The Wine & Whisky Thread

Very nice Grant!

I'm hoping some rather interesting Japanese whisky is winging its way to me next week ...

I have all but given up drinking wine but was in M&S last week and just had the urge to try something.
I bought this very humble and unassuming looking DOC Valpolicella - but my god it is amazing!
I used to find red wine far too often disappointing and variable in quality but I cannot recommend this enough at around a tenner a bottle.

Very deep and slightly over-ripe sun drenched damsons and plums set against a background of fresh oak with hints of graphite on the finish.
Soft, dusky tannins.

http://asset1.marksandspencer.com/is...PDP_MAXI_ZOOM$

If I'm near M&S I shall maybe get a bottle. I dont drink much these days and little wine, but I like a nice red occasionally

I opened a bottle of Vieux Chateau Certan 1986 last night just because I felt like it - no occasion to celebrate!

Opening wasn't without incident though - the cork broke and I managed to drop the corkscrew onto my big toe. I was so angry that I ignored it.
Later on whilst I was happily sipping away I noticed that the toe was covered in blood ... :lol:

After decanting and leaving an hour or so I was fully expecting this Pomerol to be just a little bit over the hill but it has held up superbly.
I was amazed at the quality of the fruit - beautiful deep colour with just a slight orangey tinge to the rim, still looking very fresh.

Rich, delicate and slightly floral on the nose, tasting revealed a lovely velvety texture with the tannins nearly completely subsided;
strawberry jam with candied orange, quite racy with hints of graphite and parma violets and a touch of drying oak on the finish.

http://cdn.ct-static.com/labels/891533.jpg

Tesco have this on offer at £15... worth buying although its not quite 101 its good enough and a snip.

https://img.tesco.com/Groceries/pi/0...ot_540x540.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by julesd68

I opened a bottle of Vieux Chateau Certan 1986 last night just because I felt like it - no occasion to celebrate!

Opening wasn't without incident though - the cork broke and I managed to drop the corkscrew onto my big toe. I was so angry that I ignored it.
Later on whilst I was happily sipping away I noticed that the toe was covered in blood ... :lol:

After decanting and leaving an hour or so I was fully expecting this Pomerol to be just a little bit over the hill but it has held up superbly.
I was amazed at the quality of the fruit - beautiful deep colour with just a slight orangey tinge to the rim, still looking very fresh.

Rich, delicate and slightly floral on the nose, tasting revealed a lovely velvety texture with the tannins nearly completely subsided;
strawberry jam with candied orange, quite racy with hints of graphite and parma violets and a touch of drying oak on the finish.

http://cdn.ct-static.com/labels/891533.jpg

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You are a rather accident-prone, daftee! :D

Anyway, more seriously lol, you mean you didn't decant the wine first, before serving it? Clarets of that vintage will almost certainly contain large degrees of sediment, so you'll have lost about 10% of the wine in sediment.

Did you eat anything nice with it? It deserves to be accompanied by a nice rib of beef/rack of lamb, some game, or at the very least some strong flavoured cheese. Also, how did you get the broken end of the cork out of the bottle, without subsequently depositing bits of it into the wine? ;)

Not surprised that what you did manage to sample tasted good though, as a good Pomerol is hard to beat! :cheers:

Marco.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marco

You are a rather accident-prone, daftee! :D

Anyway, more seriously lol, you mean you didn't decant the wine first, before serving it? Clarets of that vintage will almost certainly contain large degrees of sediment, so you'll have lost about 10% of the wine in sediment.

Did you eat anything nice with it? It deserves to be accompanied by a nice rib of beef/rack of lamb, some game, or at the very least some strong flavoured cheese. Also, how did you get the broken end of the cork out of the bottle, without subsequently depositing bits of it into the wine? ;)

Not surprised that what you did manage to sample tasted good though, as a good Pomerol is hard to beat! :cheers:

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Yes the opening was a complete disaster. :champagne:

I always decant any decent claret on the rare occasion I drink it but yes, without going into further embarassing details there was a bit of a salvage job to do with a fine sieve before hand. :doh:

I've had the bottle for twenty years or so, stored at home, so to be honest I was amazed the wine was in the condition it was ...
Your food suggestions would be spot on but it was a complete spur of the moment decision so it was wine, and wine only. :D

Next from the 'cellar' will be a Lynch Bages 82 but am saving that for a special birthday which isn't so far away ...
I fully expect the cork to be trashed on that too ... :lol:

Maybe try a gas one. They are good on dodgy corks.

Thanks - I haven't heard of these - is there a particular one you can recommend Grant?

Legacy Corkpops is the best at reasonable money tmk. just a needle and low pressure gas pops the thing out

Great, I'll take a look at that thanks