I’ve gone off piste. Morrison’s finest left in the rack after xmas. I’m really not complaining though. I find Malbec an absolutely safe pair of hands midweek.
Basic, oaked and just what I think about when I’m not thinking about taking tasting notes.
Cheers!
Rhone is my go to buy these days I think there’s one of these not sure the year on the list now
Between that and the label, I think I’m passing on this one…not passing water either!
Great label and generally very good wine. If the ABV of Southern Rhone puts you off, try Ventoux, or the higher up wines from Vinsobres. Even when they are quite high ABV they tend to have a refreshing lift to them.
Well, funnily enough, this was just beautiful! 
We had it a few weeks’ back when we were hosting, and were so impressed! As were our guests.
Really like Domaine Jaume Altitude 420 Vinsobres too 
After an abstemious week since Saturday, I Coravined a couple of glasses of this
With medallions of pork fillet pan fried with a butter and calvados sauce, sprouts and remains of a potato and leek boulangere from Sunday.
Burnished gold to light copper colour, honey on nose, but very dry and quite taut, not a lot of fruit in evidence, nutty, hints of oxidation, long finish. Good but needs drinking.
It’s a great wine for the money. The 2018 is a lot more forward for drinking than the '17 right now. Same as a lot of Rhone and indeed a lot of France I think.
Continuing my developing theme of “wines I bought, drank, liked, and are now out of stock…”
https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/tenute-martarosa-due-versure-terre-degli-osci-2019
Won’t set the world on fire, but a very enjoyable and food friendly wine. Blueberry really comes through when on it’s own, but with a tomato sauce-based midweek pasta it just blends seamlessly into the dish and suddenly you’ve spent an hour talking* and finished the bottle. Not sure I could ask for more from a midweek bottle, hope the 2020 appears at some point.
*for clarity, I was sharing the bottle. Not mindlessly talking to the wall. Again.
Not much in way of mid-week drinking at present after the months of regular drinking, leading to the WSET Diploma tasting exam 
Currently, thinking of what South African wine to open tomorrow for Friday night. It has to be either Swartland or Elgin ( the subject of the final research paper for said Diploma.
Good Friday (almost) everyone.
Monday - The Grumpy Old Men met for dinner at Moor Mill Beefeater. This is an old water-mill, and next to the bar the mill wheel still turns powered by the mill stream running below.
It is also a chain restaurant, and Camp Viejo Rioja is on the drinks menu, as it seems to be in all chain restaurants no matter which company owns them. It’s also in all supermarkets, and according to Campo Viejo’s website, they are the largest selling Rioja brand. It’s bottled at the winery, and thus I tend to buy it in such restaurants rather then their fancifully and exclusive own labelled bulk-shipped wines.
2019 Campo Viejo Tempranillo Rioja (Spain, La Rioja, Rioja)
This is 100% Tempranillo, and although it’s seen some oak, it hasn’t been in barrel for the minimum year Crianzas require, so it has a DOC Green seal. There’s bright red cherries on the palate, a twist of strawberry acidity underpinned by tannin. Just ideal with steak!
Tuesday Our weekly pasta dish - Mrs M’s favourite crispy slices of aubergine in tomato & basil sauce and penne with a mixed salad and no-brainer™
2019 Casa Vinicola Roxan The Wine Society’s Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (Italy, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo)
Regretfully our last bottle, after consuming 5 cases - 60 bottles - that was the last of the 2019 vintage and we are in the most unusual situation of not having any TWS Montepulciano in the house for the first time I can remember.
Wednesday - Ding dong at 08:00 and there is TWS at the front door with a case of 2020 TWS Montepulciano, plus another two boxes of wines I hoped would be delivered later that morning while Mrs M was out playing bridge and thus I could smuggle in un-noticed.
In the afternoon I made dough, again using a bit too much water for 00 flour, and after rising and being knocked down, I used to make pizzas, with which we had
2021 Definition for Majestic Chenin Blanc (South Africa, Stellenbosch)
Made by the same people - masters of Chenin De Morgenzon - this was like the previous 2021 I had in December; good but didn’t have the ‘wow’ factor of previous vintages.
Thursday I made a mixed vegetable curry which we had with boiled rice and
2020 Stellenrust Pinotage Tesco Finest (South Africa, Stellenbosch)
Quite pale, seeming quite light bodied, yet 14% abv, a bit of a sleeper becoming more and more attractive over the course of a meal. Bottled at the winery - thankfully not a bulk shipped wine. It just went down leaving us surprised by the empty bottle.
(Campo Viejo from Beefeater, Montepulciano from TWS, Chenin from Majestic, Stellenrust from Tesco.)
What a week! Great to hear another ‘smuggler’. With the advent of ‘track your package’ from various carriers it does make the smuggling life a little easier, but if anyone has any handy tips on this front I’m all ears.
You’re Tuesday pasta dish sounds delicious.
I have not found tracking to be of any help; the wine is delivered on the day one chooses but can come at any time on that day, and while the tracking gives a time ‘window’ when delivery can be expected this frequently slips later and later but sometimes delivery comes early.
I like seeing a map showing where the van is and how many drop-offs there are before me, but …
Here’s a pic of the pasta dish
Savennieres ! AND with some age. Possibly my favourite white wine and hard to find in the UK.
If you don’t mind me asking, was there a beeswax note & where did you get it?
I opened a bottle of this a couple of nights ago:
It’s my first time having a Cubillo and whilst there’s nothing wrong with it I think, for the price, I’d rather have a Muga Reserva.
Edited to change the vintage - I linked to the wrong one!
I found it much better after a few hours in the decanter - acidity felt out of balance and there wasn’t much fruit when first tasting but levelled out after a while. Though if you opened it a couple of days ago you’ve probably tasted it with a decent bit of air as well.
Haven’t had the Muga - is it a richer/smoother style? (Does that = ‘modern’ in Rioja?)
To be honest I get a bit confused by which Riojas are modern and which traditional, but yes I found the Muga Reserva smoother. To be fair the Cubillo was definitely better on the second night and on the first I didn’t really give it any time out of the bottle. But the Muga goes at about the same price and is rather more to my taste.
I also have a Tondonia 2009 waiting for me, so I hope it’s not the Lopez de Heredia style that doesn’t suit me as this is the first I’ve tried from them.
This was lovely last night and disappeared way too quickly. Fresh style of LR grown at altitude on schist. Sadly out of stock.
I was planning to open mine this weekend - so will be interesting to compare notes with yours. To be on the safe side I’ll give it a good decant…!
01438 741177
on Wednesday night.
