Is Godello the new Albariño? Think back 5 years.
Grape from North-Western Spain? Check. Light fruity white wine? Check. Almost unknown in the UK? Check. A tad over-priced? Check. This one cost me £15.99 from Latitude in Leeds. Oof!
If you like red wine so fruity that it tastes like a compote, made from 3 metric tonnes of berries reduced down to 3 fl oz, then you will love this Tannat.
Personally, for a wine that retails at north of fifteen quid, I would like to see a real cork, or a screwcap, instead of a trendy black ‘plastic cork’. Conversely, and equally surprising at this price point is a bit of metal, a lead seal (presumably also plastic) on the label. What a waste of money that could have been invested in a new vat, or some wine making expertise.
I’m tempted to call this a triumph of marketing over quality. In fact, the wine is quite nice. Just not £15.99 nice, even with 25% Angels’ discount. Come on, Naked, you can do better than this.
I’ve had many warm intimate moments with 2007 white Burgundy. This is another sexy beast. Rich and buttery, it brings to mind one of those glazed fruit tarts that are rarely found outside high end French Patisseries. Almost certainly involving blackberries – I found myself picking imaginary seeds from my gums.
Wine Society £18.50. Not cheap, but one for that L’Oréal moment.
Rich and spicy with an attractive, but rough, edge. In musical terms, a Victoria Beckham wine.
Tastewise, imagine biting into an olive and finding a pimiento, only substitute a plum and a beetroot respectively.
I last visited this southern Rhone appellation in 2010, a scorching summer as I recall, so no surprise that  this wine, from the same year, is as Hot as Chocolate, Earthier than Kitt, and more tannic than a cup of tea drunk in a tannery…
£17.99 is a lot to spend on any bottle. For a Chilean wine, this is like spending £20 on a burger. It better be bloody, and it better be bloody brilliant.
This De Martino is a field blend and, at 13.5%, sensibly low in alcohol for a Chilean red. Predominately Malbec with a fair bit of Carménère and other grapes chipped in from various corners of the field, it tastes of rich smooth chocolate, red apples and glacé cherries with pepper. I know what you are thinking and no, it’s a compliment.
Spending a weekend in Brescia at the European Wine Bloggers Conference, seemed a pretty good way to try to fill in some of the blind spots in my wine knowledge, namely, pretty much all Italian wine.
But due to “real” work commitments I was unable to attend any of the post conference trips, the most appealing of which was Chianti.
I can stare longingly at a wine map, kindly donated by Steve De Long. I can laugh wryly at the treatment afforded to Jim Budd (a man so straight-talking his words are delivered on EU approved cucumbers) in his communications with a renowned Chianti producer. But right now, the closest I can get to saying I was there is by drinking a bottle that I procured from Sunday Times Wine Club (Laithwaites), en primeur, for about £16.
Like many indicters, I might allege that Italian red wine is all too often over-tannic for my tastes and this one plays up to my prejudices. However, on the plus side, there are punnets of blackcurrants, baskets of cherries and bright acidity that lasts in the mouth like a 24h menthol mouthwash (in a good way!).
This wine is young, of course. But I think relations between Baron Ricasoli and J.Budd Esq. will have thawed long before this wine’s tannins are soft enough for me to really enjoy it.
If you are into this type of wine, surely it would be magnificent with a hunk of rare red meat and a big bowl of salty French fries.
I discovered two things about Austrian wine last year. Firstly that there are some amazingly good reds. Secondly, that sourcing them in the UK is like trying to find a Greek MP at a “Bring back the Drachma” rally. But at an Austrian wine tasting I attended in London this year, I was assured that all the couple of hundred or so wines, are available in the UK.
Until EWBC 2010, Vienna, I was a virgin to Blaufränkisch, a grape that frequently makes Pinot Noir style wines – smooth, fruity, and deliciously drinkable. I have now tasted enough to know that it is nearly always a good choice when eating out in Austria and, if you can find it in the UK, a serious alternative to certain Burgundies (albeit frequently almost as expensive). I thought I would call out a couple to remind myself to look out for them.
If you want to meet a modern, unstuffy, social media friendly wine maker with flair and charm you should search out Ryan O’Connell.
I met him at EWBC, Vienna in 2010 and, whilst it would be an overstatement to say that we fell in love, it is true to say that I looked out for his wines when I got back to the UK.
When I visit London at weekends I like to scoff a proper Sunday lunch. Whether I take Champagne as an aperitif depends on whether my team has won or lost. On the occasion of 15 May 2011, I lunched at Foxtrot Oscar and the fizz, Raspberry Bellini, (OK I know it is Prosecco, not Champagne) was to celebrate rather than commiserate for a change. After a 35 year “hiatus”, Man City won a trophy, the FA Cup. And yet, I then went on to drink RED wine. And on the day after a certain team from East Lancashire won the Premier League!
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!
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