Deep flavoured, concentrated, intense shiraz, full of spice, liquorice and black fruits. Lovely balance, silky tannins and long finish.
Found in Iceland! at the seafood grill Reykjavic, managed to buy half a case. N/A UK. Please contact me, I may part with a tasting sample!
Classic Coonawarra Cabernet, ripe blackcurrant fruit, minty, eucalyptus, liquorice and not long later smoky, coffee, dark chocolate. A steal at £11.99 with current 20% off Australian offer at Majestic. Winner of multiple gold medals recently in Australia, relatively small quantities made; buy, buy, buy!
International wine challenge gold, 2010. Brilliant value, 14.5%, deep dark garnet colour. Robust aromas of rasberry, coffee, cherry, mulberry, chocolate and liquorice. Fine to open on Monday pm and enjoy as the week progresses. In fact, it opens up over a few days, gradually revealing sensual ripe sweet tannins. This wine is packed with the lot and is remniscent of the far costlier Jim Barry McRae Wood, which is also excellent. This is a bargain 20% off at Majestic, down to £7.99. (I may have snapped up Majestic’s stock, but it is also available through other merchants – check out www.wine-searcher.com
The first business meeting of the New Year was aptly commenced by a ‘new world versus old’ blind tasting. After a bit of tooing and froing it was clear that wine A had more complexity, more on the nose and was our clear favorite, with a mixture of fruits and cedary wood. Wine B was good enough to enhance the lamb lasagne verdi but somewhat lacking in depth. Wine A indeed was the Pavie, although we were slightly worried, having watched the film ‘Bottle Shock’ the night before.
Lots was discussed, including the proposed structure of the vertical tasting, introductory talk, costings and feedback sheets.
We structured the SMSA event into eight rounds (further details here). Rather pleasingly, we had both already written proposals for the structure and both came up with near identical plans. Other proposed events will be a Channing school tasting in Sept/Oct and a spring WanderCurtis tasting, possibly at Jacksons Lane/Red Hedgehog/Highgate Society/Bull or other venue. It will be an exciting year!
We may attend the Justerini and Brooks Burgundy 2008 tasting next week and Decanter Bordeaux tasting in February.
This is the season for hosting, and hopefully attending, a few parties and I’ve been doing both over the last couple of weeks.
Champagne is obviously great for oiling the social circuit. But even with the champagne houses feeling the squeeze, and beginning to produce some tempting offers, sparkling wine can deliver the same sort of quality as cheap champagne for a fraction of the price.
For my own do’s, I tend to go for the Wine Society’s Celebration Crémant de Loire. Made in the Loire out of chenin blanc, chardonnay and cabernet franc, it is bright and fresh, with a tasty chardonnay tang and refined littlish bubbles. Good enough to drink on its own. £9.95 a bottle when you buy a case of six.
I’ve also tried the Wine Society’s Saumur. Also from the Loire, but this time mostly chenin blanc. Its fine, but I find it a little gassy and lacking flavour, although great for mixing with peach juice or elderflower cordial. However at £7.95 a bottle for a case of six I’d go for the extra flavour the chardonnay brings to the celebration.
However I was knocked out by an Australian sparkling wine served at a recent party I went to hosted by a big London legal firm. Willowglen Brut is a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Serving fizz cold – but not freezing – in nice, weightily tall champagne glasses really does help. But this sparkler really delivered a lot of flavour and depth in its own right. For me crispness is not everything, although this still had enough freshness and lift.
For a party, definitely a bargain.
This is an absolute corker. Should have been on the single malt in Ballater, Royal Deeside, Scottish Highlands, but whisked away by this brilliant full bodied shiraz by Jim Barry, Clare Valley, Australia.
Tried at the Green Inn with Aberdeen Angus steak and panfried foie gras. Just fantastic with bags of fruit, mulberries, blackberries, liquorice, sweet vanillins, soft tannins.
Found it on www.drinksdirect.com on special for £18.98. If you get two, usually £25.00 per bottle. Highly commended!
WanderCurtis Wine 