Goodness. No one else here yet? First thread I’ve started in ages. So we’ll start with this ESW. Perfectly fine with red fruits and hazelnut. From Lidl.
And then this as well. Had never heard of WSET till people here mentioned it and now I’ve passed my level 3. Wine is toooooo interesting. Thanks to the TWS community for the inspiration. You rock!
There must be a glut of esw if Lidl have got their hands on it …
Yum Yum Yum!
Innocent Bystander Victoria Moscato 2020
So much better than I was expecting and just spot-on for a sticky summers evening. Sweetly floral and fruity, tangerine, candy floss, honeysuckle and rhubarb. More than off-dry and packed full of flavour, lychee, sweet fairground fruit (if that makes sense) but enough acidity to carry it.
The zippy acidity makes this very easy-drinking and the 5.5%abv means it’s unlikely to see tomorrow.
Good start to the weekend.
This was very good and suits a lovely July evening. Pale green and gold in the glass. A good citrus and green apple line running through with good acidity. Some mineral and chalk to finish.
Fantastic achievement ! Congrats
A divine wild swim in Barcombe Mills (a stretch of the Sussex Ouse) earlier today set the tone for a relaxed evening. How blissful is this weather…?! 
Dinner was a family favourite - beetroot, goats cheese and hazelnut tart, and we drank this Rosé:
Collioure Rosé, Côté Mer, Domaine de la Rectorie 2021
I echo Marcel’s adjective - this is stunning! I still have just over a glass left, so really pacing myself because this is a beautiful, serious wine. Even the colour is beautiful - copper, with a rusty tone to it and quite viscous in the glass (it’s a 14% ABV).
The nose does all sorts of things - going from a sweet-ish custard, or even crème pâtissière sort of note to red fruits (strawberry, raspberry), floral notes, tangerines and a whiff of dried herbs. The depth and interest continue on the palate with notes rasping red fruit (summer berries mainly) and slight rosehip bitterness to Garrigue-like dusty dried herbs (thyme and myrtle came to mind) and orange peel - all underlined by a sort of sweet but delicate vanilla.
The mouthfeel is gorgeously smooth and rounded and the finish is one of the longest I remember in a rosé (with maybe the exception of Thymiopoulos’s Xinomavro rosé), ending on a fine saline note.
Complex, intriguing with a sort of heft to it - perhaps my first vino de meditazione rosé 
Congratulations, @Andrew20 for passing your WSET 3… what’s next…? 
Having crazy thoughts of doing level 4……or would anyone recommend the Wine Scholars Guild?
On the Santorini Assyrtiko that was getting plenty of praise in last weekend’s thread. And quite rightly too: manages to be both mineral and floral, zingy and long. Lots of character, and suits the weather
I decided not to proceed to Level 4, but can definitely recommend the Wine Scholar Guild. I did the French one, and planning to do the Spanish next time it runs in my local School. I enjoyed it and learnt loads. I would recommend attending the in-person classes rather than the online course, but that’s just me - I think there’s a real convivial atmosphere to the face-to-face class.
Bit of a major revelation today; one of our favourite evening drinks on a really hot day is a Pisco Sour cocktail, the perennial impediment to this becoming more habitual than practical is what to do with all the egg yolks. But I tried it with dried egg white powder today and - Huzzar ! - it works a treat; if anything the froth is more tenacious than regular egg white. So - apart from the lime which had made it to the compost bin before this picture, the ice, and the sugar water - here’s all you need to make this excellent thirst quencher.
We’re off tomorrow to the Jura for a week and it was a case of cobbling together an evening meal from leftovers and long-forgotten about items in the freezer, and the incarnation was a dos de cabillaud from the market, in a coconut-lime sauce, french beans tossed in garlic and some chilli prawns. What wine to go with ?
I picked out this Polish amber wine made from one of their unique hybrids Jutrzenka Jutrzenka | wein.plus Lexicon - no foxy flavours as its non-vinifera DNA comes from rupestris and berlandieri. I remember liking this at the cellar door but without any food, but with the afore-mentioned dish it took on very unusual proportions, yes it was clearly muscat-ey, but overwhelming notes of rose-water, burnt orange rind, patchouli. It certainly stood up to the meal’s strong flavours but not sure it complemented them too well !
Enjoyed this tonight …
With bbq Hake steaks and Senegalese rice - perfect on a warm evening and a hint of chilli 
in the food
Do you have a recipe you could share?
It’s not pin point accurate but something like this:
1 diced banana shallot
1 garlic clove
1 large diced red pepper
1 large diced tomato
Table spoon of tomato purée
1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes
Add chilli flakes to taste
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
Pan fry on a low heat until you have a thick consistency to your taste, option to use a blender if you prefer a smoother consistency. We tend to blend half and mix this back in .
Serve with rice on the side or mix with the rice, the latter is how it’s served in West Africa…
I will do a picture next time.
An exquisite evening for an exquisite wine - the 2018 Argyros Cuvee Monsignori - a glistening cold black salty searock weeping with sunbaked lemon blossom.
This is truly superb!
A delicious beaujolais last night, served lightly chilled - perfect accompaniment for a simple supper of crusty bread and cheese etc.
Far too hot to make more of an effort on the catering front - and in fact a real treat.
Moulin a Vent - part of a large TWS haul from one of the regular beaujolais offers - this from 2016 vintage.
Powerful wine - no real fruit or tannin to speak of. Dark in colour but translucent pale purple at the edge of the glass. Wonderful stuff.
Great idea. Need to give this a try. Assume it’ll work across the cocktail menu too.
It’s my birthday on Monday so thought I’d treat myself to a tomahawk steak for my dinner tonight and wanted to open one of my more special bottles I’ve whittled it down to 5but can’t choose between them.
Excellent selection! If you want to leave the PC out then I would personally go for the Leoville or the Contino.
Both 2014 you got there are a tad young, specially the Haut Bally
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