Linda's Wine Blog

Nothing to do with wine…

2009-07-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

Except for the fact that I’m sipping a rather delicious Argentinean Pinot Noir (from Patagonia!) while writing, this blog has nothing to do with wine. Rather, it has to do with my cat (as some of you know I’ve got two of them) who got kidnapped on Friday and was only released two days and £25 later.
It all happened in the goodwill of two of my elderly neighbors who had spotted Marco loitering around our house seeking human attention (and the occasional biscuit) and thought he was the lost, friendly black and white cat on a local poster. Hence, they called the local vet who, basket in hand, arrived 10 minutes later and fetched Marco sitting on the doorstep to our (his) home. Whisked away in a taxi, Marco managed to escape the basket and apparently had a go at the taxi’s leather interior. This resulted in the vet having to pay £25 on top of the cab fare and we, when we eventually located Marco two days later, had to bail him out before we could bring him home…

Yummy bubbly!

2009-07-09T11:51:00.000-07:00

It being my ‘sweet sixteen’ times two birthday (that’s how my brother eloquently called turning 32 earlier today), Mathias has now left me on my own in the garden with a glass of champagne while he’s cooking away in the kitchen. He presented the champagne blind (that is in a glass without me seeing the bottle) and it being amazingly smooth and rich, I opted for a vintage champagne with some age to it. Ended up being Waitrose’s own label 2002 vintage champagne, of which I actually have 6 bottles maturing in my ‘under the stairs cupboard’, and it’s just drinking so well at the moment. Rich, creamy and soft with some delicious citrus notes and a lingering finish – way to easy to drink…

Wine tasting 4 July

2009-07-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say thanks for a great tasting on Saturday! I had an excellent time and I really do hope you enjoyed the wines (courtesy of our lovely birthday girl Anna!). If you have any questions about any of the wines (listed below in the order we tasted them), need wine advice or want to recommend a good bottle you’ve had recently, simply send me an email or leave a comment.

Masson-Blondelet 2007 Pouilly-Fumé, Loire, France
Cave de Beblenheim, Graffenreben Riesling 2006 Alsace, France
Domaine Begude Chardonnay 2007 Limoux, South of France
Bouchard Père et Fils 2006 Savigny-lès-Beaune, Burgundy, France
Château Laroque 2003 Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, Bordeaux, France
Domaine Yann Chave 2006 Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône, France

Another English Beauty!

2009-07-01T00:32:00.001-07:00

In the name of research, I drove down to Wickham vineyards located in a very green and lush part of Hampshire today. Despite the fact that this was my first trip driving alone on the left hand side (an achievement I am very proud of), it was a very enjoyable visit. Had a long chat with the winemaker and vineyard manager, William Maitland Biddulph, about all kinds of opportunities and challenges facing the English wine industry. William is truly passionate about his wines and thinks English wine is starting to reach a new ‘era’ where boutique wineries, such as Wickham, is taking over and the ‘hobby’ winemakers are on their way out. The good thing about this is that we’ll hopefully have committed winemakers such as William, who has not only been in the trade for 27 years but also trained and worked as a winemaker in New Zealand for 5 years, in charge of supplying some delicious wines grown not far from our homes. Anyhow, had a glass (two actually) of the Wickham Fumé 2008 in the garden this evening and it was a delightfully refreshing tipple. Crisp with a bit of body and plenty of citrus fruit character, this Bacchus/Reichensteiner blend is yet more evidence that English winemaking is a force to be reckoned with!

A bit of bling!

2009-06-11T16:05:00.001-07:00

Thanks to California’s Sonoma Cutrer, I have just spent a great evening sipping their delicious Russian River Chardonnay and viewing some of Britain’s best jewellery. Located just off Covent Garden, tonight was the kick off of jewellery fashion show Treasure - a true haven for women (and perhaps some men) with more than 50 designers showing some of their best pieces. Wine and jewellery – a new combination for me but one that works really well! Now I’m off to bed to dream about the most beautiful pearl ring made by fabulous designer Yumeko Yamada…

25% off Waitrose Wine Direct

2009-06-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know that Waitrose wines online is currently offering 25% off all of its wines and champagnes! You have to buy a full case but I’m sure most of you won’t have a problem with that! Enjoy, and don’t forget to invite me over…

Oh, that rosé!

