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It’s a cracking Sangiovese
I got a case of the 2018 recently
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Last night a bottle of Three Bunches, a Shiraz from South Australia bottled for TWS. It came from a party case bought for a never-happened Xmas do in 2020 when Covid changed things. We had a slow roasted venison haunch with root veggies. The wine was perhaps best described as ‘workmanlike’ - the kind of assessment applied to a struggling junior official’s submission to a Minister: competent but lacking in finesse and elegance. The wine had plenty of fruit and the tannins were well folded in but it lacked interest in my opinion. But a fair match to the venison haunch. Tonight something better!
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Yes! I like that way I can just check in every now and again whenever I’ve got a moment and see if it’s my turn.
Some of the moves have been accompanied by a glass of this, the first of six, drunk slowly over three evenings:
Muted, slightly soapy, nose to begin with, but time and swirls begin to tease out some violets and woodsmoke. There’s a lovely silky texture here, squishy tannins and long, satisfying finish. Sweeter fruit, with a little baking spice, starts to emerge on the second and third days, but to me this is still keeping its cards close to its chest. Glad I tried it at this early stage but I won’t open another for a few years.
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What are we saying?
I’ve got a few cases of 2015 sat in a dark warehouse somewhere (including this one), and keep wondering when I’m going to pull the trigger. On release, it was postulated that this would be a vintage that could drink from the start (or certainly early in it’s life), but I’ve tried a Langoa Barton - a lovely wine hiding somewhere behind an absolute phalanx of tannins - and a Giscours - which is equally dense and chewy. If we’re saying the Cantemerle is a hold too, I’m wont to conclude the ‘early’ description is nonsense 
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Hmmm, good question! I was probably half expecting more immediate fragrance on the nose and a wall of tannins on the gums, but if anything it was the other way round. The impression I got was that the nose hadn’t quite caught up with the palate, which while still showing good structure had already developed into something quite approachable.
I’ve been following Cellartracker reviews of the Cantemerle and most of them have been quite gushing from the word go, but what I found was something that felt aromatically awkward; even after 48 hours, it wasn’t exactly jumping out of the glass. Lots of potential though.
I’m not the best judge of these things of course, but my hunch is that this one just needs a bit longer to come together - but not, by the sound of things, for the same reason as the Langoa and the Giscours…!
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Another Saturday, another hangover. We need to stop meeting like this.
It’s Not-Mrs-Pig’s birthday next week and part one of her celebrations was a trip to Tooting Broadway Market with her brother. We were headed for Barra 10 for steak and ceviche, but not until 9, so we ambled around soaking up atmosphere, recce-ing menus of other places and having a few drinks. Knowing the wine list at Barra 10 was almost exclusively malbec, I possibly went a little harder than I should have.
Two happy hour negroni’s later, I was ready to hit the alcoholic Ribena.
Los Picos Distantes malbec 2020. It was exactly that, uninteresting, sweet and fruit forward. Not in anyway offensive but nothing to write home about. It was nothingy enough that we got through it pretty quickly and ended up with a second bottle. At a touch over £20 a bottle it did exactly what a house malbec at an Argentine restaurant in a market stall should do to be fair. I didn;t hate it (and I’d kind of assumed that I would) but I didn’t get the level of joy out of it that’d I’d have liked in a purely wine way. That was OK because it was a wonderfully raucous night. The food was excellent, and the stall next to it was a bar that served teenagers (but also had a surprisingly good pianist/singer) and a sushi bar across the way meant everything was ultra vibrant.
Nightcap of a surprisingly good Manhattan (I say that, it could have been awful, I was pretty drunk!). Definitely a dry one this evening, but that’s OK because some idiot also left the oven on and carbonised the stew he’d been making for this evening.
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Tooting Broadway Market has clearly come a looong way since my youth, haven’t visited for years. That steak looks very good. .
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I was surprised too. Very hustle and bustle vibrancy and a lot of very nice looking places to eat and drink. Almost everywhere was absolutely rammed. We will definitely be making a return visit to try some of the other places, and probably to go for steak again too.
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Hungover? Looks worth it to me!
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Definitely worth it. It was a great night. I’m about the level of hungover I deserve for the amount I drank too.
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This was the Friday night line-up to accompany prawns with avocado, venison casserole and a cheeseboard.
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Oh how the other half lives… 
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I was hoping for a picture of the carbonised stew 
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A civilised Friday night of cheese, wine and chat with a neighbour. Her (Welsh) cheese, our contribution was the wine.
Louis Latour Mâcon-Lugny 2020
Domaines Schlumberger Pinot Gris Grand Cru Spiegel 2019, Alsace
Marqués de Griñon Cabernet Sauvignon 2016, Dominio de Valdepusa
Golden Cenarth, Perl Las, Caerfai Caerffili, Snowdonia Red Storm
Had the Mâcon-Lugny with the Caerffili, the Pinot Gris (one of their sweeter vintages) with the Golden Cenarth and Perl Las, and the Cab Sauvignon with the Red Storm. Pairings worked quite nicely.
Also had a small glass of Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim 2006 vintage port, which I just can’t really get on with. I know very little about port, so not sure if it’s too young, something not right with the bottle, or just not to my taste. The ports I’ve enjoyed have mostly been tawnies.
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I’m stripping the spare bedroom at the minute, I’ll take the leftovers 
Good choice and good VFM. Age well too. I still have a couple of the 2016.
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Bottle of Trivento Malbec Reserve 2020 last night with steaks. A gift to me last summer.
Supposedly 91 points by Tim Atkin.
More Syrah than Malbec on the nose to me. Definitely not in the jammy camp, so plus points there. Fruit a bit austere if anything, with a touch of bitterness on the finish. Might have benefited from a decant and it didn’t last that long between son and me. OK but no more.
Then moved on to finish this, previously Coravined.
Much more claret like than previous bottle. A nice backbone of acidity, decent enough fruit with a graphite note, maybe a little lean? Needs food. Glass or two left, not sure how well it will go with Indian tonight after the rugby. Maybe the spiced lamb chops?
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