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I think this one requires no introduction to many on this forum, but this was actually my first bottle ever. I’m slow at catching up with the latest and greatest, I would say.
There’s a lot of good wine coming out of Greece at the moment. Great time to dig in.
There’s a mixed case coming later in the year
Couple of wines stretching back into last week but only just catching up.
Exhibition Alvarinho Vinho Verde 2021
Pleasant but a bit thin and one-dimensional. A summer garden quaffer rather than a rainy March evening wine. And there are better if more expensive Exhibition whites on the list.
This on the other hand was lovely:
Escarpment, Kiwa Single Vineyard Pinot Noir, Martinborough NZ 2017. A prize from the great Harvey Nicks giveaway. “Savoury, complex and spicy” according to the blurb, and it is.
Thanks @peterm the cut and paste works on laptop, I think.
Last night’s selection, a tale of 2 Syrah.
In truth the Graillot was for the Coq au Vin (and will provide a couple of glasses tonight). A sneaky sip confirms - fruit, spice and some length. A good wine.
The Clusel Roch was, of course, a different beast. Bought in 2018 as part of a mixed case of 6 Cote Roties for £215 DP. I have a feeling it was on offer! WS drinking window was 2015 to 2021 but a bit more patience paid off (OK found at back of wine fridge!). Medium red in glass with not a huge amount on the nose initially. Precise wine making - really well integrated at 12 years. Smoky, hints of spice, dark fruit and leathery tannins - a happy accident.
Last night we opened the first of 6, 2019 vintage
Delicious wine and impressive quality for a non Condrieu. Pale gold colour suggested it would be full and indeed it was but not flabby. Tasty apricot and peach flavours, acidity to keep it fresh, but just tasted opulent. Went well with a dish of fried scallops in fino, squeeze of lemon, red chilli and chives from garden. Looking forward to more from the bottle tonight.
My last few years birthday’s have been pretty ropey, so this year I am claiming the whole week. Technically started on Friday with a trip to see the new production of Oklahoma, but last night was the first wine based evening. I wandered over the common to the nearest proper fishmonger and bought ALL THE SHELLFISH. I’d originally planned to do a big tray bake type thing, but the scallops didn’t look great, so I ended up steaming most things and kicking things off with raw oysters and fizz.
Sainsbury’s TTD Blanc de Noirs was OK. Round and slightly sweet with a bit of red fruit. Not really one thing or the other in terms of champagne style (shame as the Blanc de Blanc is really good, which is why I bought this, need to find a better cheap fizz in halves!). Onward and upward with clams, razor clams, mussels and prawns steamed in a mix of vermouth and white port and then smothered in garlic and parsley butter.
Sometimes it’s a good thing that I’m allowed to go to the fish mongers on my own without restraint. Nom. What did we drink?
White Burgundy, of course. Le Grappin St Aubin Premier Cru L’Ebaupin 2017. Nom. Nom. Nom. Hyperbole alert: This wine was exciting, alive and tense.
Creamy on the nose with bruised apple and citrus, bags of acidity to cut through the (exact right amount) of oak, slightly floral (and probably some wet stone type thing if you believe in such things), great texture and mouth feel. Very long finish. I am sad that I don’t have any more. Will be very hard to top on Wednesday for actual birthday (or Thursday for Society press tasting or Friday meal at Brat).
Evening was rounded off with chocolate tart (from M&S) and a glass of Fanny Fourgerat Cidre Blanc XO cognac from last weeks incident at the Cognac Show.
Friday Lunch with old friend at Jordan Estate. Too chilly to sit outside over looking lake like last time. Inept service fronting excellent kitchen. Nice food with outstanding chips from potatoes cut on-site and triple cooked to a real crispness. Jordan doesn’t make God’s own wine so we had
2020 Jordan Wine Estate Cabernet Sauvignon The Long Fuse (South Africa, Stellenbosch)
Sleek modern CS. The name refers to the amount of dynamite needed to blast boulders to clear vineyard for planting.
Then in the evening we opened, but did not finish
2022 Beaumont Family Wines Chenin Blanc (South Africa, Cape South Coast)
either the wine nor the accompanying takeaway fish’n’chips.
Saturday a final visit to Spur for
and a BYO of
2021 Diemersfontein Pinotage The Prodigy (South Africa, Western Cape)
I’d read about this addition to Diemersfontein’s portfolio, so had to try it. Very pale when pouring, like a PN, and packing a hefty 14% abv but it didn’t feel like it. New wave perhaps, but not my style.
But the sunset over False Bay seen from our table was…
Sunday After a morning on Pringle Bay’s white sand we’ll have as aperitif
2019 Bartho Eksteen DOM MCC (South Africa, Walker Bay)
A highly rated traditional method sparkler from the triumvirate PN, PM & C from a highly rated winemaker I first met adding yeast to some drawn-off juice when he was winemaker at Wildekrans. DOM literally means ‘dumb’ and is Afrikaans for ‘stupid’.
And with lamb shanks, new pots, brussels sprouts and cauliflower we’ll have
2018 Stanford Hills Estate Jacksons Pinotage (South Africa, Stanford Foothills)
I’ve had previous vintages of this so have high hopes.