2009-06-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

So tonight, being sunny and beautiful, we decided to try the Camel Valley rosé. It was a delightful, deep coloured pink with lush raspberry and strawberry fruit flavours. Fairly dry but very fruity. A glass in the garden and then we matched it with prawns cooked in chilli and garlic served on a bed of egg noodles topped with green beans. The chilli ended up being quite aggressive but the sweet fruit flavours of the wine worked well with the spice.
All Camel Valley’s wines are available to purchase on their website.

Camel Valley

2009-05-31T03:28:00.000-07:00

This past bank holiday weekend Mathias, I and Anna went to Cornwall for a bit of camping and beach life. However, no trip is complete without a twist of wine and it being English wine week and all, we decided to visit Cornwall’s Camel Valley winery. Although it was a bit wet in the air when we arrived, Camel Valley is gorgeous. Located on slopes close to the river Camel, it’s the type of place you envy and inspires all kinds of dreams of having a winery on the countryside… However, this place also makes some serious wines and after tasting through their range we found some clear favourites. On of them, the Camel Valley Bacchus 2007, we had yesterday with steamed green English asparagus (drizzled with lemon infused olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese). The Bacchus had some real enticing elderflower notes and a really zesty and fresh plate, there’s no wonder this wine recently won a gold medal in the International Wine Challenge. Another wine we really liked from Camel Valley was its rosé – a true summer wine with serious strawberry fruit flavours. Perhaps one for this afternoon, as today must be the best day so far this summer!

Friday’s Champagne tasting

2008-11-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to all of you who came to the tasting – I had a brilliant time and I really do hope you enjoyed it as well! Any feedback, comments or suggestions for future events are very welcome. I have yet to find the answer to Anna’s question on the reasoning behind always producing champagne as a sparkling wine, I’ll get back as soon as I find a plausible explanation. Meanwhile, I can only suggest we continue to relish in these delicious bubbles in a blissful state of ignorance! Below are the wines we tried, paired as they were presented on Friday.

Waitrose Blanc de Noirs NV Champagne
Made only from Pinot Noir, this champagne just received a trophy from the International Wine and Spirit Competition – if you feel you need another reason for trying it again. £17.99 at Waitrose
Waitrose Blanc de Blancs NV Champagne
All made from delicious Chardonnay grapes. £19.99 at Waitrose

Veuve Clicquot Brut NV Champagne
Pinot Noir dominated champagne, approximately £30 at various merchants.
Taittinger Brut Réserve NV Champagne
High proportion of Chardonnay in this wine, approximately £32 at various merchants.

Pierre Moncuit Blanc de Blancs 1999 Vintage Champagne
All Chardonnay champagne available from The Winery (see links) for £30.99
Jean Velut, Cuvée Millésime 1999 Vintage Champagne
A blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir available from The Winery, approximately £30.

Tasting preparation…

2008-11-05T15:13:00.000-08:00

Champagne is probably one of my favourite wines although, as you probably already know, I’m a bit of a fan of sparkling wine in general. One thing that has always amazed me is the production of champagne and how different it is from still wine making. In champagne the ‘assemblage’ or blending of the wine is extremely important and so are the maturation time, the ‘riddling’ process and the final ‘dosage’. Plenty of terminology there I know, hence I thought I’d provide a couple of links to sites that explain the champagne production method so that those of you who are really keen get a chance to prepare for Friday’s tasting. Obviously, I’ll go through some of the stuff at the tasting but it probably won’t be in any great detail unless you start asking me lots of questions, at which point I will take no responsibility for talking too much… In the meantime, check out the links to 'The Wine Doctor' and 'Wikipedia' for good info on champagne and email me/leave a comment if you have any questions or thoughts. See you next Friday!

Back!

2008-11-04T13:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, can’t believe I've been ignoring my own dear blog for this long…very sad indeed… For all of you who care, I've managed to pass all of my wine diploma exams and now only have a few essays to finish off before I’m done. Think that will be it for studying for a while… Anyways, preparing for our tasting next Friday and will soon post a bit of info about Champagne for those of you who feel like preparing!

Negligence…

2008-05-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

..is probably the word for what I have done to this blog lately… And, surprise, surprise, I got plenty of excuses; wedding is one, which I personally think is a pretty good one. But now that I am a married woman one would think that this negligence might end. Not so I’m afraid as all my precious time goes into studying for my biggest wine exam ever. It’s happening soon, and it’s not that much fun, but come mid June and I will have time to ‘enjoy’ wine again. There is one positive side though, besides the fact that I’ll know even more about wine once this exam is over, I am tasting loads in the coming weeks and working up a good selection of wines for you all to relish in so PLEASE check back with me in a few weeks time and I promise to improve and stop this terrible blog negligence… cheerio for now and don’t forget to enjoy a glass of rosé in the spring sun! (Try an English one as there are loads of good ones out there!)

