Posts Tagged wine
Wine – Cabernet Sauvignon Majella Coonawarra
This week’s wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon. My favourite grape 
I wrote about Coonawarra wine before and it is a lovely wine region. The Majella Cabernet Sauvignon I got from Oddbins. It is now advertised for £16, I bought it for £15. However, it is not worth the money.
Being a nice wine of course, but I wouldn’t say it is worth more than £10 at the most. There is nothing special about this wine from my point of view, just a decent, good but not extraordinary Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra. 
The Lynn Family’s Majella winery on the Eastern edge of the farmed Coonawarra “red stripe”, so it says on the bottle, and Oddbins says it is famous for producing elegant wines that are a world away from the turbo-charged styles of the Barossa. And, the wines of Majella are amongst this region’s finest.
Method of Production (taken from Oddbins website): Carefully selected grapes were destemmed, crushed and placed in stainless steel tanks to start their fermentation. The wine was then transferred into French oak hogsheads to complete fermentation. After undergoing malolactic fermentation and maturing for 22 months oak barrels, 50% of which were new, the wine was filtered and bottled.
Oddbins even recommends to have “a pan-fried fillet steak topped with stilton.” Maybe that is where I went wrong having it with antipasti, ham and pizza
A nice wine overall, high percentage of alcohol though: 14.5%.
Wine for just over £10 – Glorioso Rioja
I have been careful with Rioja lately but my wife decided to pick the Glorioso Rioja from Oddbins. And, I have to admit, a good choice. 
It reminded her and me of our holiday in Spain where we had fabulous Rioja.
Oddvins charges 11.99 unless you buy in dozens. This Rioja is made in a traditional style (they say) and tastes like a nice Rioja should taste: liquorice and dried fruits, round and persistent in the mouth with ripe tannis. I would call it a medium to dark bodied wine. It is of course made from the Tempranillo grapes and aged for 36 months, then afterwards for another 12 months in French oak barrels, hence the Reserva aspect 
With 13.5% it is a bit on the heavy side but I believe the 2003 wines from Spain are.
I think this is definitely a wine we would buy again, with a nice Sunday roast or just with a few slices of cheese and jam, Serrano ham and olives. Just need some hotter weather
Wine for under £10 – McGuigan BIN 736
This week’s wine, and this series must come to an end at some point, is about a blend that my wife likes: Shiraz Viognier. The Yalumba one is great, so I thought I try this one, McGuigan BIN 736 Shiraz Viognier, for £9.99 from Tescos. And, whilst it is not the sharpest blend, I enjoyed drinking it. Price wise, I would say it should be more in the £7.99 category.
McGuigan vinery is based in Australia. 
The picture is not great but I quickly took it with the blackberry, apologies.
Having a blend of white and red wine, e.g. a strong red, full flavoured wine with a small quantity of Viognier, lifts the re-berried aromas and softens the spice you get with a “normal” Shiraz. The wine is elegant and very much velvety in texture. The first taste was a bit sour but the more I had, the smoother it got
The Yalumba Shiraz Viognier is much nicer. Whilst around the same price mark, you get a better finish and a nicer taste from the beginning.
Nevertheless, if you are into heavy wines like I am and your wife or partner isn’t, then this is a good compromise for both of you. Enjoy. Enjoy plenty
For all video fans, it is interesting to see some videos about Shiraz Viognier, enjoy them too:
Wines – Chalk Hill The Procrastinator
Now, this wine is not even one of my favourites. I wrote about the Cabernet Sauvignon from Chalk Hill a while back and it was more to my liking.
The Procrastinator – Wikipedia defines it as: a behavior which is characterized by the deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Does that mean you drink this wine and get the big bang after you had the bottle
Oddbins sells it for around £8 and the bottle reads “We made The Procrastinator to celebrate the art of putting off to another day what could have been achieved today” – don’t do today what you can do tomorrow. Now I understand. The wine can be cellared until 2011, with good cellaring even 2015, so there was no need for me to hurry and finish it
It is a blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Red Berry fruits, e.g. strawberries and raspberries, finishing with soft silky tannis. Whilst I tasted a lot of tannis, the berries did not come out as strong as suggested.
I cannot say it was the worst wine I ever had, but it wasn’t as interesting as the label suggested it might be. I was hoping for a strong, and rich red wine that leaves no doubt of its heritage from two strong grapes. Instead I would almost described it as a mild wine with strong tannis, nice berry tastes but nothing special. I would almost prefer an Isla Negra Cabernet Sauvignon, which is almost half the price.
