Weekend Drinking Thread [28 to 30 Jan 2022]

[Inbar]

Friday is usually a dry day, but rules are there to be broken from time to time, so starting the weekend with this modest but worthy 2020 Petite Arvine from Val d’Aosta:

We had several vintages of this old friend, and this is up there on the deliciousness scale. Pale gold in the glass, the nose invites you in with notes of quince, Golden Delicious apples, apricot and spice (cinnamon and ginger, we thought).

Generous and well-balanced on the palate, there are notes of ripe orchard fruit, quince jelly, stone fruit and pineapple. It’s delicately honeyed, and the finish is surprisingly long, and ends on a mix of spice and tangerine notes. Acidity feels just right and hold the whole thing together. Harmonious, quite unique in its flavour profile and should work nicely with a mildly spiced Thai dish

What bottles are you opening this weekend?

[Martyn]

Slightly delayed Burns Night due to working patterns this week. Got the kids reading ‘To a Haggis’ and pronouncing the Selkirk Grace, although their Scottish accents need some serious work!

[Herbster]

@Martyn

Got the kids reading ‘To a Haggis’

I always loved the line ‘great chieftain o’ the puddin’ race’ as a child!

[Graham5000]

A new one on me. First bottle and won’t be the last.
Delicious if you like white burgundy. Full bodied and long finish. Very good indeed

[prenoof]

Nose: Chewits
Palate: Chewits
Finish: Medium. Hint of Chewits

94 pts

[Graham5000]

[Tannatastic]

Which flavour Chewits might I inquire?

[Robin63]

Found the temptation too great this evening and opened a bottle of the recently arrived Bindspot Pinot Meunier 2021. Having seen the conversation between Freddy and Mac Forbes, I was not surprised by the deep rose colour - it is a bit of a stretch to call it red. Interestingly, I think I initially over chilled it which reinforced the impression of acidity. I will admit to not being completely sold at £13 a bottle. I asked my wife to guess the price - her answer was £7.

Very pale red, essentially deep rose. Clear rim. Light nose. Strawberry and raspberry. Touch of red currant. Light palate. High acidity. No discernible tannins. Dry. Red fruits. Elements of pink grapefruit, red cherry and red currant. A raspberry cordial element. Medium finish.

[Andrew1990]

Something of a mix and match tonight. Chablis is a world apart from white Burgundy. Is it the oak or altitude I ask myself. Hmm… I have no idea. On balance my preference was the Chablis. There was something more natural about the Chablis. Nothing got in the way of the fruit.

[prenoof]

Purple

[PHarvey]

I’m really getting into this alc-free scene; look what arrived today.

Maybe I’ll just not bother with wine any more - it’s only fermented grape juice after all.

[Rio_Jano]

Trinity hill Hawkes Bay Syrah 2019

This one has had a ranged of good and less good reviews, but I really like it. I think it might have needed another year to knit together from the early reviews. It’s very much like a fresh young northern Rhône wine, black and red fruits, smooth tannins, and a kind of herby, olive-y savoury finish. Lovely nose which has the same mix of fruit, spice, and savoury notes. It’s got a nice long finish too. Good value at just over a tenner

[GWills]

Heading back to the Southern Rhone again to help with my thinking for this year’s EP.

After the rather comforting, almost silky Montvac Vacqueyras from last weekend this was a different kettle of fish.

Dom la Roubine Gigondas 2017. Plenty of smoky, brooding dark fruit. All good for a winter’s night but then the not so subtle whack of a rough sawn scaffold board across the tongue. I like “spicy” and I’m pretty sure this will settle own with a few more years but it is a little on the untamed side for me right now. That said its a good wine and plenty of interest here.

https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/gigondas-domaine-de-la-roubine-2017

[Mandarin]

@Graham5000

A new one on me. First bottle and won’t be the last.
Delicious if you like white burgundy. Full bodied and long finish. Very good indeed

Snap. With a fish pie for us. White Burgundy is a good reference point. White Rioja would also work. Either way it’s rich, and oaky and very enjoyable.

[robertd]

I cooked squid this evening, spiced with cumin, sumac and Urfa chillies, and finished with za’atar; sourdough flatbread with roasted garlic butter and a sweet-and-sour tomato salsa; and cucumber and radish with poppy seeds. We drank Marcel Deiss Zellenberg, 2018.

A lovely wine, but really hard to get a handle on - flavours coming and going with each mouthful. It’s dry, long and grippy, with citrus flavours of lemon and grapefruit; pears and quince; and fleeting glimpses of camomile and blossom. Unlike most of Deiss’s wines this is a regular blend and not a field blend, but still shows all of their winemaking skill. Complex and endlessly analysable if you were so inclined, but in the end just as enjoyable as something simply delicious.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

[Rafa]

@Graham5000

A new one on me. First bottle and won’t be the last.
Delicious if you like white burgundy. Full bodied and long finish. Very good indeed

I had that last week and my post was very similar to yours. Excellent white, full of flavour and great body. Unfortunately we have to wait for the next vintage as the 2019 is OOO

[Richard]

@Inbar the same wine as you, although I didn’t like it as much. Not dry enough for me. My wife who has a much sweeter tooth, loved it.

And a modern Rioja, a style a don’t usually like but this was well recommended and is 100% garnatcha. A day 2 wine with lots of fruit coming through.

[cerberus]

More of a weekday wine, but as a case arrived yesterday I thought opening one would kick off the weekend nicely.
Another Italian grape that has a wide choice of styles, this was a full on nose of dark cherry and a little strawberry, very fruity in the mouth, smooth and a bit sweet, almost Cinsault like in taste, lingers on the palette.
As it reached the bottom third of the bottle it became more ‘traditional’ less sweet and a bit of leather, a very decent bottle and enjoyed by all, it will be interesting to see if that change late on is typical in the rest of the case.

[strawpig]

How does it compare to Barrow-in-Furness bus depot?

[Osprey]

I’ve seen people describe “chewits” as a standalone flavour before, and was similarly intrigued! My suspicion that time was the vanilla chewits were being referred to, which to me is the weirdest and rarest of all the flavours. Is that also the case here?