Saturday treat

2008-04-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

We were in for a real treat this weekend as Anna had us over for dinner! Not only is she a brilliant cook, she also likes experimenting with wine!! She served a very fresh and fruity Picpoul de Pinet (a Southern French white) with her delicious homemade Bouillabaisse – very yummy and a great food and wine match. With the cheese board Anna treated us to an oaked Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa – from the 03 vintage, this wine was brilliant. A round, soft texture, very refreshing acidity and notes of melon, nectar and a slight nuttiness on the finish – Anna forgot the name of the producer, could you remind us please?

The beauty of age…

2008-03-22T16:02:00.000-07:00

Château des Vaults, La Jalousie 2005 Savennières, Loire France
We tried this white (made from Chenin Blanc) at the spring tasting in 2007 and it was a bit closed although it gave all the hints of what was to come. Tried it again with dinner tonight and it was truly delicious! A lot more open on the nose and the palate is big and round showing the exact same as the nose: honey, nectar and ripe stone fruit with a touch of smoke (no oak involved in this one though). This is what age does to some wines and sometimes 6-9 months is enough. However, I think it will develop for yet some years to come; it’s so much more charming now then it was a year ago yet it still promises more…

Waitrose stocks it for £9.99

Wicked whites

2008-03-04T13:58:00.000-08:00

My diploma course is drawing to an end and soon I will get my Wednesday evenings back. That said I am looking at many weekends of studying for the final exam… Last week we studied Western Australia and New Zealand and tried some fantastic wines – thought I’d share a few.

Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2004 Margaret River, Western Australia
If you have £30 in your pocket and want to spend it on wine then this is the bottle to go for – that is if you can find this ‘cult’ wine. I’ve located it at the fine wine merchant Domaine Direct (see links) but who knows how long they’ll have it for. It’s a truly delicious white, I couldn’t stop drinking it and there was no spitting in the class room when this was in our glasses (our teacher had to tell one guy off ‘stop drinking and start studying’ when he topped up his glass). It’s rich and round with notes of banana, caramel pineapple and citrus. The texture is smooth and silky and the length never ending. My tasting notes states ‘pure heaven’.

Felton Road Block 1 Riesling 2007 Central Otago, New Zealand
This is an absolutely scrumptious Riesling. It’s seriously sweet yet the searing high acidity (this is positive) balance the wine perfectly keeping the wine sweet yet refreshing. It’s young though: fresh, citrussy, mineral with an attractive steeliness to it. I’d love to try this one in a couple of years when it’s petrolly and honeyed. Anyone fancy sharing a case for cellaring purposes just let me know and I’ll see if I can locate some of this delicious wine! £15.99 at Berry Bros & Rudd

Milton Chardonnay, Opou Vineyard 2005 Gisborne, New Zealand
Another stunner with some real character. Almost golden in colour, this wine had slight oxidative characteristics with a smoky nose and a tropical fruit laden, buttery and nutty palate. Great intensity of flavours and good acidity keeps the wine lifted and refreshing. A definite food wine probably suitable for fish in creamy sauces. £10.99 at vintageroots.co.uk

Frog’s Leap Zinfandel 2004 California, USA

2008-01-28T14:18:00.000-08:00

Slinky, a bit glitzy, satisfyingly smooth with subtle oak (think cake spice) and rich round blue and black berry flavours made this red a terrific Saturday night treat. Mathias made a delicious lasagna (with black olives, sun-dried tomato, mushrooms and lots of ricotta cheese etc..) that worked wonders with the wine. Highly recommended and actually worth the price…. Stockist: Berry Bros & Rudd, Waitrose, £19.99

Stockist update

2008-01-16T14:48:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to let you know that Bald Hills Pinot Noir 2006 will be stocked by www.nzhouseofwine.co.uk and Caviste (see link) shortly!

Heavenly New Zealand flavours

2008-01-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

Today was New Zealand’s trade tasting in London and it was fun to see what’s going on in Kiwi land. Although renowned for their delicious Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand has so much more to offer. Today’s tasting really showcased the diversity of New Zealand wine: full-bodied reds from Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet; aromatic Rieslings; honeyed Pinot Gris; velvety Pinot Noir; and I even spotted a fragrant and perfumed Gewürtztraminer. Below are a few of the ones I enjoyed the most – some may be more common in the on-trade market so look out for them on restaurant’s wine lists.

