http://www.waitrosewine.com/230227704/Product.aspxQuote:
Originally Posted by Marco
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http://www.waitrosewine.com/230227704/Product.aspxQuote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Cheers, Barry. Looks good. I'm a fan of Argentinian wines, so will get some when we next go to Waitrose :cheers:
Marco.
There are plenty of very good Mendoza wines out there. They came to my attention because years ago my old man brought some back from a business trip to Argentina where he met some of the vineyard owners & was given some bottles of rather fantastic red. I can't remember what they were as I gave up looking for them here long ago, but whenever I've seen a Mendoza, I've often bought it.
Reserected post eh ;) It's brought over from Germany & cost a couple Euro a bottle ;) very nice it's 14% AlcQuote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Yup - I thought it deserved to be seen, as it was a good recco :)
Sounds right up my street, so I'll defo be trying some!
Marco.
Trappers Hat is available regularly at The Travellers Rest in Bebington, The Wheatsheaf in Raby (nice thatched country pub) and the Red Lion in Parkgate. I think I have also had it at The Harp on the Neston marshes. It won beer of the year at the Birkenhead Beer festival and will no doubt be making another appearance this year alongside other great beers. 22 - 24 October tickets sell out fast.
2005 Chateau Moulin de Farguet Montagne Saint-Émilion
http://www.vins-fins.com/media/catal...rguet-2007.jpg
Saint-Émilion's satellite region of Montagne, lying due east of Lalande de Pomerol. Merlot is the dominant grape with some of both Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc grown.
This wine uses 75% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. (13% ABV). About £9.50 a bottle from Laithwaites
Best opened and decanted an hour before drinking, so as to let the spicy oak and vanilla flavours open out.
Just enjoyed a bottle with a breast of chicken with seared red peppers and a chorizio, tomato and butter bean sauce. Accompanied with boiled potatoes, Chatenay carrots, broccoli florets, leek and asparagus.
Hi Campbell,
Thanks for the info. I like the sound of the Wheatsheaf in Raby, but where in the Wirral is Raby?
I have friends in Neston and Heswell. Is it anywhere near there? :)
Marco.
Hi Barry,
I like the sound of the Chateau Moulin de Farguet Montagne St-Émilion... How much is it? :)
Incidentally, and I know you'll thank me for this, there is no 'e' in Saint-Émilion ;)
Marco.
Haha! Thanks Marco. I drink enough of it, you would have thought by now I would know that Saint Emile was male. Spelling correction made.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
This bottle was pulled from the depths of my 'cellar' - I've probably had a bottle or two for a couple of years now. Think I paid £9.50 a bottle, but you may well be able to get it for less. Drink by 2015.
Regards
Whilst shopping today in Tesco for the 'essentials':
2005 Castello San Lorenzo, Rioja Reserva, £4.99, half price offer ending 5.10.10. Tempranillo, mazuelo and graciano grape. At this price worth buying a few bottles to lay down. Thanks to Alex for spotting this - good one.
Plus a few bottles of Ogio Pinot Grigot, £4.49, half price offer also ending 5.10.10, when I spotted this:
Tesco's 'Finest*' vintage 2000 Barolo Reserva. £19.99. Seems to be a 'limited edition' of 12,000 bottles. 14% ABV. It was not clear if it was on special offer or not.
I have no idea if this is a particularly good find, so Marco, I'll run it past you and quote the blurb:
"A robust and rich red with notes of dark chocolate, damson, liquorice and fresh herbs.
...The best parcels of Nebbiolo grapes grown around the town of Barolo were selected to make the Finest* Reserva-style wine. 'Nebbia' is the Italian word for fog, and the Nebbiolo is so-named because it reaches perfect ripeness late into the Autumn, when morning mists creep across Barolo's manicured, picturesque vineyards."
(The advertising copy is almost up to that of your description of the Ortofon SPU :lol:)
So, any good - I bought two bottles?
Regards
Hi Barry,
I've no idea if it's good or not, as I haven't tried it. It should be good, though, although personally I'm not a fan of buying wines that supermarkets market as "Finest", or whatever. No offence, but I find it a somewhat lazy way of buying wine.
