier.
The whisky is a Caol Isla 18 year old because why the fish not!
Ignore the time on the monitor btw. CBA to sort it. It’s quarter to eleven in the evening.
I know it’s only a couple of days since I opened the Ch Rose Gadis but half the reason for opening a cheaper bottle was that half of it is destined to go into a Bolognese sauce for 12! So last night I opened:
Many congrats to the three of you. Hope baby grows to become a good wine companion.
TWS’s succinct note for this was so accurate I cribbed it for my own…
…a pleasant unpretentious wine that didn’t require too much thought and which would pair well with lighter meals. For once, half of it remains for later today.
It’s been an over indulgent week so far. My excuse, it’s no different to what might have been knocked back if I had the opportunity to go on holiday somewhere !
I’ve enjoyed the 1999 and the 2006 (having bought 6 of each) but thought the 06 was better - a bit more going on.
This week, four wines from four countries, three suppliers, two continents,
Monday - we had the other half of Sunday’s roast chicken, I roasted more potatoes and a parsnip, and steamed carrots, cauliflower florets, and sprouting broccoli. With it I opened
2010 Bodegas Navalon Tempranillo Valdepeñas Anciano Gran Reserva - Aged 7 Years (Spain, Valdepeñas)
Quite remarkable to get an 11 year old wine for £6.69 (reduced in Waitrose’s recent offer). As the label boasts, it was aged for 7 years - and it tasted a bit wood dusty to me. I got two bottles and am in no rush to open the second.
Tuesday - our regulart penne with aubergine tomato sauce and mixed salad with no-brainer™
2019 Casa Vinicola Roxan The Wine Society’s Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (Italy, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo)
What more is there to say, but yummy!
Wednesday we resumed our Lockdown World Tour, calling at India, represented by a mixed vegetable curry, rice and this unexpected beauty
I couldn’t find Indian wine on sale without buying a dozen and paying delivery costs till I looked at Amazon who winged a single bottle my way.
More details on the other thread here
Thursday Our U3A tasting group monthly meeting tonight - over Zoom. To meet the theme I am opening a Greek wine to go with dinner of roasted tomatoes and garlic with grilled Cumberland sausages.
2019 Thymiopoulos jeunes vignes de Xinomavro (Greece, Naoussa)
My second bottle of this from TWS.
I’m still looking for a Chinese wine, and suggestions for a typical Australian dish for dinner. In my books that doesn’t include either vegemite or avocado on toast…
Delighted for you both! 
An Evening with Pepe Mendoza Missed this in November, so on my one midweek drinking night, too the opportunity to catch up whilst tasting a couple of Pepe’s wines that I had bough back then. Both excellent and highly recommend.
It wasn’t. If I recall right it was from Elicite, formerly known as Clos & Cru, which sadly closed down at the end of last year. I got this in their clearance sale. About £22 a bottle I think. It might be worth checking the website and/or emailing them in case they’ve still got any stock.
Jim
Think this was ~£7 from Lidl: dark fruits, floral, touch of oak spice, nice ‘cut’, shortish finish but hey you can’t have it all.
Good for the money I thought, lots going on here and perfect for pottering around the kitchen while the little ones hack & slash on the Nintendo 
A bottle of Raúl Pérez’s 2018 ‘Ultreia St Jacques’ this evening, to accompany Chilli sin Carne:
My benchmark for an excellent Mencía has become Palacios’ Pétalos, but this is as good in my opinion - with a similar purity of fruit mixed with earthiness, violets and spice.
The fascinating thing about this wine is that, although it is still relatively young, it’s not the fruit that takes centre stage, but the other notes - graphite, crushed gravel, violets, bitter chocolate and dried herbs. The fruit feels like more of an adornment, which is nevertheless pure and gratifying on the palate - sour cherries, blueberries and bramble. It’s a wonderful concoction, with lively acidity and gentle if still grippy tannins and a satisfying finish, ending on spice and sour cherries. I can’t wait to try bottle number two in - maybe?- a year’s time! 
First, though, a glass of Romate Fino Perdido - best WS value wine ever…? 
Happy anniversary!
I have had Raul Perez wines. Like my profile photo they are the dogs’
Pie floater! Or you could try and source some Skippy meat? Followed by Pavlova or Peach Melba.
Good wine the white is pretty good too.
That’s the good thing about halves of fizz, they fit nicely in the spaces between their big brothers!
I must have a word with Lady Brentw1 however, the amount of space that those flower vases are taking up on the bench is bang out of order 
Could you fit some halves in them…?
01438 741177