Bald Hills Pinot Noir 2006 Central Otago
Lovely Pinot nose with a rich palate showing dark and ripe raspberry and cherry flavours with smoky, slightly spicy notes. A velvety texture, serious depth of flavour and a refreshing acidity (making my own mouth watering just thinking of this beauty..). It’s imported by UK company Ellis of Richmond but I am gonna have to come back to you in regards to who stocks this wine. It may be most common in restaurants. Approximate retail price: £23.95

Villa Maria Single Vineyard Seddon Pinot Noir 2006 Marlborough
Villa Maria is in my opinion a really ‘safe’ card when buying NZ wine – I have yet to try one of their wines that I am disappointed with. However, not all of their wines make me as excited as this Pinot Noir and the white below. This single vineyard Pinot Noir boasts a stunning savoury and fruity nose with a dangerously seductive palate: smooth, smoky, strawberryish – very yummy with a long length. £19.99 at www.nzhouseofwine.co.uk

Villa Maria Single Vineyard Taylors Pass Riesling 2007 Marlborough
A very enticing richly honeyed nose precedes a succulent palate showing flavours of peach, honey, lime and lemon drops. This wine has a fair bit of sweetness but that is balanced and kept refreshing by a good deal of acidity. The finish is long with some minerality coming through. £12.99 at www.nzhouseofwine.co.uk

Unison Pinot Gris 2006 Hawke’s Bay
Pinot Gris from NZ has become really popular of late and many vineyards are now producing a Pinot Gris, although in small quantities. You never really know what you will get in your glass with this grape variety from New Zealand though. The style differ quite a lot from winery to winery, which can be confusing but also very exciting as there is plenty of new, fresh stuff out there made by forward thinking, experimental and funky wine makers. This example from Unison combines the freshness of good Italian Pinot Grigio (same grape variety as Pinot Gris) with the richer Alsatian style. The result is a wine that’s fresh, rich in flavours (honey, citrus, apple) but finishes on a rather light note – I think this will be a real beauty for fancy spring/summer picnics! Approximate price is £13.95.

Vidal Reserve Syrah 2004 Hawke’s Bay
A plummy nose precedes a big, rich and succulent palate. Plum and ripe cherry fruit flavours mix with some serious spiciness (white and black pepper) with a smoky yet refreshing finish making one long for another sip! £9.99

Domaine Tempier 2004 Bandol, South of France

2007-12-17T13:25:00.000-08:00

This is a big bad red that’s bold, spicy, fruity and absolutely delicious! If I had a fire place that functioned, this would be my fireside companion – warming and seductively dark, it will make any old cold Tuesday evening memorable. If you don’t have a fire place, a few glasses are sure to make you warm and fussy, alternatively it can be enjoyed with the heartiest of food; roasts, casseroles and stews. £14.95, The Wine Society

For the love of port…

2007-12-04T23:12:00.000-08:00

Although a bit heavy (anyone else felt slightly tired after the tasting??), I hope you enjoyed the port tasting last Friday. Below are the wines we tasted, in the order that we did so (except for the white one, which I forgot to serve and mostly sat around on the kitchen table..).

If you found any of these ports particularly good, remember the ‘style’ you liked e.g. tawny, vintage, late bottled vintage and so on and experiment with different port houses (Taylor’s, Dow’s etc.). All of the ports below are widely available, prices are approximate. Oh, and not to forget; port does NOT keep for ever and ever when opened…so no more ‘one glass this Christmas and we’ll save the rest for Christmas 08’ – finish the bottle and get a new one for next year, your taste buds will love you for it (and so will the wine trade)!

Taylor's Chip Dry White Port £11

Serve chilled as an aperitif, perhaps with some salted nuts or similar.

Warre's Otima 10-Year-Old Tawny Port, 50cl £11

Serve chilled.

Taylor's 20-Year-Old Tawny Port £27

Serve chilled.

Graham's Late Bottled Vintage Port 2001 £12

Fonseca Guimaraens 1988 Vintage Port £20

If you liked this one I would also recommend trying Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas.

Warre's 1980 Vintage Port £47

Had a tiny bit left of this one and on Saturday night we savoured it after dinner with a Cuban robusto each – a seriously delicious experience and highly recommended!