One often wonders if they are simply a 'job lot' supermarkets have bought in at a special price and then mark them up as "Finest" to entice customers into thinking they've got something really good, when at best it's merely 'ok'....
Would you buy a hi-fi system marked as 'The Bestest of the Best'? ;)
I understand that it's useful for people who don't really know much about the wine concerned, and enables them to identify a decent wine at a price often much less than a 'named' variety, but I prefer to use my knowledge of areas, vintages and producers to select the wine I'm buying, be it French Italian or whatever.
Anyway, having suitably trashed your purchase, I hope it's a real stonker! :lol:
:cheers:
Marco.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
More or less what I thought: any supermarket label puts me on my guard. However having said that, I have found that with the exception of profiteroles, the Tesco 'Finest' range are worthy of the title and justify their higher price.
I would expect to pay at least £20 for a bottle of Barolo, so maybe my purchase will be up to scratch.
The links to 'half price' bargains, reminds me of the perennial carpet sales: carpets are sold at a supposed 'sale' price which is actually their true market price. When it comes to cheap wine, the 'half price offers' that I have bought have usually been highly palatable. For the odd duff purchase that I may have bought and mentioned on AoS, I have quickly posted comments to the contrary.
Fear not, I'm unlikely to be taken in and to recommend a Petrus at a mere £6.99, or £16.99 for that matter!
Regards
Raby is a small village about 2 miles from Neston heading roughly in the direction of Willaston. Just ask for directions from the locals. Had a couple of pints of Scarecrow from the Brimstage Brewery up at the Travellers Rest last night. It's a little bit stronger than Trappers Hat but very tasty, balanced, fruity with a good hop finish.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Cheers, mate - I'll definitely be checking it out! :cool:
Marco.
Nice little pub Marco, 5 minutes from me. Ian will know it too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Seems like it, dude... Looking forward to Wednesday - arrive hungry! :)
Marco.
I will indeed, thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Castello San Lorenzo Rioja Reserva 2005.
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/Image...s=632938497780
Tesco, on offfer at £4.99 a bottle. Excellent, I bought a dozen bottles - nice one Alex!
Just enjoyed with some bangers 'n' mash - pork and caramelised red onion sausages, red cabbage, seared red pepper, carrots and broccoli. Home made mash; I like lumps and potato skin in my mash. Couth? Oui, je sais!
Sounds nice Barry. I'm mostly banned from mid-week zarzleberry juice manoeuvres but we'll be having some rather good looking mash ourselves later, which is currently riding on board a pair of Shepherds Pies (one meaty/one veggie). The gravy has just the tiniest smidge of Merlot in it!
Sounds good to me Chris. Being Type II diabetic, I have to watch very carefully the amount of saturated fat (and salt) I consume. Shepherd's pie is something I love, but have to reserve as an occasional treat.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Grand Wazoo
"I'm mostly banned from mid-week zarzleberry juice manoeuvres..." Pourquoi? Care to tell?
Regards
Boozing only at the weekend nowadays except for special occasions & occasional slip-ups!Quote:
"I'm mostly banned from mid-week zarzleberry juice manoeuvres..."
This is because for some years now (most of my adult ones, if truth be known) I have only been gaining increment on my x-axis. This was OK while I was also still developing my y-axis, but apparently one without the other is not acceptable!
Ah! the dreaded 'body mass index'! Or, if you can't see your feet (or other important body parts), it's Nature's way of telling you to do something. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by The Grand Wazoo
Regards
My take on this is that beer doesn't make you put on weight. Sitting down and drinking beer makes you put on weight. The solution is to drink standing up. Pubs these days are far too namby pamby; get rid of those tables and make folks stand at t'bar :)
I find pubs plus walks burns calories and saves on taxi fares. Pubs and cycling is quite amusing and also burns calories. It's when you stay in one place all night it gets a bit stagnating.
http://www.conwybrewery.co.uk/resources/honey.gif
Honey Fayre / Cwrw Mel. ABV 4.5%
“A deliciously refreshing golden ale made with Welsh Honey. It is dry in flavour with the sweetness of the honey emerging in the aroma leading to a pleasing bitter finish.”
