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Off to the Cairngorms tomorrow, so what better than a Speyside to get me in the mood…
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The position of the glass in that picture makes me very nervous… 
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Mrs Robertd works as a chemistry teacher, and is currently having a nervous breakdown at the sight of that glassware
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A bottle of Purple Owl Pinot Noir from a TWS mixed case. Very good. I would order some more but it’s not on the List.
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A new Muscadet for me, and a new appellation for that matter. The notes describe it as having a creamy texture, which is actually also relatively weighty, with less acidity than you might expect. A good alternative to my more usual Cherau- Carre.
Carries a gold medal from Lyon too!
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Kinda un-nerved by the lack of clarity. Creag Dhu is what? apart from a weedy 40.2 deg alc.
A new distillery, or whisky bought in and re-badged, or Blair Bowman flogging 8 y/o spirit with marketing prowess.
I’m delighted as we all are to know " Creag Dhu is inherently connected to nature"
And also its good to know that it offsets " 2,610 light bulb hours" (is that per bottle or per year or whatever?)
Putting that all to one side. Is it any good @m4rk ? I’m happy to trust your opinion based on many years of comments here.
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A few south west Londoners (and friends) went to a BYO at Hawksmoor Air Street last night to commit some vineous crimes. A 2019 Barbaresco Case case was split between us (along with a few other treats owing to there being a couple of birthdays among us).
We kicked off with an Alfred Gratien Cuvee Paradis 2008. Set the tone for the evening in a way. It was a bit closed when it first poured, but by the end of the glass it had opened up beautifully. Clearly in the Gratien style with struck match and lemon rind aromas, brioche and green apple flavours and really lovely texture. This was a good champange!
Someone (that’d be me) slightly fluffed the order, so it wasn’t quite as effective as it could have been. A great time and rather a lot of food was had by all, despite almost all the wines clearly being a decade too young.
The first round saw the Barbaresco Roncaglie, Poderi Colla 2019 and the Barbaresco, Castello di Verduno 2019.
The Poderi Colla was a warm wine with lots of cherries, spice, blackcurrants and something slightly incensey on the nose. This was then joined by something slightly medicinal (I said Calpol at the time, although was then challenged by @Brocklehurstj as to how I know what Calpol tastes like, so I’ve adjusted my note to tasting like a folk-memory of Calpol, probably because it had a syrupiness to the medicinal note). Tannins were full on and very black tea-ish, but not too grainy.
The Castello di Verduno was much more hidden behind its tannins. Lots of sweet flavours and strawberries underneath them all and a light vanilla-y oakiness, which was a nice contrast to the Poderi Colla’s fruit.
Next we had the Barbaresco Faset, Paitin 2019 and Barbaresco, Rizzi 2019. This was a little unfair given the very noticeable quality (and price) difference.
The Paitin smelled wonderfully floral. It was really tough to drink though. There were blackberry and strawberries somewhere under all the tannins, but this one needs a loooooooong sleep.
The Rizzi was good to go. Unfortunately (especially compared with everything else we’d had) it wasn’t very good. It was just a bit flat and one dimensional. A bit of strawberry and plum, but not really. I’m not 100% convinced this wasn’t slightly corked. If this is just what it’s like, save the tenner and get their (or the exhibition) Langhe Nebbiolo (this might be the advice anyway on this wine).
We finished with the Barbaresco Nervo, Rizzi 2019 and Barbaresco Sori Paitin, Paitin 2019. Another big (noticeable) quality price differential.
The Rizzi Nervo was better than its younger sibling, but I still don’t think it stood up to the rest of the wines on show. Quite cola-y on the nose, with a slight medicinal note. It was surprisingly easy to drink with raspberries and cola and less tannin than the others. It was a little short on the finish and a little hot.
The Sori Paitin was a different story (as you’d hope at £47 a bottle!). Flowers and sweet almost orchard fruit on the nose but also something incensey again. The tannins were very differently textured to the others and much much finer. Alpine strawberries coming and going with every sip and a slightly amount of oak. This is one for the people who like their nebbiolo towards the pinot noir end of the spectrum.