SWIG Tasting

2007-10-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Catherine and Martin I got to go to SWIG’s South Africa tasting last week. It was a great evening with an impressive line up of SA reds and whites plus some seriously delicious biltong to, eh, cleanse the palate… Below are my favourite picks and to the right is a link to SWIG's website if I manage to make you thirsty…

Takara Walker Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2006
An absolutely delicious white with crisp, fresh grassy and limey flavours with a round almost creamy texture – very good! £14.75 at SWIG

Ken Forrester Gypsy 2004
My scribbles from the evening went like this ‘Yum, rich, dark and smooth. Very nice, good long, smoky finish –warming’. This Grenache/Syrah blend costs £17 at SWIG

Rustenberg Peter Barlow 2004
Although a bit young (even the winemaker said he wouldn't touch it for at least 10 years), it is a truly sumptuous wine. A big, blackcurranty Cabernet Sauvignon with amazing depth and great intensity of flavours. Buy it now and wait as long as you can, and if that is a lot less than 10 years make sure you decant it a an hour or two before drinking so it opens up. £17 Stockists: SWIG, Waitrose

Steenberg Semillon 2006/07
Second time I try this excellent white and I still love it! It’s big yet fresh with a waxy texture and peachy stone fruit flavours and a slightly nutty finish. Think this one would go well with creamy chicken dishes. £11 Stockists: SWIG, Waitrose

Herzog, The Spirit of Marlborough 1998 New Zealand

2007-10-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

This is a delicious Bordeaux style red that's drinking beautifully at the moment. Made me think of very ripe dark cherries that have fallen to the ground in the late summer – in a good way, may I add! It has good acidity to balance the fruit and an earthy, smoky complexity from oak ageing and bottle age. Picked up this beauty in Stockbridge, Hampshire at an excellent wine shop called Caviste, to which I would highly recommend a visit if you you’re ever in that beautiful part of the country. Alternatively, check out their website (see links). This wine was on offer for about £15 and well worth a go if there’s any left…

Ulrika’s champagne and sparkling wine tasting

2007-08-01T04:37:00.000-07:00

Below are the champagnes and sparkling wines that we tasted on Ulrika’s hen night – in the order that she tasted them. The prices are approximate and most wines should be widely available (with the exception of Waitrose Vintage Champagne). For those of you in Sweden, Systembolaget stocks Louis Roederer Brut NV Champagne and if you liked the taste of sparkling red wine try the Deakin Estate (96 sek). Prices are approximate.

Louis Roederer Brut Premier NV Champagne, France £32.99
Roederer Estate Quartet Brut NV Anderson Valley, California, USA £17.99
These two wines are made by the same producer and as noticed during the tasting, it’s quite difficult to differentiate between the champagne and the sparkling wine from California. If you liked these two and feel like really splurging on a bottle, then try Louis Roederer’s vintage champagne – I had the 99 vintage recently and its delicious!

Waitrose Brut 1999 Vintage Champagne, France £23.99
Ridgeview Cuvée Merret Bloomsbury 2004 W Sussex, England £18.99
It was good to get such a great response on the English sparkling and if you liked the Ridgeview, I highly recommend trying Nytimber’s vintage sparkling wine, it’s widely available but stocks are low and demand high. It’s about £23.99 for a bottle and well worth a try!

Banrock Station Sparkling Shiraz, SE Australia £8.99
Sparkling red wine is quite a different tasting experience, especially since they can be slightly sweet. Try this one with spicy barbecued meats and serve well-chilled.

Discounted wine - a nasty business…

2007-07-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to highlight the very common (and unfortunately growing) practice of price manipulation in the wine industry. It’s a nasty practice and makes it really hard for consumers to know what is a bargain and what is not. Basically, the price of a wine is ‘upped’ from its suggested retail price for a period of time only to be discounted back to, or slightly below, the original retail price. This means that a wine can be sold as being on a ‘great’ discount while in actuality the price hasn't changed much at all, the only difference being that the consumer felt they got a bargain...

Not all retailers use this practice, and far from all discounted wine is manipulated in this way, but its worth considering when buying heavily discounted wine. My advice is to shop around a bit before buying to know the actual value of the wine. An example of this was Krug Champagne that was discounted by a large UK retailer by about £35, which sounds like a great saving but the actual price was really just the ‘normal’ (£90-95) retail price. I think it smells, but then again that’s my opinion…

Wine tasting 15 June 2007

2007-06-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for coming, I had a brilliant time and I hope you enjoyed the wines! Below are the wines we tasted – in the order that we tried them. Let me know if you have any questions.