Around £10 for six, 500ml, bottles.
Just consumed a bottle with tonight’s repast:
Mackerel filets in a simple tomato sauce on a bed of cooked fresh penne, with red pepper, broccoli, green beans and sweet-corn ‘nibletts’ on the side.
Guys,
As a wine connoisseur of some time, I think I'm qualified to comment on this....
The subject of the benefits of allowing wine to 'breathe' is often hotly debated. The fact of the matter is that popping a cork from a bottle of wine (or more likely these days unscrewing the top) to allow it to 'breathe', is largely a fallacy. I say "largely" because it's not a complete fallacy.
However, doing the above only allows the wine to 'breathe' to a very small extent, as one is only permitting air to enter the bottle at the point of the neck, and so it would take rather a long time (many hours) for the liquid in the bottle to become fully aerated, which is the whole point of the exercise! So by opening up a bottle of wine to 'breathe' half an hour before drinking it, one is doing next to bugger all.
Aerating wine does indeed maximise its bouquet and flavour, and also softens the effect of tannins, giving the wine a more 'rounded' quality on the palate with less of an acidic edge.
To do this properly, however, involves decanting the wine, carefully, into a separate bottle or wine decanter, where the process of transposing the liquid from one container into another oxygenates it, thus aerating the wine in the process, to produce the desired beneficial effect when consuming it.
With certain types of vintage wine, particularly Bordeaux varieties and port, there is normally a crusty deposit (known as 'sediment') at the bottom of the bottle which must be removed before the wine is consumed. Otherwise, the wine will be tainted when poured and taste rather unpleasant, particularly when one gets nearer to the bottom of the bottle.
The decanting process both aerates the wine and removes this sediment or crust, when carried out in good light (often with the help of a candle), in conjunction with a small funnel. The funnel then fits into the neck of the bottle, with the top covered in some muslin cloth.
Therefore one removes the sediment from the wine by pouring it from within its existing bottle into another container, or decanter, through the muslin cloth (which collects the sediment) and into the funnel, and the resulting clear wine left is of course what is consumed.
However, ALL wines, regardless of age or quality, benefit from decanting, simply because of the oxygenation/aerating process, which is far more effective from decanting than it is by simply popping the cork on a bottle.
As for wine temperatures, this makes a huge difference to the flavour of wine and how it behaves on the palate.
Fully bodied red wines (such as Bordeaux types, etc) should be served in between 16-18 Celsius, with 'light & fruity' types (such as Beaujolais), served slightly cooler at 12-14 Celsius, and medium-bodied wines somewhere in between. Ideally, one would use a wine thermometer to measure the correct temperature.
It's worth noting that full-bodied red wine, such Burgundy or 'Claret', will NOT taste as intended unless served at the correct temperature. It is the most sensitive of all wines types to its flavour changing with variations in temperature.
As for white wine, full-bodied 'Burgundy style' whites (such as Chablis) should be served only lightly chilled at around 12-15 Celsius, which is comparable to light and fruity reds, which may explain why Chris prefers his red wine cold, if he's partial to more of the lighter style of reds than the heavier varieties.
Of course, 'rules' aside, one can drink wine at any temperature one wishes to, if it is enjoyed that way. I have even seen people in bars put ice in some red wines, so at the end of the day what pleases your palate is what matters most!
On that note... À votre santé! :cheers:
Marco.
P.S I will move this into the wine thread later for reference.
Tesco have an offer on 330ml bottles of the Belgian beer: 'Leffe - Blonde'. £4 for four bottles - can't be bad.
Just drunk a bottle with tonight's meal of steak au poivre.
