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Beautiful blue skies and the bbq is out with some baby back ribs, low and slow.
I have praised this wine numerous times and this vintage is superb!
Very evident tomato leaf and some tomato purée, big tannins, beautiful dark cherries. Should be amazing in 5 years and last 15.
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Thanks for kicking things off @Rafa and I’m grateful for the notes on your wine as it was a serious contender here tonight too ( with equally pleasant weather 30 miles south of you BTW ! ).
Anyway, with lamb, pine nut and dried barberry koftas and a trio of salads…
…an Etna Rosso ‘Diciassettesalme’ 2018, Cottanera.
A medium crimson fading to garnet in the glass. Macerated red cherries, pomegranate, potting soil and some clove and cinnamon spice on the nose. Similar notes on the light to medium bodied palate with good depth of savoury red fruited flavour. Fresh acidity and gentle tannins provide elegant structure and an all too easy to drink balance.
Reminiscent of a good Burgundy ‘villages’ in weight and texture but with its own distinct and individual flavour profile. Needless to say, and after two days of abstinence, it’s going down rather easily !
All the very best for the weekend everyone.
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On a lovely sunny evening, a wine, they say ‘not to be taken too seriously’…
100% Jurançon Noir (grape variety not (and nothing to do with) appellation) made by the Penavayres in Fronton.
Strong smell of the Haut Pays - sort of dirty darker fruits, overlayed with violets and vegetal or earthiness. I’ve mused before on the common theme that runs through the eastern South West (Fronton, Gaillac, Cahors, to an extent Marcillac) that makes interesting food for thought. Indigenous Yeats? Similar winemaking styles/practices? A touch of Brett? It isn’t variety - there’s too many of them - but there’s definitely some common denominator that marks them out from those further south and west (Madiran/St Mont etc, Jurançon, Irouleguy) as distinctly ‘familial’.
Anyway, at 11% and vanishingly small amount of tannins, it does exactly what it says on the tin, uncomplicated. Lovely 
And then in the fridge, take two for this…
Hoping for better. Will hopefully report back positively later 
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Started the evening with some Marcel Cabelier La Cote 39 Cotes du Jura, a NV, manzanilla sherry like wine, savoury and saline, a little smoky, flor yeast very evident. Not the longest, but lovely with a little Comte. I can imagine this being a house wine in the bistros of Jura
Opened this Bruno Clair Marsannay Grasses Tetes 2010 from one of those wine-or-vinegar mystery cases a couple of months ago. Opened at lunchtime, and since then it’s developed a little funkiness, some violets, liquorice, bonfire smoke; floral. Bright acidity which is very mouthwatering, and still a good tannic depth. Nice with some Greek beans, grilled lamb and halloumi.
A bit all over the place, but why not.
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I have a couple of bottles left, and was planning on consuming them over a few years, but is the suggestion here that it’s heading over the hill?
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Very unlikely. Too young? The tannins are there to shield the wine for decades
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This - a 2021 Laurent Miquel Alaina rose - is not bad for a nice quaffing rose with grandma. Her magic suction straw has done its job and gone before you know it 
I’d happily drink this one again though - nice fruit & a hint of spice
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Dinner (admittedly last night) at The Old Bridge Hotel in Huntingdon Restaurant Huntingdon | Restaurants in Cambridgeshire. I’ve visited their famous wine shop but never dined or stayed there.
Food - disappointing for a place aspiring to fine dining; several elementary cooking errors in 3 of our aggregated 4 courses - but the wine list is excellent - this is just the wines by the glass. The bottles-only list is essentially what they currently have in the shop and is viewable on-line. Mark-ups just under double the shop prices.
Spot - on for my medium-rare 10oz sirloin which was chargrilled excellently. Lovely earthy bright fruity balance, modest tannins only but good acidic backbone, making it most appetising. A half glass left for later to accompany MasterChef final really had opened up well
The less said about the “chips”, “Casear salad” or “green peppercorn sauce”, the better…
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Err, nope 
Little-to-no-nose. Lean, mean, acidic, watery. Classically oxidised?
This is a second bottle from TWS. I’m a bit reticent to open a 3rd in such quick succession, but there’s clearly an issue.
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Well doesn’t sound anything like the advertised description …!!
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It’s the end of an excellent week with friends in Alsace. I’ve not been able to keep up with posting the tasting and drinking that we’ve done, but will write something when we get back to the UK on Sunday. The weather has been perfect all week - mid 20s, blue skies, and a a cooling breeze. And this evening, with the happy melancholy that comes at the end of a great holiday, an evening in the garden with some wines that we’ve picked up this week, and some from the cellar. An aperitif of Boeckel Midelberg Gewurztraminer, 2020, followed by All You Need Is Loew Crémant. With lard mariné; duck and beef brochettes from the butcher; and grilled aubergines, we drank a couple of mystery reds. After an abortive attempt to taste at Mittnacht Frères on Monday (we didn’t check, and didn’t realise it was Pentecost), we made it today, and ended up being given two completely unlabelled bottles by Pierre Mittnacht, with instructions to tell him what we thought the next time we visit. And with desserts from Gilg, we drank Domaine Weinbach, Gewurztraminer Altenbourg, 2020.
