5pm and no thread yet?….here goes. Tonight a non TWS purchase…
Full of lemon on the nose and a distinct spritz of fine bubbles in the mouth. It has tropical fruit and an almost “woody” aspect. Lovely for summer drinking before the weekend’s deluge.
Tonight: free wine (from reserves)… ok only bought in April at £75 for 6. With double burger & blue cheese in a bun. No salad, no regrets, it’s Friday.
https://www.thewinesociety.com/product/barbera-dasti-superiore-il-cascinone-dannona-2016
The wine I originally met a couple of years ago at a press tasting and was impressed by its rich velvety spiced black cherry notes. Now 7 years old and changed a bit: much less primary fruit (shame) and more mocha, the cherries are now bitter morello, deeper and darker notes. Next bottle I shall decant beforehand and perhaps find some venison to go with it.
So Happy Friday everyone !
I am straddling both weekday and weekend, but anyway - two very cheerful wines yesterday and today, and cheerful is what we currently need in our house:
Susumaniello Salento Rosso, Vallone 2020
Bought after the Champions tasting in Brighton last week, this is such a charming and flavoursome red, which worked surprisingly well with a chickpea, spinach and mushrooms curry. The nose had notes of plums, cassis, bramble and spice (cinnamon) with an earthy and pot pourri dimension to it too.
On the palate it had a lovely balance between ripe and juicy fruit and bright freshness. There was bramble jam mixed with damsons, peppered with spice (more star anise than cinnamon on the palate) and a bonfire ash sort of note. The finish was decent with tangy and appetising fruit to it, but also with a lovely chocolate-y twist. Very good value for money, something which Vallone seems to excel at! 
This evening, to accompany Flammekueche, a gem from Lorraine:
Moselle ‘Les Gryphées’, Château de Vaux 2021
This is a really well made and balanced wine! A blend of Pinot Gris, Auxerrois, Müller-Thurgau and Gewurztraminer, it is fruity and floral and spicy and delicate.
The nose has notes of pears, fresh apricots, ginger and daffodils; on the palate it is rounded and off dry, with notes of ripe pears, white peaches and apricot couple with a touch of stem ginger and saffron. The medium + finish ends on a white blossom and mellow honey note. Hard to believe it is only 12% ABV - there’s such harmony and wholeness to this wine.
Alsace-Lorraine were almost a one place in my mind - at least during my school days in Israel, when both regions were always uttered as one. Still, despite the similarities, this wine feels like its own thing. A repeat buy for sure! 
Happy weekend one and all 
Suitable food and wine for a pleasantly sunny evening here in SW Herts.
Firstly, a Santorini ‘Familia’ Assyrtiko 2018, Hatzidakis.
A lovely greenish yellow colour ( the pic doesn’t do it justice). Lemons, stone fruit, green herbs, wet stone, and honey (acacia perhaps) on the nose. Similar flavours, plus fennel fronds, on the deeply flavoured palate to begin. Fresh acidity kicks in on the mid palate to provide a mineral bite to the pithy fruit and there’s good length of rounded but refreshing flavour on the finish. A truly lovely wine.
It was a spot-on match to my clam and prawn risotto dinner too.
Which, for once, I was equally happy with. Have to say, the shellfish stock it was made with, from an accumulated tub of prawn heads in the freezer, was well worth the bother !
All the best for the weekend everyone.
@Inbar - Alsace and Lorraine are most definitely not the same - as you say, they get conflated as one word, probably because of the way that Elsass-Lothringen (Alsace-Lorraine) was ceded to Germany in 1871, and was one region within the German Empire. But they have very different characters, and Alsatians are very proud of their distinct identity (as, I am sure, are those from Lorraine).
@Embee - Nothing beats using prawn heads in a shellfish stock, and that risotto looks good. Top wine, too 
This evening I cooked salt and pepper squid, with courgettes and kimchi, potato wedges, and ssamjang mayonnaise. And with an eye on drinking in honour of Le Tour visiting southern Alsace tomorrow, Dirler-Cadé Riesling, 2019.
I’ve written lots about this before - if you only ever try one entry-level Alsace riesling, this is the one. A harmonious blend of citrus fruit and saline minerality that punches well above its price.
Hope everyone has a good weekend!
Domaine des Carlines Tremoulette 2017. Loved the Calvaire cuvée, and I think not too different, hard to say without having them side by side. Perhaps a little less interesting as I’ve got less to write, but it has a lovely warmth of coconut and vanilla on the nose and on tasting, perhaps the oak needs a bit of time to smooth out on the finish though. But it’s also got a bracing citrus acidity, some butteriness too and a touch of salinity. Pretty intense. Yum
Thanks for the compliment Robert !
