Definitely worth a look an unusual for France in that he does sell some non French wines. And thought there is, frankly, a fair bit of rubbish Savoie wines foisted on the tourist he seem to have some of the better ones.
Do you have any particular objective in visiting Chamonix?
[And if you mention the wine drinking skier who bust his shoulder in 2022 he might even remember me 
]
We just stay there as a stopover on the way to Italy. Pretty hard to improve on given its proximity to the Mont Blanc tunnel.
Pepe Mendoza’s more basic red: a blendnof Monastrell, Alicante Bouschet and Girò. Medium + body but fairly gentle. Driven by red fruits (cherry, a bit of strawberry) with some structure and drying tannins. Elegant for a Monastrell, even more when you consider the Alicante Bouschet / Garnacha Tintorera that I don’t usually get on with. Even the colour is not opaque
It does make me think about those conversations that Girò might be an autoctonous clone of Garnacha. That would explain a lot of the lightness of feet and broad spectrum of fruit (relative to pure Monastrell, at least). If I tried this blind I would probably place it as a young-ish Morgon.
This El Pacto 2019 rioja over the weekend, not quite sure about it, quite pleasant but not a wow, not sure about a repeat purchase. TOH liked it more. Quite a long finish, maybe some dark cherries going on. We had the Caroline Bellavoine PN 2020 during the week which I preferred.
We’re back home, and I cooked paupiettes de poulet from the butcher in Alsace, with riesling and root vegetables. We drank Rolly Gassmann Riesling Pflaenzerreben, 2011.
Rich, ripe and developed, with flavours of confit orange and lemon, apricots and the mature riesling petrolic notes seamlessly integrated with the fruit. It’s unmistakably Rolly Gassmann in style, with residual sugar present but balanced by acidity.
Have a good week.
Two wines sampled today. Out for lunch for my Grandma’s 84th, a Barbera was ordered which I recognised from the website as the following:
https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/barbera-del-piemonte-amonte-2021
The restaurant price was £22 
Tonight, we opened the Beaumont Chenin Blanc 2022 picked up after sampling at the SA event last year. I think it’s a pretty good value Chenin with honey, peach and pear notes. Now OOS but:
https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/beaumont-chenin-blanc-bot-river-2022
Another of these over the weekend - a 2020 Château Juvenal Les Ribes du Vallat blanc.
This is mostly Clairette with a splash of Viognier, and really is very good for the price I think - nice slightly viscous texture, and tasty with a harmonious blend of slight citrus, light honey, a dash of aniseed. Slightly richer and creamier than previous bottles and I think getting even better with some age. Very good.
A small roast beef lunch on Sunday and bottle # 11 of this….
Very enjoyable, soft tannins and mellow cassis finish which after two hours began to slightly fade. Great combination with a roast beef lunch.
Must drink up the last one soon.
The Alvarinho went down well - light, very pleasant, plenty of interest.
My 4th bottle from 6 of the Bohorquez, and it continues to evolve well. One glass on Saturday evening, kept the decanter in the fridge overnight, and consumed the rest with roast chicken on Sunday. At its best on day 2. In terms of style and weight perhaps like a slightly sweeter version of a good left bank Bordeaux. Tempting to drink the remaining bottles soon, but I think I will wait 6 months or so for the next.
2010 Ch. La Garricq yesterday with lamb shankS. Nice enough nose but sour thin acidity on palate, nice light tannins but felt unbalanced. Had similar sourness from a 2010 Ch Angludet previously and kept remaining to age further. Not sure I will do same with the Garricq, WS DW to 2024. For my tastes better options aplenty in Rhone and Italy at this price point.
A couple of wines bought from TWS this weekend
https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/chateau-ste-michelle-columbia-valley-riesling-2020
Hit the spot fairly well with an Indian delivery meal. Pretty simple flavour profile, nose of lime with a little peach and the merest hint of kerosene. The palate was lime and apple, off-dry with reasonable acidity.
