Weekday Drinking Thread [20 to 23 September 2021]

[Inbar]

A gem of a wine this evening - a 2017 Cab Franc made by the Glenelly Estate in Stellenbosch, part of the ‘Glass Collection’ range:

Reminiscent of the Loire in some ways, but its own thing too. The nose is full of violets, pencil shavings, cassis, hedgerow berries and clove. The other half also thought he caught a whiff of boiled spuds - but I put this down to wishful thinking

On the palate it is a lovely concoction of bramble and hedgerow berries - the fruit is quite ‘rasping’ if this makes sense - combined with savoury leafiness, juniper berries, thyme and maybe a touch of tobacco. Acidity is medium and tannins are chalky in texture. It’s quite complex for the price, utterly appetising and true to the varietal.

This is our second wines from Glenelly (we also thoroughly enjoyed the 2013 Estate Reserve sold by TWS about a year ago) and they seem to offer excellent value for money. I think a little mixed case of their wines from Frontier Wines might be on the cards!

Having this with venison ragu and pasta, and wilfully entering Autumn Zone…

[Robin63]

Continuing the theme, another Cabernet Franc from South Africa. Gabrielskloof make this wine from fruit from a single vineyard, mountainside site on the Gabriëlskloof property.The soil is a combination of Overberg Shale and Table Mountain Sandstone, with this complexity transferred into the wine through a lovely mix of fruit and spice. The wine was fermented wild and aged in 500L barrels for 18 months, with 30% new French Oak used.

Mid red centre, light red rim. Medium minus nose. Blackberry, black currant and raspberry. Ripe strawberry. Some herbaceous notes. Intense palate. Fresh acidity. Ripe tannins. Very balanced. Silky black and red fruit. Plum. Black currant. Notes of cedar. Long finish.

[VinoVeritas]

Finished this lovely Duoro blend (no details on the reverse label) yesterday and it being day 3 since opening, it had fully mellowed into a delicious, uncomplicated glass of evening wine that went well with fridge leftovers. I can’t remember the cost of this (M&S), but it was rather enjoyable.

Followed up by a small glass of this merlot based Fronsac. It very well suits my tastes in Bordeaux being full, generous and smooth, but with enough food friendly acidity and grip to be good with food and especially a strong post-dinner cheddar.

Happy weekday drinking!

[Andrew20]

Parents have come to visit so a light white with dinner.

https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/quinta-de-porrais-sete-vales-douro-2020

Very quaffable with hints of grapefruit, melon and peach. Can’t complain at £6.75

[EdMcK]

A lovely favourite, this evening: South African Chenin Blanc with Pan-Fried Salmon and Creamy Pesto Veg. Perfect! I hope everyone is having a grand week!

https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/a-fistful-of-schist-reserve-chenin-blanc-swartland-2020

[MikeFranklin]

I was rather impressed by the bottle of Château Passedieu, Côtes de Bourg 2018 that I opened last night. Everything and more that I could hope for from a sub £10 Bordeaux. Very much merlot front and centre with lovely fruit. It’s supposed to be for early drinking but there is structure there with some tannin grip. Regardless it’s really very good now.

[AnaGramWords]

Two of my favourite ‘supermarket wines’ are on offer this week.

JS Maremma is down from £10 to £8
JS Ventoux is down from £10 to £8.50

Added to this there is a 25% off six this week.

‘There art’ thou happy’

[Cavafy]

Anyone else doing this tomorrow? Should be fun.

Am quite interested to try a few Bib Wine Co wines. Wish TWS made more of a go of this kind of thing. There are surely the relationships in place to make it work. And I presume the sustainability credentials of bib wine stack up (tho I’d be interested to hear if anyone knows different).

[Prufrock]

Yummy, yummy, yummy, I’ve got love in my tummy, as Ohio Express opine.

I think I’ve been nice about the 15, 16 and 17 vintage of this, but this is very pleasing. The hypercritical might say it is a bit anonymous but that would overlook the pleasant contrast between lightness and intensity, sweetness and acidity, the chiaroscuro. Waitrose is not the force it once was and Drouhin is toppy price-wise but this is good value in the looking-glass world that is burgundy. Salut!

[PHarvey]

what happens to all that plastic ?

[Cavafy]

Gets recycled. The pack comes with a paid envelope to return everything (pouches and caps). They have an arrangement with Enval to recycle – the same company that recycle some of the kids’ food pouches.

I suppose it would be better if pouches were compostable rather than recyclable but we don’t seem to be there yet with that kind of container.

[lapin_rouge]

@Cavafy

kids’ food pouches.

What is a kid’s food pouch - I’m genuinely intrigued ! clearly the world has moved on from the days of school dinners (or sliced white / packed lunch)

[Embee]

As it’s in the Summer Clearance sale, with no rush to drink according to its drinking window, I decided to give this a go tonight…

…a Blaufrankisch 2020 from Heidi Schrock. The note on the label made me smile for starters ( from Rust with love ). Thankfully the wine does too. TWS notes mention pencil shavings and a similarity to Loire cabernet franc and that’s the first thing that hit me upon opening. Otherwise, juicy cherry and berry fruit on the nose and palate, medium in body, and a kind of burnt sugar / brulee flavour too. Which, for my tastes at least, when combined with its vibrant acidity and zero tannins works rather well. I’m sure others might argue it lacks structure though.

Anyway, a wine that doesn’t require too much thought and one I’d happily drink again. It also went well with dinner, despite outward appearances the pork was cooked pink, portion control isn’t my strongest suit though…

…oops !

[Cavafy]

Things like this…

[PHarvey]

Fair play; enjoy them.

They will have been a damn site cheaper to post and transport than those awful glass bottles plus the totally needless packaging which 67 Pall Mall did (past tense as I’ve ditched my membership in protest !)

Not convinced about compostable plastics though. I have 4 x 1m3 garden compost bins and the turnaround for each is about 2 years. Makes lovely crumbly compost but plastics deemed biodegradable etc always seem to emerge unblemished in that time.

[CCouzens]

I was surprised to see that one in the clearance sale. Tempted to get a few more now, though to me it’s more of a summer wine. I thought it was more like a Beaujolais😃

[lapin_rouge]

Oh… didn’t know they existing, although it seems obvious now. Bag-in-a-box but without the box. Thanks for enlightening me.

Yoghurt pack, featuring a pic of a dog riding a bicycle wearing blue trainers (plus a helmet for safety) under a ‘Greateful Dead’ style cows head logo. I think I’m getting old !

[Cavafy]

I’m not sure I’ve ever even noticed the dog on the bicycle before. I’m usually bleary-eyed when I open them and just know the little one eats them like he’s never going to get another!

[Embee]

@CCouzens

I was surprised to see that one in the clearance sale.

Me too, I was a bit miffed when I saw that three other wines I’ve still to drink were also in the sale, oh well !

Your Beaujolais comparison is a good one by the way

[CCouzens]

I tried the new Exhibition Soave Classico tonight, and was suitably impressed. Delicious, lemon (couldn’t decide if sherbet or bitter), good strong flavour. And I see that Majestic also have a standard Soave Classico by Pieropan at £15.99, so well done TWS!