Pinot Gris ‘Le Fromenteau’ 2005 Josmeyer, Alsace, France (white)
Stockist: Waitrose, everywine.co.uk £13.49

Wiltingen Kupp Riesling 2003, von Othegraven, Saar, Germany (white)
Stockist: The Winery (see links to visit their website) £17.99

Savennières La Jalousie 2005 Château des Vaults, Loire France (white)
This was the chenin blanc that we tried – bone dry and quite big! Stockist: Waitrose £9.99

Savigny-les-Beaune 2004 Bouchard Père et Fils, Burgundy, France (red)
Made from pinot noir grapes – delicate fruit notes with a bit of ‘earthiness’. Stockist: everywine.co.uk, Ocado.com, Waitrose £13.99

Les Rouilleres St Nicholas de Bourgeuil 2005 Frederic Mabileau, Loire, France (red)
Made from 100% cabernet franc grapes – quite rustic red and definitely needs a bit of food to show its best! Stockist: everywine.co.uk, Waitrose £9.05

Château d’Aiguilhe 2002 Côtes de Castillon, Bordeaux, France (red)
Classic Bordeaux made from cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot grapes. Stockist: Berry Bros & Rudd, Laithwaites, Waitrose £19.99

The Winery

2007-06-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

This great little wine shop is located in Maida Vale/Warwick Avenue but they do deliver all over the UK. A specialist store, it’s the kind of place where you ask for recommendations or, like we did this evening, join one of their tastings. This evening it was all German, and it was delicious! The below wines are, with the exception of the last one, all dry. They are food-friendly (think seafood, fish, salads), fruity and seriously elegant!

Wiltingen Kupp Riesling 2003, von Othegraven (Saar)
A brilliant riesling showing some petrolly notes on the nose indicating a bit of age. Delicate, elegant and well worth its £17.99 price tag.

Gäns Riesling trocken 2005 Lubentiushof (Mosel)
This Riesling boasts quite a bit of body and has ripe fruit notes and a big yummy palate! £16.99

Ockfen Bockstein 2005, von Othegraven (Saar)
Delicate, juicy and very aromatic – the nose on this one is really seductive! £19.99

Spätburgunder “Classic” 2005, Nelles (Ahr)
A very enticing nose precedes an extremely delicate palate with juicy fruit notes and some earthiness in this red wine made from Pinot Noir. £15.50

Kanzem Altenberg Riesling Spätlese 2005, von Othegraven (Saar)
A super palate with lovely sweetness and a clean and refreshing finish, making you yearn for the next sip – this one will have a very special place in my wine rack (although given how much Mathias liked it I doubt it will stay there for long…) £17.99

Château Maris Vieilles Vignes 2005 Minervois Cru La Livinière, South of France

2007-05-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

Not surprisingly, I have a new favorite red… This time it’s an absolutely gorgeous southern French red. To quote my own tasting note, ‘beautifully dark and seductive, great palate – yum, refreshing, peppery, superb’. I've enjoyed it with steak and it would probably be a good match with most barbecued meats and veggies. £8.99, Waitrose

Sunday’s wine

2007-05-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

A quick note to let Anna and Julia know that the wine we had on Sunday was the d'Arenberg The Galvo Garage – check out the tasting note in February’s section under Aussie round up and thanks again for a fabulous dinner!

Cork & Bottle Wine Bar

2007-04-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

Slowly falling in love with this wine bar – it’s unpretentious, has a really good wine list and serves a variety of decent priced, well-tasting food. It’s not really what you expect from a wine bar located in one of London’s most notorious tourist places. I don’t know if it’s because you have to order everything in the bar or the fact that it’s located right next to a sex shop in a basement, but somehow you can get a table at this place on a Saturday evening without too much hassle.

The wine is good and they have a good selection on glass that actually changes fairly often (don't ask how I happen to know this...). Further, the staff is knowledgeable and they will let you taste before deciding on what to drink (only the wines on glass though). So many, many Linda points for the Cork & Bottle at Leicester Square!

Cork & Bottle Wine Bar
44-46 Cranbourn Street
Leicester Square
London, WC2H 7AN
Telephone: 0871 3328201

Pink pleasures

2007-04-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

I am a big believer in enjoying whatever wine you like whenever you like so when people argue that pinks are to be enjoyed only in summer, I don’t really agree. However, I must confess that I had my first glass of rosé (in 2007 that is) this past week and it was really good!
There are many different styles of rosé wines made from a wide variety of grapes varieties. I like bone dry and very delicate rosé wines and the one below was just gorgeous!

Les Champs Clos 2005 Sancerre rosé, Loire, France
A pale pink coloured wine showing fragrant red berry aromas. Bone dry on the palate with delicate strawberry notes and a soft finish. We enjoyed it with freshly cooked crab and it worked really well.