Regards
I think i could heartily recommend any "Oakham Ales" produce :) Strangely they are based at a pub that is also a micro brewery in Peterborough that is threatened with demolition to build another darn shopping centre :eek:
If you ever get the chance to sample any of there real ales you'll be in for a real (oops, pun intended) treat. White Dwarf is one of theirs & a sensational brew that will stick in your mind for many years :cool:
First sampled at the Peterborough Beerfest & not found again for a few years which was kind of unfortunate, i just wasn't looking hard enough :eyebrows:
Thornbridge brewery
Jaipur and Kipling ' bloody lovely beer's .
Theres a beer festival going on, i'm out today to indulge :eyebrows:
Good on yer mate! I'm just off now to my regular Friday drink with former work collegues. :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre
Regards
Hope you had a good time at the beer festival, Andre! Let us know what you had nice to drink :cool:
We ordered some of our favourite wine today for Christmas:
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/1404/784l.jpg
http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/3972/musargroup.jpg
Available to buy from 'Hard to Find Wines': http://www.htfwines.co.uk/scripts/pr...?idproduct=784
More info here: http://www.chateaumusar.com.lb/english/monde.htm
Is anyone else familiar with Chateau Musar, Barry perhaps? I believe you like Lebanese wine :)
It's an absolutely amazing wine with a unique flavour.
Marco.
I would if i could remember :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Back out now for sesh phase 2 :lolsign:
Laters :cool:
I got in a tacking ageean last neet :lolsign:
..I'm gonna recommend Elgood's Greyhound 5.2% ABV..dark bitter that tastes beautiful, probably the best bitter i've ever had.
Been drinking this lately in my brothers pub, not bad at all
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/p...ners620gif.gif
2007 Chateau Marzin, Premiéres Côtes de Blaye, Bordeaux.
http://www.bawineclub.co.uk/images/products/61538b.jpg
This estate is situated on the right bank of the Gironde, at about the same the same latitude as Margeaux.
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, full bodied with ripe spices and a long finish.
Just consumed a bottle with chicken breast in a cream and leek sauce, Italian ham and mushrooms, with green beans, brocolli, red and yellow peppers and Charlotte potatoes.
I got in a tacking yesterday afternoon as per usual . The culprit:
Wadworth Pixley Blackcurrant Stout ABV 6.0%, don't let the Blackcurrant put you off..It's a loverly drink.
Wychwood ' King Goblin ABV 6.0%
Fabulous pint
I've seen that Chris, is it a dark bitter?Quote:
Originally Posted by chris@panteg
Hi Andre
It is and well worth seeking out ' Hobgoblin is also a cracking pint :cool:
Great i'm off out to sample some :lolsign:Quote:
Originally Posted by chris@panteg
2006 Le Rouquin de Château Gachon, Montagne Saint-Emilion
http://www.bawineclub.co.uk/images/products/60129.jpg
A 'right bank' claret and a best 'next door' wine (one from a vineyard situated next door to a top estate).
The 2005 Bordeaux's were always going to be a hard act to follow, but 2006 has produced some excellent early-ripening Merlots.
70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Best before 2012. Laithwaite's, approx. £11 a bottle. This wine must be decanted as there is significant sediment.
Have just slurped a couple of glasses with a cassoulet (not a patch on the cassoulet that Marco's wife Del can make!), however still very enjoyable.
Regards
Good News oenophiles -
Tesco have reintroduced the half price offer on the 2005 Berberana Reserva Rioja. Always a good weekday 'slurp'.
Also they have offers on spirits: 10 year old Laphroaig now £21.
http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/Pro...B.10YOV1&w=270
Stock up for Christmas!
Regards
Stocked up on vino tinto at Tesco today.
Didn't get the Berberana as its 13.5% and I have a rule not to go over 12.5% which unfortunately rules out the Southern hemisphere and a lot of other good stuff.
Lot of French wine is around the 12 mark but so is the price:(
3rd bottle of the Berberana opened between me and the wife, I fear it will end in tears!
Depends who has had the most :cheers:Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex_UK
As she's collapsed in bed, I fear it is inevitable I will have had the most - could be messy all round! :cheers:
Three bottles is a good type of contraception :lol: ( Mr Wiggly might be not be up to it)Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex_UK