To finish a 1979 Coteaux du Layon, Moulin Touchais. Silky long and sweet aged chenin blanc (that did not pair that well with the Sticky Toffee Pudding, but I don’t care!). Not going to lie, after that much tannin my tastebuds were probably fried (and even if they weren’t I was too tipsy) to take any notes. It was delicious though.
Hats off to @Olfactme for expert pouring and to everyone for being great company. Lovely evening!
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Tbh I’ve no idea about this one. I only started taking whisky a bit more seriously a year ago, and haven’t really got into it despite buying several bottles, but I do enjoy an occasional nightcap. From my limited experience I found this enjoyable, quite approachable and light. You can tell the sherry influence, i think a bit of toffee as well.
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Another visitor taking advantage of Hawksmoor’s £5 corkage on a Monday here (Liverpool), and as it was my birthday brought along a nice little (big) bottle…(https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/magnum-of-dog-point-marlborough-pinot-noir-2010)
Cheerily enjoying my last bottle (of any size) of Dog Point Pinot Noir 2010, bought a couple of years ago and squirrelled under the bed since. I have loved every single bottle I had of the regular format - wonderfully delicate, forest floor and sweet notes of black cherry; a great wine that proved a fantastic match for all courses. While I am tempted to stick a case of a more recent vintage into reserves for 10 years, I do wonder how well it will develop under screw top as opposed to cork, and whether because of this it might take an awful lot longer to get to as wonderful a state as this is in?
Other wines were also drunk (some definitely a little unwisely), but a little word on this one (a late feature it has to be said), which I’d kept back with a full sense of trepidation as to its contents for a good 2 years.
https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/blackbook-winery-the-mixup-2018
Mixed reviews (if one were being generous), it actually went down not too badly as the last bottle, with the hint of “curry spice” highlighted in the description matching well with a late night packet of quavers. Perhaps not a ringing endorsement, but we certainly didn’t find it quite as undrinkable as some!
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Sounds like that apart from the Rizzi all the rest was as expected. What was the food choice?
I’m glad I passed as I’ve been having temperature, aches and pains since yesterday and would not be able to join
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Tonight’s camper van cuisine - parked here for 2 days in Hermann, Missouri.
local grass fed filet mignon, new taters, and (out of shot, but - promise - it’s there) a mixed salad. Note the mixed cultural condiments…
A Missouri staple - Norton, to accompany. More commentary here https://community.thewinesociety.com/t/what-are-you-going-to-do-today/9398/6460
A seriously quaffable red wine and a perfect match. I can already predict my principal anguish upon returning to Blighty in 12 days or so - I didn’t bring back enough Norton
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You were missed! You might have second guessed my running order too (although the logic behind it was sound, doing it again I’d probably have gone, the two Rizzi;'s, the Poderi Colla and the Castello di Verduno and then the two Paitin’s).
Most of us shared kilo-ish prime ribs with the pescatarians among us having monkfish.
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Having the Plaimont Manseng Noir with a decent Pizza Margarita, lip smackingly good stuff slightly cool for the summer lovely dark blue/purple colour…
Also appreciated the Gruhauser Pinot Blanc very pure very dry would have been good with posh fish but was nice in a hot tub with a friend 
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Casting around for some red to go with pasta and a tomato and veg sauce. Came across this, from 2012, a blend of shiraz, cab sauv, merlot, grenache, petit verdot, in case it’s not legible, from the ever reliable Rustenberg. Delicious. Lots of dark fruit, very mellow, and a certain amount of sediment as I grabbed it rather hastily.
Not sure where I got it, or for how much (£10-12?), but thoroughly enjoyable anyway.
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https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/le-veilleur-de-nuit-cave-de-turckheim-nv
Described as dry on the producer’s website, but more correctly as moelleux on the back label. An unidentified blend which I think is quite heavy on the pinot gris.
Whatever, Mrs C descibed it as “much too easy to drink”.
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TWS don’t do it any favours, here’s a screengrab. No picture, no description, no grapes. Your post however tempts me to buy a couple, I do like Alsace Pinot Gris.
Is it a ‘4’ medium dry, or would you put it more dry?
Certainly not a 3! 4/5 I’d say.
I struggled with this phrase but eventually found a translation - “the bottle is too small”.
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