This wine is made in the village of Sancerre in the Loire Valley. Sancerre is mostly famous for their whites made from sauvignon blanc, however there is a small production of rosé and red wines here and they are always made from pinot noir – hence the price. (wines carrying the name Sancerre on the label have to be made from either sauvignon blanc or pinot noir grapes – it’s the law!) This wine is available from Nicholas (plenty of locations in London), £11.99

Austria tasting

2007-04-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to give all of you who came to Anna’s birthday party and the tasting of Austrian wines the names and prices of the wines we tried. They appear below in the order we tasted them. It was great to get so much feedback on the wines and hear everyone’s opinions about them! For those of you who liked Austrian wines, I’ll be tasting a lot more from this country and will keep you updated on fun and yummy wines! As always keep me updated on what you are drinking and any questions about wine or wine and food matching just post a comment or email me!

Felsner Grüner Veltliner Moosburgerin 2005 Kremstal, Austria (about £8 at Waitrose)

Bründlmayer Grüner Veltliner Berg-Vogelsang 2005, Kamptal, Austria (about £12.50 at Waitrose)

Feiler-Artinger Umriss Blaufränkisch Rust, Burgenland 2003/04 (about £14 at Handford wines – see link to their website, they have two shops in central London and are well worth a visit!)

Chateau Musar 1999 Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

2007-03-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

This beauty was my ‘Friday night’ tipple and I must admit it’s an interesting wine. I was about to go for my normal ‘claret with steak’ choice but then spotted this Lebanese treasure. It’s a cabernet sauvignon blend with the fruit grown in a baking hot climate and this really comes through on the palate – baked fruit that with bottle age have started to develop secondary, dried fruit characteristics.

It has some pretty chewy tannins so the first sip or two we had while preparing the food were quite rough. Then the amazing thing happened – which is why food and wine matching is so much fun – the wine when taken with the food (steak, roast potatoes, a green salad) became soft and smooth. The baked fruit flavours and slightly rustic palate worked in great harmony with the not too heavily seasoned food. I really recommend giving this red a try but do remember that it is currently about eight years old and definitely needs decanting before serving as there is a quite heavy sediment in the bottle. Stockist: Waitrose, Majestic, Systembolaget £14

Australian roundup

2007-02-04T16:29:00.000-08:00

Below are a few Aussie wines I had at recent tasting that I thought worthy of a mention. Australian wine is often associated with discounts and bargains. However, while the cheapies can be a decent glass of wine, if there is a price range that really represents good value it's Aussie wines between the £8 to £15 mark. Here you find some really characterful and individual wines, which is a lot harder to find in say Bordeaux or Burgundy in the same price range.

d'Arenberg The Galvo Garage 2003
A fabulous red with a ripe and intense nose, and a spicy and an earthy palate – really should be drinking this one more often… Stockist: Oddbins, Waitrose £11.99

The Fergus 2004, Tim Adams
This intense red has been a favourite since I first tasted it about two years ago. It’s minty and plummy with a good grip and is quite a mouthful! Stockist: Tesco, Systembolaget £10.99

Climbing Merlot, Orange, New South Wales
Great clean and fresh Merlot boasting some excellent refreshing berry fruit flavours! Stockist: Majestic £8.99

Philip Shaw No.11 Chardonnay 2005
Ok, it’s a bit pricy I admit that but it has some really lovely, clean Chardonnay fruit with subtle and well integrated oak – it’s a big wine yet very elegant and offers some real finesse! Stockist: Tesco £15.99

Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling 2006, Clare Valley
This is an excellent dry and fruity Riesling – pear, citrus and a bit of apple with a seriously mouth watering finish. Keep it for a year and it will show some complexity or enjoy it now while young and fresh! Stockist: Oddbins, Virgin Wines £9.99

Rose of Virginia 2006, Charles Melton, Barossa Valley
Australia is famous for putting bubbles into red wine and it’s a bit of a strange sensation the first time you try a sparkling red. I really liked this one because it was not as heavy, sweet and monstrous as some of them are – this was more feminine with nice bubbles and a delicate and soft palate of cherry and berry fruit. Enjoy it chilled! Stockist: australianwinesonline.co.uk £12.30

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, Pian delle Vigne, Antinori 2000, Italy

2007-01-31T14:57:00.000-08:00

When drinking this wine with a big juicy steak last Friday it made me think of a Spanish proverb ‘good wine ruins the purse; bad wine ruins the stomach’. Now, thanks to Neil and Laure this one didn’t put too much strain on my purse, which may have made it taste even better. However, I doubt that the seductive nose or the dark cherry palate with big, yet soft tannins, and refreshing acidity could get much better, besides perhaps a few more years of bottle age – the fruit, tannins and acidity will definitely survive another five years (in wine lingo this means good quality!). This brilliant beverage that will get many Linda points can be found at BWC Berkmann Wine Cellars, London N7 (020 7609 4711), around £25.