However, Chalk Hill does well on grape variety and good blends. But, their Cabernet Sauvignon is still my favourite of the two.
New Challenge – no wine for a month
Ok, this might seem odd at first, but I have decided to not drink any wine for a month. Although the sign says ‘no meat’, this is untrue in my case 
This is not because I think I drink too much, as I won’t stop drinking. However, I find that I spoiled myself with good wines lately and don’t find as much pleasure drinking the cheaper wines. Now, you could argue I am doing this to save money.
Again, this is not the real reason. I believe the real reason is that I want to see how my taste buds change over a period of a month and whether the cheap wine is still very much a “no go” or if I am happy to touch that wine again. Also, will I still be in favour of the lovely high priced wines?
We shall see. My weekly wine column has been written until early October, so don’t worry, they have all been tasted already.
Cheers
Wine for under £10 – Robert Mondavi Shiraz
I was confident I had written about the Robert Mondavi, Woodbridge, Zinfandel before, which my wife and I stocked up on for a while when Tesco reduced its price to less than £5. However, I could not find it, but what we did find at Tesco the other day was the Woodbridge Shiraz.
I don’t believe for anyone interested in wine, Robert Mondavi and his vinery are well known. It was mostly down to him that California and Nappa Valley got a good reputation for nice wines.
This Shiraz, a 2006, is lovely. Rich, fruity and spicy as it should be for a Californian Shiraz. Waitrose describes it as “A rich and spicy Shiraz with wonderful flavours of black fruits, black pepper and sweet spices. It is full-bodied and has a round, soft texture, an inky colour and a lingering finish. Enjoy with marinated spare-ribs and roasted tomatoes.”
My wife and I like it with meat dishes but also by its own. A bit too light for my liking to just drink it by itself but in the hot and humid weather we had in London, it is a light heavy wine if that makes sense. It is not too heavy not be be drunken in the humid and hot weather, but not too light that you would call it a summer wine. Hope that makes sense.
As most Robert Mondavi wines, you cannot go wrong with it. And, with it having been reduced to I believe almost £5 when I stocked up on it, a real bargain. We have enough for a few months
Wine for under £10 – Ravenswood Zinfandel
You might have noticed that I have been reviewing a lot of wines from Waitrose lately. This is because the Tesco selection seems to lack depth and high quality wines for good prices. Waitrose still offers you some nice gems.
The one today is a Ravenswood Zinfandel for £8.54. I thought I had written more about Zinfandel wines before but could only discover this article about the London Borough Market. I will write more about this fantastic grape as I love Zinfandel wines and have ordered wines directly from sunny California to be shipped here. And the effort and money was more than well worth it! The Boisdale got me hooked on it!
The Ravenswood Zinfandel is not the best of the best Zinfandel I have tried but for this price gives you a very decent, nice tasting, refreshing Zinfandel.
Rich, sweet, ripe fruit dominates the palate which is perfectly matched to the soft oaky flavours imparted by French and American wood. Great with steaks or burgers. – this description from the winery is typical for Zinfandel and yes, the Americans like wine with steak and burgers. And I don’t blame them! Maybe something we need to adopt to more in Europe. We are used to seeing BBQ food as being cheap and pair it with beer. It really depends what you put in the meat! But maybe this is going off topic now
Tim Atikin from the Observer reviewed the wine:
This is just the right side of being jammy. Ripe, rich apple fruit with an oaky nose. Light acidity with length. (2005 vintage)
And Brian Moore from the Sun:
The oak taste is just right, not blotting out the lovely Zinfandel grape. The British are not used to this grape, but try it and you may just fall in love with it.
The latter quote shows that the British don’t seem to like these heavy wines that can be drunk with chunky pieces of good meat, even if it is hot outside. I believe this taste will change when supermarkets sell more of the American and South American heavy red wines additional to the Australian ones they already do. If that happens and they add more South African wines on the table, they surely will take over and we get used to having more heavy reds on the table. And, I guarantee, we will be loving them!
Wine for under £10 – Bonarda Sangiovese
After last week’s special wine, this wine hardly made it into my recommendation list.
I am a big fan of South American, particular Argentinian wines, but Bonarda Sangiovese disappointed me a bit. The first taste was slightly cheap, sour tasting. After about half an hour the wine seemed to have breathed enough and it tasted very nicely, almost fruity.