The Boeckel gewurz perfectly filled the hole of a wine for open-air drinking on a warm evening - fragrant, fruity and uncomplicated.
The Loew crémant was very fresh - its nearly three years on the lees gave complexity and grip, without adding any overly-orchardy richness.
The two Mittnacht pinot noirs were completely different. One was almost Burgundian in chararcter, and we were fairly sure that it’s their vieilles vignes - very fine, dark cherries, a touch of oak, and a smooth refinement. The other was far more purple in colour, with much fresher acidity, redder fruits, and a touch of carbonic acid. We think it was made as a natural wine, and isn’t currently on the list. I now need to email them to see if we were right!
Finally, the Weinbach gewurz was a glorious end to the evening - sweet without being cloying, tropical fruit and a touch of dried apricot, and long and spicy. Just magnificent - so balanced between freshness and opulence.
Heading back home tomorrow. Hope everyone has a good weekend.
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I’ve been through a number of wines this week, thanks to being on holiday in Devon with a rare amount of sun.
On Weds, lunch at the excellent Seahorse in Dartmouth was accompanied by a glass of 2018 Albe Barolo by G D Vajra - gorgeously light on its feet and elegant - and instead of pudding, a glass of 2010 Vin Santo del Chianti Classico which was absolutely stunning: caramelised nuts, fig, etc. in a wonderful balance. Proper Barolo by the glass was the result of the restaurant’s policy of offering a couple of fine wines by the coravined glass, in addition to the usual things; why don’t you see that more often? The food was cracking, as was the service, with a free plate of cheesy pasta for our little guy. A restaurant we visit every time we are in the area.
Back at the holiday cottage, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed some Burlotto Barbera (2018) but sadly wasn’t keen on the ‘Flower Girl’ Albariño by Botanica. I found it too biting and unforgiving, with not enough interest to achieve a balance. Disappointing as their Citrusdal Mountain Chenin is so good which had led me (perhaps wrongly given the price difference) to expect something similarly special.
The highlight of the wines I brought along, however, turned out to be this:
Still in the list and highly recommended. The perfume is striking, with lychees and orange oil, and the wine has an amiable sweetness kept in check with a touch of savoury. Much better than anticipated.
Happy weekend, everyone.
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A special place, sun, good food, wine and company - the ultimate tonic!
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You are so right 
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Paitin Serraboella Barbaresco 2018
Captivating, expressive nose. I had thought might be too early… but this is a 2018. Roses, honey, figs, earthy, dark caramel toffee (reminds me of my trips here), watermelon.
The enjoyment is 80% nose (I always prefer this) but the palate is far from a let down. In great balance, fair acidity but supporting fruit and gentle tannin. Early drinking but still on the upwards path. Lip smackingly moreish.
Gorgeous stunning wine
Part of a mystery TWS case. Another fabulous lesson from TWS
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Well I’ve had as much if not more pleasure out of the societies french PN than the new world one at £20 + I had the other week
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Recent trips to Amsterdam, London and the lake district, left some great culinary (and travelling) memories.
While in the lakes, at a newly Michelin decorated Heft, where the Sommelier announced none of the wines on their list has seen any oak, we found this delightful Faugères, which the other half described as a perfect example of farmyard nose. Brett with Mourvedre, syrah, Grenache… (BMSG?)
It had plenty of Mourvedre spice and juice too, alongside the wild strawberry and some smoke, grilled herbs.
Back Home, in the lovely, rare, Manchester sun, equally rare ( one barrel was made) , an israeli Chardonnay from our friends’ boutique winery on the southern Izraèl Valley. The grapes come from the highest point in the Galilee and there’s pure granny smith, citrus focus, soft spice due to 4 months in used Barrique. Straightforward Chardonnay that is a joy to drink in the sunshine.
One day someone will answer my plea to TWS to bring some israeli wine into the range.
This weekend, i missed the mark, somewhat. After a request for something like the Faugères…i seem to remember this Sandhi PN, from Rajat Parr, having a bottle a couple of years ago, as savoury, farmyardy and utterly juicy… well, it didn’t do it for her.
So i went for something she never turns down
( although totally different from the Languedoc friend)
2011 La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904
With it’s sweet coconut, vanilla, lashings of ripe fruit… leather, sweet spice.
Happy weekend dear friends and come on the blues
!
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I opened the bottle of wine from my mouldy cork thread.
It was good! Served slightly chilled with some chargrilled veg cous cous and grilled halloumi.
Archil Guniava Otskhanuri Sapere 2019, a Georgian blend led of Otskhanuri Sapere and Tsolikouri aged in Kvivri and all that usual hipster nonsense. Cherry and medicine on the nose with a bit of funk, bitterness and black pepper joining in the mouth. Juicy with plenty of acid. Think Pelaverga or a pepperier Cru Beaujolais and you’re not far wrong.
Probably not worth what I paid for it, but it is a Georgian natural wine so of course it isn’t. Hipster tax paid.
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