Danie de Wet Earth & Sky 2006 Chardonnay, Robertson, South Africa

2007-01-25T14:34:00.000-08:00

Crisp, fresh with a modest price tag (£6.99) and just a bit too easy to drink – a very promising candidate for becoming this year’s picnic wine! While we wait for warmer weather though, let this South African gem made from pure chardonnay and no oak whatsoever wake up your tastebuds.

With this wine and its citrus and apple fruit I am thinking more in line with Chablis than ripe New World chardonnay, and although I don’t particularly like comparing regions, it really does have that crisp and slightly minerally style. I had it on its own before dinner, which was great but I could see it being a great match to shellfish. Stockist: Waitrosewine.com

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

2007-01-16T13:42:00.000-08:00

During Christmas I had a discussion about Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the ins and outs of how to buy this sometimes delicious and sometimes very disappointing red wine. There are a lot of Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines out there and they are usually quite expensive, even the less good ones.

Decanter Magazine (decanter.com) has a really good article in their February issue (in shops now) and I recommend getting a copy for some good advice on which Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines to go for. The review is of the 2004 vintage, which in most cases is a bit too young for drinking now (you still can just make sure you decant the wine for an hour or so before serving). However, the Decanter review is a good guide to which producers to go for to minimize disappointment. As always – let me know what you are drinking!

Beautiful Burgundy

2007-01-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

Went to a Burgundy tasting yesterday and here is the deal. When we go to a restaurant we easily spend £25-£30 on an average bottle of wine, right? Nice food, half-ass wine. Now, I propose that the next time you make a really nice dinner at home (and I know a lot of you enjoy cooking) spend on wine in a shop what you would have spent in a restaurant, and if you like to taste real, sensual, mouth-watering and deceivingly delicious Pinot Noir try one of the two below (about £30 each). A male friend once described a really nice white Burgundy as a ‘Burgundy wet dream’, as I am a woman I can’t really use that expression but if I could I’d say these two reds are damn close. Enjoy!

Beaune Premier Cru, Clos des Mouches 2003 Joseph Drouhin (red): Fabulous aromatic, warm and sexy pinot nose! Brilliant – good acidity, bit of tannin and nice berry and sour cherry flavours. Good length – the pinot fruit lingers and lingers. Stockists: waitrosewine.com, Justerini & Brooks –justerinis.com, systembolaget.se

Pommard, Les Petits Noizons 2005 Domaine de la Vougeraie (red): Enticing, lovely nose. Quite a big pinot yet gentle on the palate – sexy and silky! It has good fruit and a just a tad of farmyardy notes on the finish, kind of giving a hint about how it will develop with a few years of bottle age. Stockists: Berry Bros & Rudd – bbr.com, waitrosewine.com

Château de Seguin 2004, Bordeaux, France

2007-01-09T14:41:00.000-08:00

This great little wine (thanks Inge) was enjoyed with a lovely green peppercorn stew at a recent dinner back in Sweden. Mom and dad (who really enjoyed it), you can find it at systembolaget for 89 Swedish crowns (nr 3958). For those of you in the UK looking for a good drop of Bordeaux at a decent price this one is stocked by frenchwinepeople.co.uk. Another favourite inexpensive Bordeaux is Château Segonzac 2004 Premières Côtes de Blaye stocked by waitrosewine.com. It’s a lovely, full-bodied red with a nice plummy palate and a good grip. Both are good food wines matching red meat dishes or, for my vegetarian friends, perhaps try it with a hearty bean stew.

Hello and welcome to my blog!

2007-01-07T14:00:00.000-08:00

This page is dedicated to the enjoyment of wine – the beautiful beverage that tends to be on my mind quite often. Occasionally you may find me reviewing a few spirits – an area I am becoming increasingly more interested in. However, the focus is wine and, more often than not, what food it goes with.

This is obviously a subjective site – it’s all about my taste and how I experienced a wine, which may be very different from other people’s experiences. Please comment on the wines I write about, let me know what you thought of them and what food you had with them! Also, there’s a big world out there and I will do my best to list all of the retailers that stock the particular wine I review. Hope you will find my blog enjoyable!