Amy has been kind enough to allow me to taste a couple of samples from La Gramière in the past, and I loved them, but this is the first time I have actually bought a bottle. Mind you, at £16.99 from Naked Wines, it better be good!
Beaujolais 2009 is reputed by Wine Society marketing materials as even better than 2003 and 2005. Since I really enjoyed wines from both those vintages, I was prepared to fork out £150 for a case of some of the finer ones, like this Fleurie. Normally tasting of Bazooka Joe and about as serious as a school playground, wines from this most charming of villages are great summer barbecue and salad wines.
But this year, there is more headmaster than pupil in the wines. No hint of bubblegum in Trenel, but a lovely zingy tartness tasting of ever so slightly unripe strawberries and tinned pineapple. My other selections were from Moulin à Vent and Morgon. I expect them to be even more serious and maybe long lasting, not least based on their more expensive price tag.
From the Wine Society at £9.95
If there is a wine region in the world right now that is in the ascendance, it surely is the South of France and, specifically, the Languedoc. Partly driven by credit crunch belt tightening, and partly by improved quality, and wider availability (in the UK, at any rate).
This stonker came via the Wine Society from Cévennes at a mere £5.75. At this price it is hard to fault.
Rich, earthy, root vegetables and plums, well worthy of your attention. Follow WART advice and stick it in the fridge for half an hour before opening.
Lemony smell, bright yellow colour – sounds like a “golden shower”?
Fortunately it tastes of pomodorino tomatoes on toasted ciabatta. Superb with pan fried salmon and new potatoes.
As ever, don’t mask the fine flavours by over-icing. Take WART advice and serve at 10-12°C.
Mine came from the Sunday Times Wine Club, President’s Cellar 6 monthly case, which regular readers will know implies about £20 per bottle. I’d say this one is well worth it, and drinking well now.
Tall and tanned, and young and lovely was the girl from Ipanema. But I’ve been getting more luck from the South of France recently. Of sorts. This young lady, for example, going by the seductive name of Château du Cèdre turned out to have a huge pair of bollocks. More Manchester Pride than Brazilian carnival babe.
Rich, fruity, yet smooth and soapy. It is a bit like drinking coffee from an earthenware pot whilst munching on a raspberry teabag. But if you can stand the tannins, it is conclusive proof that you can build a wine sturdier than a tranny’s thong at only 13° ABV. One in the eye for Mr Parker?
I would recommend following WART instructions and taking this down from room to cellar temperature, to avoid scalding your tongue.
Available from Costco at £11.73 – this feels like good value to me.
Maybe this is the future of wine marketing, maybe it is just a bit of fun. Either way, PR société, Agence Clair de Lune of Lyon, France has created a bit of a stir with its Secret Wine promotion.
85 wine bloggers from around the world have entered a competition to guess the “appellation” of 3 mystery red wines, mailed out over the last week.
There is bluff and counter bluff going on with bright green replacement corks in non-specific bottles, and apparently randomly numbered labels. The fact that the PR company is based in Lyon might lead one to think that the wines are from the Rhone or Burgundy. I am not 100% convinced that they are all even from France, but I am making that leap of faith as a starting point. Even having made that assumption, is it one appellation showing off its variety, or a region showing diversity, or is something more devious going on?
Psychology works. There is a mood on the Secret Wine website (voters choices are shown on the home page) that tends towards the South of France regions. The wines arrived with a note advising the correct drinking temperature was 14°. This smacks of Rhone rather than Languedoc to me, but I am going to try to ignore all the misleading signs apart from the country of origin.
I’ve never done a blind tasting and come out any better than looking a complete fool, but fools never learn to keep their gobs shut, so, with little trepidation, here is my take on the wines.
714 – the petrol and elastic bands smell from the glass is what I always get from Monastrell/Mourvèdre. Could this be a barking mad Bandol? If it wasn’t a French PR agency I would have said a Monastrell from Barcelona.
390 – tastes like a classic Bordeaux blend to me – let’s go for Cotes de Bordeaux.
079 – I wondered if this was primarily a tough but flowery Cabernet Franc so I Googled where this grape predominates and randomly chose Chinon as my guess.
I am clearly wrong or I would now be in possession of the prize holiday. I can’t wait to find out how much egg I need to wipe off my face.
On a frenzied wine tour through Bordeaux it’s nice to take a relaxing break for a long lunch, and you could do much worse than stop in Pauillac during your Medoc leg.
La Salamandre, looking out directly over the river is charming, top quality, well presented, and has a great wine list.
After a visit to the Wine Gallery in Bordeaux where I tasted some of the best (or in any case, most expensive) wines in the world, La Brasserie Bordelaise was the destination for a bloody, but fatty, grisly and tough, entrecôte steak. What could match the power of Château Latour or Cheval Blanc to accompany such a dish?
Tucked away in a place so secret that only the French Foreign Legion knows of its existence, this place is more charming than Dartagnan and better for juicing up a hot date than a pair of George Clooney’s underpants.
You can expect French service, though, which is the exact opposite of New York service. That is to say, friendly but slow.
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