(Jordan from winery, others from the brilliant Wine Village at Hermanus)
@Rio_Jano - latest Cover Drive we’ve bought was £10.99 at Majestic, previously we’ve had it from Morrison’s and Costco
Enjoyed this last night. Bought as a souvenir of an interesting short break in Lanzarote. My first visit there and we were confined to the resort but (as suggested by @PHarvey ) I did manage to track this down in one of the local supermarkets. Thanks for the recommendation , it was right up my street. Lots of pear and some peach but it did somehow also taste of stones. Lots of interest and enjoyment. Pity I could only fit one bottle into my suitcase
Domaine Courbis St Jo Les Royes Blanc. Really lovely nose of stone fruits, honey, a little perfumed. Quite creamy, a lot of nuts and some honey in there as well. Quite full - that nuttiness stays on into the finish for a long time, with a touch of that characteristic appetising bitterness. This better cool (not cold) which brings out the acidity better, and though a little linear at first, it does broaden with time.
Apologies in advance for photo composition - though I am always happy to advertise Saltburn, which is a brilliant place….
After a packed mother’s day taking son 2 to rugby and son 1 to football and then hockey; and then cooking a roast dinner, I felt the need for this.
As with many of the wines I drink this needs no introduction here. I have a feeling that is very much more than a coincidence.
It is great stuff, so rich and yet with a freshness to lift it. Blackberries and a blackcurrant cordial but I get some cinnamon and a touch of tobacco. So smooth on the palate…perfect for a sunday night with the family.
Happy Sunday!
Happy birthday week! 
that is doing it in style….
Buttercups, mandarin skins and touch of ginger on the nose. Palate is mandarin and apricot marmalade finishing with tickles of lime flesh acidity. Drinking lovely now but no show stopper.
A delicious wine. Decanted 2h but still quite young. Well integrated oak and good tannins. Sweet cherries coated in dark chocolate at the moment. Very well crafted and very pleasurable.
@strawpig - Happy Birthday, and that looks like a great start to the celebrations
Love razor clams 
This evening I cooked rib of beef, with salt-baked beetroot, creamy savoy cabbage, Roscoff onions, beef boulangère potatoes, and a red wine sauce. We drank another old Alsace pinot noir - Marcel Deiss Burlenberg, 2012.
It’s not pure pinot noir - as is his wont, Jean-Michel Deiss makes this field blend with all the pinots. And while it’s older than last night’s Kuentz-Bas, it tastes considerably younger, and is a different beast entirely. Tannins are very present and correct, and balanced really well by acidity. The fruit is intense and on the dark side, and there’s a distinct thyme and cep character to the nose. If last night’s wine was a comfortable sweater, this is a sharply tailored dinner jacket, and while drinking well now, has many years of life left.
Hope everyone has a good week.
Out with friends on Saturday and took along a bottle of Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Spatlese 2009. Delicious drinking - riesling in its prime. Last bottle of this, but will not be forgotten.
No photo taken, but maybe of note is that we took this to Champor Champor near London Bridge. Super friendly Thai / Malaysian restaurant. Lovely food, not trying to be too ‘Michelin’, just very good Asian cooking. What was very good is that they were happy for us to take a bottle, and charged £15 corkage which is about as cheap as anywhere I think. (We were happy to supplement by buying a couple of rounds of beer first though…) My kind of place: friendly, great cooking, bring your own wine at a moderate cost. Thoroughly recommend.
Happy Sunday all.
Textured, green and mineral. Moreso than any Condrieu I’ve ever had.
Green pineapple, tinned peaches.
Great foil for the sweet butternut squash and salty Gorgonzola cheese.
This here tonight with a simple dinner of sausages, cauli cheese, and roasted tomatoes…
https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/cinsault-ollieux-romanis-vin-de-france-2021
Made in a modern, juicy, low to no tannin, fruit forward style and vinified without using sulphites ( some added when bottled though ).
A vivid magenta colour. A soft and savoury nose with red berry fruit aromas, pot- pourri and a hint of liquorice. Similar notes on the medium bodied palate with a vaguely Ribena-like quality too. Fresh acidity provides lift to the sweetly ripe fruit but the flavours are a bit confected, and rather too obvious, for my tastes. Which. to my mind at least, some tannic grip might have helped to offset.
Best wishes for the coming week everyone.
Continuing our tour of WA, bbqd drunken poussin and with those…
The Verdejo is well known in the Swan Valley, dry finish and fruit forward, made for drinking. The Chardonnay on the other hand is more akin to Margaret River, multiple layers of flavour and a long finish….delicious .
Finally a nightcap…for me to young…lively tannins and complexity which needs time.
I’ve been off this forum for a while due to the death of my very old laptop and my slightly less stable life as a widower…on the positive side I’ve lost a bit more weight
On the wine side I was particularly impressed by the aged Xinomavro Rose 2013- proof that pink wine can be “serious’
Enjoyed the Societies Muscadet on Friday, a great inexpensive refresher
I’m also eyeing up the new Madieras on the list…