Waitrose sells this wine for £6.64 and possibly that is why I put the wine in my weekly column.
For a wine that costs less than £7 on a regular base and has a decent taste, it surely is worthwhile mentioning. Maybe not a wine you should have with nice food, nibbles whilst relaxing and reading a good book. But surely a wine you can have with friends, a good meal or with a BBQ. Nothing to impress though. Waitrose recommends this wine with pizza or tomato-based pasta dishes.
It is a well-made organic red made from equal amounts of the traditional Italian grape varieties Bonarda and Sangiovese. This might be the reason why I am not that keen on it. I haven’t yet found an Italian wine that strikes me as being irresistible. Either I have not tried enough or maybe they just don’t produce my taste.
Matthew Jukes, Daily Mail, 23 August 2008, reviews the wine as:
Crammed with smooth blackberry and cranberry notes, this is an exceptional summer red wine, which loves being cooled in an ice bucket. (2007 vintage)
Again, I am not a big fan of light wines, particularly if you are trying to cool them down. Common maybe for these grapes in the summer, just not my taste.
Yalumba Octavius 2000
Now, this is a special wine!
The Octavius Barossa Old Vine Shiraz 2000. 
Robert Parker, in the Wine Advocate #155 (Oct 2004) describes it as:
“The 2000 Shiraz Octavius possesses earthy, peppery aromatics revealing notions of smoke, melted asphalt/creosote, plums, currants, figs, and loamy soil. While medium to full-bodied, with moderate tannin as well as an excellent finish, it is not as outstanding as the brilliant 1998 and 1999 Octavius, or even the 2001.”
My wife bought it for a special occasion and we had it a few weeks ago. It is an amazing wine, well worth the money. We spent around £40 for it, one of the most expensive wines I have had so far.
Yalumba do a few very good wines. I wrote about the Katnook Estate Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon not too long ago.
The Octavius is made from grapes from old vineyards in the Barossa and Eden Valley, matured in American Oak with only 90 liters capacity. This is very uncommonly small for American Oak barrels. And these barrels are seasoned for 8 years at Yalumba before they are used for this special wine so that the oak won’t take over the wine’s taste.
Yalumba’s leaflet describes the wine being dense, plummy red in colour. Delicious sweet fruits of the forest aromas dominate the nose with hints of white pepper and vanillin, complimented by fine smoky toasted oak overtones. The palate is big, rich and sweet, with fleshy plums and a long lingering licorice flavour supported by intense tannins to finish.
I don’t think I can add much more to this. Having had this wine makes me realise how much you can do with grapes and the right treatment. Having had a Isla Negra for 3.99 yesterday which makes a wine good enough to share around a BBQ, it just doesn’t come close to a properly harvested, cared for and treated great wine.
The Yalumba Ocatvius is a special of the better wines which makes you appreciate dark, heavy (13.5% alcohol) wines with a spicy and berry taste. Lovely. Absolutely lovely.
Wine from a friend – Bodegas Santo Cristo
Continuing my series about wine, I want to draw your attention to a wine from Spain. I am normally not the biggest fan of Spanish wines but this one is special: my good friend and multilingual search marketing specialist Oscar gave it to me.
It is wine from his home region in Spain, close to Zaragoza.
The website for this wine can be found here: Bodegas Santo Cristo.
The Reserva, a blend of Garnacha and Tempranillo, has been aged for 14 months in American oak barrel followed by 12 months bottle refining to complete the aromas and taste.
It is a great wine and I enjoyed drinking a wine that is not available in this country It makes it somehow special. It has tasting notes of cherry with violet and brownish tones. That is how it is described. For me it was a taste “up” from Rioja, e.g. red fruits with a heavy toasty note but complex fruity flavours. The tannis wasn’t very strong and the palate was very balanced.
Garnacha is a the typical Aragonese variety. This kind of grape, well cared and elaborated gives you an excellent quality wine with intense aromas of mature red fruits. The wines have a fruity raspberry aroma and a warm taste with a velvety and smooth palate.
Tempranillo on the other hand is a more extended variety of high quality. These wines have a marked and balanced acidity and a fine aroma and flavour, a bit of strawberries and wild fruits flavours.
Thank you again for this Christmas present which I enjoyed very much!
Next week I bring you another speciality, probably one of the most expensive wines I ever had
Welcome to my world!
RSS Feed
Add me on LinkedIn
Recent Comments