I was a little surprised at the poor reviews it has on TWS site, came across to me as a fairly typical young Columbia Valley Riesling, and delivered what I’d expect at the price point of £10.50.
Sylvain Pataille Bourgogne Rouge 2019
Will confess that I’d never heard of Sylvain Pataille before starting to visit this forum regularly, so when the opportunity presented itself on a visit to the showroom last week, I had to see what all the fuss was about.
Nose was interesting, cherry cola with some green notes, leather and smoky hints coming through. I’m probably going to get strung up for heresy, but found it a bit one-dimensional on the palate, the cherry cola very dominant. Still quite acidic, so while I wouldn’t be expecting to age a BR too long, perhaps it needs a little more time for the palate to develop.
It was enjoyable, the nose was certainly a cut above your average BR (not that I consider myself expert, we drink a lot more New World PN, as Mrs Smith prefers it to Burgundy - good for the wallet at least). Maybe the lauding of Pataille had elevated expectations, and it is the entry level wine. I have a couple more bottles that I bought at the same time, will leave them a while and revisit.
I’m totally in agreement with your notes, my 2017’s were pretty much undrinkable when young - yet improved remarkably after a few years. Something to do with whole bunch fermentation maybe?
Although they might never reach the standards of bottles costing 3x as much. I have (most) of a case of 2018 S.P. Marsannay gathering dust in the garage… in the expectation that 2024 should be about right for drinking.
Friday with plaice, new pots, sprouts and mixed salad and
2022 Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc Private Bin (New Zealand, Marlborough)
Zesty, aromatic lovely SB.
Saturday early dinner of the usual chicken, new pots and home-baked spicy beans. with (shock horror) tea. But all was not lost because we were spending the evening tasting wines with VWTC.
Jolly good evening because the speakers were Juliet Bruce Jones MW and her husband Simon Ingman who are a British couple who bought a 1ha vineyard in Languedoc. They now have 6ha and all was for red wine, mostly Carignan and Syrah. So they’ve planted white varieties, including local Bourboulenc, and Assyrtiko which they imported cuttings from Santorini in Greece. The couple planted and tend and prune vines, and make wines under the Domaine la Tasque label.
I loved their Carignan, which they said had been stocked by TWS and hopefully the 2018 vintage will also appear; they have a meeting to show the wine to TWS’s Marcel. Ill be buying…
Sunday our aperitif is
2016 Denbies Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference English Sparkling (England, Surrey)
and with roast lamb, roast parsnip, potatoes and steamed carrots, sprouts and cabbage. And of course mint sauce …
As we are a law abiding couple, our wine was a decent claret
2017 Château Tour St Bonnet (France, Bordeaux, Médoc)
65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet and 5% Petite Verdot. This was the first of the case I bought EP, and just hit the spot.
@winechief - that’s why you are the chief!
@CCouzens - 
Lovely wines being consumed by people on here this weekend, as always!
Friday here was this, with an unexpected last minute rib eye (always a win on a Friday). Plakoura Mandilari, Domaine Lyrarakis 2017
Tannins mostly resolved themselves now but still a couple of years of life left. Cherry really prominent. Very much enjoyed.
Saturday with Osso Buco, this. Undurraga TH Alto Maipo Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
Meh. Fine, pleasant even, but seemed a little subdued maybe.
Last night with a new variation on chicken wings (pomegranate molasses, garlic, ginger) was a bottle of Côte de Brouilly Les Sept Vignes, Château Thivin 2019
Stood up really well to the food (nice acidity), quite rich. One more bottle which I’ll keep for a while yet.
Glad to hear the Plakoura Mandilari has calmed down a bit. I’ve got a case in reserves still and trying to decide when to free it.
3/4 of the bottle left corked in fridge for a week to go into a venison stew today. Curiosity got the better of me to find the sourness had almost disappeared leaving a touch of brighter acidity, tannins remained but easier to taste them now as greater balance with the remaining acidity. With the sourness gone hints to blackberry present. So much more palatable than a week ago and quite a surprise.
wrong thread sorry
Oooops
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