Well this is just as good as @Drainhole posted it was.
As advised by the good denizens of the South African Saviours thread, Meerlust only make this Red when the vintage is not strong enough to support their flagship Rubicon. The advantage is a brilliant QPR for this more modestly badged wine.
The good news is TWS will be selling this shortly.
Happy weekend all.
My birthday so my good friend, neighbour and fellow blogger tasted a couple of decent bottles over the Telegraph Toughie crossword.
My, my, that Vosne Romanee looks rather good. Here we are drinking ‘the Lafite of of the Midi’ as I seem to recall it referred to - Mas de Daumas Gassac 1999. Well, not quite Lafite tonight, more like a Californian Zinfandel. Certainly with fruit but not too much and well balanced. Not at all jammy. But it has kept well in the cellar for 24 years. Cork and capsule in good shape, more lees than I expected when decanting. A good buy all those years ago!
Late lunch party for 6 today, vaguely related to 12th night as an excuse. My guests are enthusiastic diners but “red or white” type drinkers.
Smoked Pyrennean trout, Norfolk game casserole with garden veg, (the last) Christmas pud, English cheese board…
The line up has a story. I wanted to have just English wines as the (well, not the fish obviously) menu was pretty home-spun and I thought it worth spreading the word.
The fizz I’ve posted before, it’s a Prosecco style crowd pleaser made in Kent, this from chardonnay, PM, bacchus and PN for the colour. It’s actually quite nice, dry, with some delicate flavours.
Nobody wanted the Norfolk-grown (but made in Essex) Bacchus fumé which is actually quite decent IMO, as the red was plumped for, understandably. This is Bolney’s signature red, Dornfelder and Rondo blend, not had this before but seemed a reasonable punt.
Golly this is really not very nice. Winbirri in Norfolk make a similar red which is not too bad in comparison. My guests gamely and politely drunk their allocated pours but demurred when it came to the offer of a second bottle; but eyes lit up when the French cellar defender was offered instead and thus restored order and conviviality.
No excuses for the entry level port cellar defender, it is a what it says on the tin type drink. Not to be thrown away and was nice enough with the cheese. But I’m keeping my vintage bottles for another day.
There was a digestif round too from home made liqueurs; sloe gin, bramble whisky, etc and my favourite is Rucolino which, for home-made purposes is vodka steeped in home grown rocket and other garden herbs and spices for a year, then decanted and matured for another 5 years. turns a bright yellow. Tastes just like yellow Chartreuse - really nice.
Wow 
! Go big or go home ! 
A wine we first enjoyed 8+ years ago on a short French break in Wimeraux. Lovely stuff and very evocative.
Very powerful - could really smell it from arm’s length as I poured first glass from the decanter. Wood smoke / leather end of the spectrum (per Mrs Snake). Redcurrant, a bit drying on the palate, dark and delicious. Very smoky, no vanilla.
Chateau du Hureau Lisagathe 2014 (Saumur Champigny)
Unsurprisingly this is very good. Possibly one of the most interesting tannin profiles I’ve tasted. Vintage? Wine maker? Modern techniques helping?
They’re there, they’re quite big (because this is of course a young wine for a traditional producer), but - and I’m going to struggle to describe them adequately because I’m not sure I have the vocabulary, so bear with caller - but they’re round, like a big stone that’s spent decades in a stream. It’s still a big hard stone, but it’s as smooth as silk on the surface. Quite remarkable really.
This evening I cooked garlic squid and prawns with pea shoots, with crispy polenta potatoes and ssamjang mayonnaise. We drank a bottle of wine that I was given as a Thank You for running some coding workshops at a local Sixth Form College - Faustino Rivero Ulecia, Albariño, Rías Baixas, 2021.
Very nice it was too - just what you’d look for in a Rías Baixas Albariño, with citrus acidity, peaches and white stone fruit, and a touch of salinity to finish. Not the longest and most complex wine, but very pleasurable, and the bottle was finished all too quickly.
Have a good weekend!
Great notes! Have you seen this? Think it’s a recent listing and low stock. Tempted but spent too much this month and it’s not a week old.
https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/barbaresco-rabaja-castello-di-verduno-2017
Yeah, sadly I had to make a choice between 2019 and 2017 budgets. 2019 won. 
Tribute to @Taffy-on-Tour here tonight, a Clos des Cazaux Gigondas La Tour Sarrasine 2015, following but not with a kedgeree.
We visited the eponymous saracen’s tower last spring while staying in the area. It’s a nice walk through the Dentelles de Montmirail and much recommended. The Clos des Cazaux owns the land around around the tower itself apparently.
Dark ruby in the glass. Powerful dark fruit flavours, olive tapenade and garrigue, drying tannins on the finish.
“Drink within 10 years” says the back of the bottle. JLL has 2033-2035. Feels like it could go on improving for a while yet.
Happy weekend All, whether dry or wet.
Does it get any better at this level?? Great stuff
Do you remember where you got it from?
I’m looking to stock up on Barbaresco
A bottle of the Alto Rouge, Stellenbosch 2018 last night. Grabbed as part of a clearance order and found to be very good especially at under £10. Very clear fruit, a bit of dark chocolate and an earthiness but not too jammy, real poise to it. Very good value Bordeaux (ish) blend
Might have been TWS. I picked up just the one 
I’m shocked that I didn’t see it
Do you remember when was that?
It’s a while ago now (almost 4 years), but CT tells me I bought from both L&W and J&B.
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