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This lovely Rosé tonight. Such a great find, haven’t seen the new vintage back in stock unfortunately.
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More of an homage to an old friend than a weekend tipple. Vouvray doesn’t get better than this whomsoever is making it.
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Sauté squid and chorizo this evening, with Dirler-Cadé riesling 2014.
Such a lovely wine. Superb intensity of lemon and lime, allied to a backbone of steel. And the finish goes on and on. Happy Weekend, everyone!
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Finishing today my last bottle of Groffier Bourgogne rouge 2014
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2264292
This is gorgeous, punching way above the village level in my opinion. Too bad the Society does not have an allocation.
also, the last drops of a half bottle of Taylor’s VP 2016 from the EP halves mixed case
https://www.thewinesociety.com/shop/HistoricProductDetail.aspx?pd=PT2041
Well, the vintage was clamoured, but it is far less seductive than the 2015s at this stage… maybe more for the long run…
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I was going to say - pretty early to be drinking that, isn’t it? TWS drinking dates don’t start for another 6 years!
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I have been drinking 2015s since they were released to great pleasure.
Similarly, the 2011s were delicious right from from the start.
They had, as you can imagine, similar windows as the 2016s, and were more open nonetheless 
Really lovely wine tonight. Great with beef stew and dumplings. Well balanced tannins, fruit and acidity. Opened beautifully after 30 minutes. Too lazy to decant. Wine Soc suggests drink by 2020 but I think it will be OK for a few more years
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Years ago I worked in an office a few doors down from a Spanish restaurant. Their house red was a traditional, oaky Rioja that we all loved (rather more than the food, which was very average.) As styles changed, I’ve really missed that Rioja but tonight I’ve tried this and I’m back upstairs at the big table with the team. Strangely I’m really not keen on oaky wines otherwise, but it just works with the Navajas.
https://www.thewinesociety.com/resources/product_images/SP14411.jpg
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Drinking a 2015 vintage of this. Very dark, almost black colour with a narrow watery rim. Lots of cherry aromas. Sweet and sour cherry flavours. Rich, with a little tartness around the edges. Long, fresh, slightly bitter aftertaste.
With food - spinach and ricotta canelloni- a bit of tannin becoming apparent. Very good.
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Meeting of our local wine tasting group tonight. Iberia versus South America. Four pairs, sparkling; white; red; dessert. Wines of the night were La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904 2009 and a remarkable Uruguayan dessert tannat.
It tasted of chocolate blancmange and coffee. Thick like a liqueur. Amazing. The whites were both Albariño and enjoyable.
Tomorrow’s line up will be two new wines for us
Two fairly uncomplimentary reviews on the website for the red so will be interesting to see what we think.
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Cooked some venison with a port sauce (hint - the BBC Good Food recipe for this is awful!) and opened this with it.
Luckily the wine was a lot nicer than the sauce - still lots of forest fruit, but in a mellow, seductive and laid-back fashion. Maybe just a touch of Brett to add interest. Lip-smacking, food-friendly and moreish.
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Those reviews aren’t good, are they.? Having said that, we very much enjoyed the 2015, so hopefully you find this as good.
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I had a bottle of the Rizzi LN tonight and have to say I rather enjoyed it. It was definitely at the tarry end of nebbiolo but certainly not unpleasant. Mrs W was not keen though so maybe an acquired taste.
I gave it a nice long decant which I think helped.
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I mostly ignore the reviews on this website and tonight is the best evidence yet - the wine I posted a couple of posts above, while relatively modest, is absolutely singing tonight, yet it’s got 2-3* reviews and whiney comments.
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Had this beauty last night…
I’m going through a bit of a carmenere phase at the moment. This was much fruity and less earthier than most what I expect from this variety. Lots of sour cherry - in a good way - and then, as the wine opened up a little, you got those savoury green pepper flavours with a touch of cocoa.
Had it with an aubergine parmigiana. Slight sacrilege but it worked well!
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Had a small sniff of this last night with tacos and Slumdog Millionaire. I like the menthol/eucalyptus flavours.
Tonight, we have teen boys to entertain so it’s been pizza/burger/pizza/burger toss up. I’ve decided to make small pizzas as the burger bun - tomato/onion/garlic/gherkin/melted cheese - and make patties to fit. What can go wrong?
I think the Vergelegen will go well (for me!).
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I saw the reviews too but I was so impressed by both the 2015 and 2016 vintages I wasn’t put off buying ( especially with the introductory discount ). I’m picking up my bottle later today so will be interested to hear what you make of it.
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This was very much enjoyed with hake and butter bean mash yesterday…
…a Cretan Assyrtiko ‘Voila’ 2108 from Lyrarakis. I drank the wine on the left. The wine on the right is described as the same but has a simpler, and perhaps, more striking label but with no mention of the Voila vineyard on it though. I’ll try it next week to see how it compares.
White peach, lemon citrus, ginger and a faint herbal note on the nose. Medium to full body, a slightly viscous oily texture, concentrated white stone fruit and sharp citrus flavours on tasting. Zippy acidity provides poise, balance and cut. A fresh stony finish completed a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It was an excellent pairing to the food too.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
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This Rioja more than lives up to its lofty Decanter 96/100rating. Exactly what you expect a Gran Reserva to offer - leather, tobacco and beautifully integrated oak. And all for under £15 a bottle. Glad I bought a dozen.
The 2011 has now been released and is getting great reviews. I am sorely tempted to grab a case…
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To be honest a really bad review makes me more intrigued about a wine. I think half the time the wine is a faulty bottle and the other half of the time the reviewer has unrealistic expectations or the wine just isn’t to their taste rather than objectively a bad wine.
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