Have to say, your meal looked delicious, the squid tentacle in the foreground particularly so !
Like you, I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s stage of Le Tour too. Although there’s not too much at stake anymore, just seeing all of those hellish climbs on a single day, in such a beautiful part of the world, will still make it essential viewing here. 
I’ll be making an attempt at Tarte Flambee to go with it too. After due consideration, the wine I previously mentioned from Dirler-Cade has been nixed as it deserves something finer. That said, I do have something more appropriate, from a few K’s further north, to go with it. Needless to say, I’m palpably excited by what’s in prospect already ( hopefully the tarte won’t be a disaster, mind 
).
A glass each of this tonight with a slice of lime, ice and a little tonic water. Very refreshing. The lime was a nice citrus addition to the orange notes in the vermouth.
I’ve opened a bottle of this for this evening and maybe tomorrow too - of that we shall see anon - a 2006 Le Soula Blanc Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes.
This was found lurking in the shadows of the backroom in Stevenage a few months ago, and I couldn’t resist grabbing it to give it a whirl - not often one finds such an aged white wine, and at a really rather good price too.
I opened it with some trepidation, but needn’t have worried - as fresh as the proverbial on opening.
A remarkable wine this one - taut to say the least, and quite penetrating eyebrow-raising acidity. Fortunately I’m rather partial to that though, and this definitely rocks my boat. Powerful, citric, herby, assertive, savoury, minerally deliciousness.
Changing with every sip, and something like sour green pineapple has loomed up in my current sip as I type this nonsense. What a vinous creature this is :~}
It doesn’t get much better than that!!
Happy Friday 
A last hurrah for the end of our 3 week US winery road trip, we ended up at Weko Beach campsite and within striking distance of Chicago for the morning drop-off. Camper van cuisine was last minute left-overs (which as ever involves unused eggs) and a hearty Spanish omelette was the outcome.
To drink - a Brut tradition 2012 blanc de noirs from L Mawby cellars on Leelanau peninsula - the first Michigan winery to specialise in this style. It was perfectly nice, but the claimed 5 years sur lie did not really bring much autolytic brioche note and pretty soon I wished I bought their, significantly less expensive “Eff Nat” label which we’d tasted earlier.
BTW Weko beach, like much of Lake Michigan shoreline is - like a seaside beach ! Quite unexpected in a good way.
3/12 and IMHO this is now absolutely ready for business.
That ‘hardness’ - albeit contained and in keeping - has dissipated. First bottle was all about graphite and huge blackberries. I felt the 2nd bottle was just unbalanced, neither one thing nor another.
Now we’re into the realms of relaxed tannins, good dark but not black fruits - slight plumminess? Possibly a bit woody. The last Batailley I had at 13 was a 2001, which was little more advanced than this, and little lighter. I’d say there’s years in this, but now’s the time to start.
With a T-bone and Bordelaise (I had to ask the butcher if we could have a couple of the bones reserved for the dogs to make this. After a quizzical look, and a confirmation that they were indeed fit for human consumption, it was a done deal 
).
Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden GG 2020
Shared with a German neighbour who used to import German wine into the UK prior to the creation of Grosses Gewächs as a classification.
Didn’t realise beforehand, but accessed too early. Needs a few more years to blossom.
Still nice to share something with a connecting story. He’s had some difficult times recently and so I think even if it’s not drinking ready it was the right time to open it
Cheers all!
Last night a bottle of Domaine de la Bouissiere Gigondas 2016 to go with tail of fillet cooked in a thyme, garlic and anchovy sauce (brandy, red wine and cream added). It was a Nigella recipe slightly tweaked. Mrs K approved. The Gigondas was decanted 2 hours prior and displayed no fruit on the nose at the outset but after about 30 minutes drinking the wine began to develop. We drank the whole bottle and watched an old Simone Signoret film Casque d’Or. Reminded me a bit of Le Jeur se Leve though a different era.
Forgot to take a picture but I had a 2016 cdr Guigal and it was spectacular. Rich dark fruits and allspice on the nose, raisin and more allspice on the palate. Soft tannins, really balanced. Not the longest finish but this is an entry level wine! Very much excellent
Going to some friends this evening and they’re cooking a tomato, fennel, and potato stew. Anyone have any good wine pairing suggestions? No further info on the recipe I’m afraid.
Côtes de Provence Rosé or something along those lines - which vary in style enormously so must to be one you have tried previously. Perhaps a Greek Rosé ?
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